img_2961I confess to having no idea what I’m doing, but I’ve got to say it tastes great and doesn’t dirty any pans.

I’ve been trying to eat less and eat healthier.  I’ve also been experimenting with eating a lighter meal in the middle of the day to see if I don’t get as sleepy in the afternoon.  Finally I was inspired by a cookbook my wife has been cooking from called Deceptively Delicious–the idea of sneaking healthy ingredients into regular food.

Here is the recipe for today’s smoothie based on whatever I found in the refrigerator–the only ingredients planned in advance (intentionally bought at the store) were the spinach, cottage cheese (super high in protein) and lemon.

These measurements are all guestimates:

  • 2 cups of pure pineapple juice
  • 5 generous handfuls of baby spinach leaves
  • 3 generous scoops of cottage cheese
  • 2 scoops of pure canned pumpkin
  • 2 scoops of vanilla yogurt
  • 8 large (see the picture) frozen strawberries–they are surprisingly good from Costco
  • 1/2 lemon w/o the peel (usually I use a whole one, but I’m saving the other half for tomorrow)
  • 1 banana

The best part of all is that it tastes better than something from Jamba Juice without the extra junk they add like ice cream to make it taste sweet.  Once all the ingredients get the “liquify” setting in our highly recommended Kitchen Aid blender–it tastes like a strawberry smoothie with a hint of pineapple and trace of cottage cheese.  The other ingredients, particularly the spinach cannot be tasted at all.  Today’s batch made about 32 ounces.  I’ll drink half for lunch and more later if I’m hungry and my family doesn’t get to it first.

Other recent incarnations have included random combinations of blueberries, blackberries, fresh ginger, purees of cauliflower or spinach, orange juice, tangerines, aloe vera juice, liquid trace minerals, fresh tomatoes, and other nutritious things I’ve forgotten.  It is a fun kind of trial and error.  After a few tries you get the hang of what forms a good base and what “extras” can send a good smoothie sideways.  In general it is hard to mess up.

What other winning combinations should I try?