Tired of going to Jamba Juice and paying $8.00 for a Wheatgrass smoothies that tastes, well, like poop?! (Ok, maybe not that bad) Well, luckily, here at SmartLife, we've been making smoothies since before blenders existed, and today we've got one green smoothie that will completely change how you feel towards putting rabbit food in your creation. We call it the "Verde Especial" (that's Spanish for Green Special :)
First, we add the green! In this case, spinach. Any green will do, but spinach is high in antioxidants, protein, and vitamins that we love.
Next (and this is key!): frozen fruit. We like the pineapple, mango, strawberry, pineapple mix from Wal-Mart for $7.88 for 5 pounds of goodies. Usually one handful does the trick (you can do two if you want it extra smoothie-y)
Then: Gatorade. Any juice will do, whatever you prefer, we just had some homemade-erade in the fridge.
And: A scoop of protein. If you're trying to keep it raw or dairy free, the protein can be left out. We just got done lifting weights though and wanted some quick post-workout recovery, SmartLife style.
So, here's what it looked like pre-blend, at about the 24 ounce line on the blender.
Aha! Beauty. Once blended it yielded about 40 ounces.
Now, let's be smart and break down the calories:
1 cup spinach: 65 calories
1 cup frozen assorted fruit: 100 calories
2 cups gatorade: 140 calories
1 scoop protein: 140 calories
Total: 445 calories (70 g carbs, 27 g protein, 2 g fat)
And it tastes great! (Remember, the fruit and juice are key - they're what cover up the grassy spinach taste) Happy blending! And Happy Holidays!
By Evans Prater
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Quinoa!!
Living a Smart Life requires making some smart choices, and one of the most important is Smart Food. For many of us that sounds like giving up all of our favourite foods, but it doesn't have to be that way. The first and most difficult part of living smart is making the decision to change your life and truly meaning it. We all make mini decisions all the time - tomorrow I will start on a diet - next week I will start exercising - after today, I am not having any more cigarettes - but, of course, we know deep down we don't really mean it. Living a Smart Life changes all of that. So making the decision requires a true commitment, and once you get past that, the rest is quite easy.
In order to succeed, it's very important to avoid feeling deprived We are going to explore some delicious and healthy dishes to get you started on eating smart, they will be easy to prepare with ingredients readily available, that you and your family can prepare and enjoy together. We all know that fat, sugar and salt are not very healthy Smart Food means thinking about food, planning what you will eat, and making intelligent choices about what you can indulge in occasionally and what you should avoid. It simply does not work if you try to give up all the foods you know are not good, but love to eat anyway.
I believe with some thought you can love what you eat and eat what you love. Pretty soon you will be on your way to a Smart Life.
I believe with some thought you can love what you eat and eat what you love. Pretty soon you will be on your way to a Smart Life.
Quinoa (pronounced ken-wah) Salad
Quinoa is a delicious grain, actually a seed, that grows in South America. It is packed with protein and fiber, and has plenty of the good type of carbohydrates. It is available in most supermarkets.
- Cook one cup of dry Quinoa, according to the package instructions, and set aside to cool - cooked it will be several cups.
- In a separate bowl chop half of a red onion in small dice
- Add one cup of black beans rinsed and drained, and one cup of cooked sweet corn.
- Peel one whole avocado and cut into cubes - add to the other vegetables.
- Add 12-18 small cherry or grape tomatoes and one tablespoon of chopped parsley, cilantro or basil.
- Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Toss with olive oil and a dash of white wine vinegar and a teaspoon of prepared mustard (if you want some extra pizazz)
- Fold in the prepared Quinoa and serve with some crumbled tortilla chips on top.
This is a delicious and completely nutritious salad. You can serve it as a main course, or grill a chicken breast and serve the salad as a side dish, or how about some grilled fish. There are dozens of variations, limited only by your imagination. Mix prepared Quinoa with some delicious grilled vegetables. Or, saute some minced onion and garlic and add prepared Quinoa and stir-fry for a couple of minutes - for an extra boost of flavour add a touch of soy sauce. You can mix any of your favourite vegetables or beans with prepared Quinoa, and toss with olive oil or any of your favourite salad dressings.
Coming soon - are hamburgers one of your favourite foods. Learn how to make them healthy as well as delicious.
- contributed by Cheryl Lipner
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Connect-the-Dots: A Pound of Sugar
How many sodas does your family drink in a day? Multiply that number by 40 - and that's the total grams of sugar they have consumed. Divide that by 450. That's the number of pounds of sugar consumed in a day. All of this math means that 11 cans of soda, is 1 pound of sugar.
Yes indeed, that's a 1/2 pound of sugar in every 6-pack of cola.
It really adds up!
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Connect-the-Dots: A Pound of Sugar
Yes indeed, that's a 1/2 pound of sugar in every 6-pack of cola.
It really adds up!
