Thursday, December 30, 2010

Green Cranberry Smoothie

I don't know about everyone else, but I don't really want to look at sugar for awhile. I have been posting so many sweet recipes lately, but the holidays are over- so that means no more sugar or baked goods for a couple of weeks.

I am not a person that drinks a green smoothie everyday. We eat enough dark greens here- kale, spinach, swiss chard, turnip greens- almost daily, that I don't feel the need to sneak them into a morning drink. It is a nice healthy way to start the day every so often, though.

I was curious about using fresh cranberries in a smoothie, so one morning, I whipped this up.
It was pretty good. The pear added some interesting texture, which didn't bother me, but I could imagine it might bother someone else. You could sub in berries or some other fruit. I have to say I love the color of this smoothie, as well as the taste.



Green Cranberry Smoothie by Mary Ann
1 banana, peeled and sliced
1 pear, chopped (you could use berries or citrus or apple here instead)
1/3 cup fresh cranberries
2 Tbls flaxseed meal
1 1/2 cups skim, almond or soy milk
1 cup spinach leaves, packed
1-2 tsp honey

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Enjoy immediately

6 comments:

Michele said...

I used fresh cranberries in my smoothie a couple of weeks ago, with some apple and banana. It was pretty good. Mine was a little tart, I think the citrus would have been good in it as well as some almond milk ( I used water and ice). Good for you for getting your greens!

Unknown said...

It's gorgeous and inventive. Happy New Year.

Maria said...

Love this smoothie! Happy New Year!

Magic and Mayhem said...

Thanks for posting this! I've been curious about trying cranberries in our green smoothies but I didn't know if they'd be too tart.

We started drinking green smoothies about a month ago after I read "Green for Life" and the kids and I are such converts. You don't need honey, milk and that sort of thing either. Our standard is greens, banana and fruit, plus a lot of water. It really is sweet and delicious and all of my kids ask for them every day plus seconds (the kids are 3, 7, 10 and 12, and formerly drank smoothies with almond milk and sweeteners because I thought we needed to for taste).

She also talks in the book about how green smoothies are much better for you than just eating greens, because most of us don't chew long enough to fully pulverize greens and get all of the nutritional benefits.

Since drinking them every day, I even have an age spot on my face that I've had for years that is disappearing. I have no connection to the book other than really liking it. I reviewed it here: http://www.examiner.com/green-culture-in-mankato/review-green-for-life-made-me-a-green-smoothie-zealot-review

Anyway, sorry for the segue and thanks for posting this! :)

Mandy said...

Mary Ann where are you? I miss getting new ideas from you. Come back soon.

Unknown said...

I love the taste of Cranberry. It is very useful in the case of UTI. I was suffering from Urinary Tract infections two months ago and on consuming Cranberry Concentrate Liquid I started seeing the positive results without two weeks. Thanks for sharing the recipe of this delicious looking smoothie.