Has anyone had a smoothie that is mostly fruit (mine also have milk, greens powder, and whey protein) and was able to put in green leafy vegetables and hide the taste? I read the kale has a strong flavor compared to the others, but the one I wanted to try was spinach, since I have had it before.
I'm not even sure if the leaves will blend all the way, since I have one of those Oster blenders.
That is so funny, I just replied to your comment on the lettuce thread. Bananas are a great way to cover the leafy spinach taste, you only need half of one! You could also try half carrots and half spinach if you still taste the spinach and don't like it.
I use a small single serve Hamilton Beach and it blends up just fine as long there is enough liquid in it. This is what my smoothies look like after blending it up. I tend to put frozen bananas, frozen strawberries, half spinach, half carrots, greek yogurt and enough water or half applesauce/water to be able to blend it up.
Yep, use banana especially, i use kale and can't taste it any more than the spinach. i don't know if you can completely disguise the taste but it isn't bad AT ALL and totally worth it!
I tend to put frozen bananas, frozen strawberries, half spinach, half carrots, greek yogurt and enough water or half applesauce/water to be able to blend it up.
HTH!
YUM THAT SOUNDS SO GOOD! That's it I'm trying it this weekend! Will tell you in pm out it goes! I have never had a smoothies with greens in it before! I'm excited!
I just got a Ninja blender and have been experimenting with smoothies. Yesterday I used 10 frozen strawberries, a small amount of low-fat strawberry yogurt, 2 clementines, 10 fresh chunks of pineapple and a few handfuls of spinach to make 2 smoothies. It was good! I am a veggie HATER and I was able to tolerate it just fine. Today I went with 10 green seedless grapes, 5 chunks of watermelon, a heaping handful of spinach and 5 frozen strawberries for 1 smoothie. It worked out well! So I guess what I am trying to say is that even without banana (which I don't particularly care for), you can still cover up the taste of the spinach easily.
I have a $20 blender from walmart that I purchased 15+ years ago. I also have a magic bullet. I use one during the week and the other on the weekends when i'm traveling. My 'green' smoothie consists of 1/4 cup of pineapple, 1/4 cup of frozen blueberries, 1/2 cup of strawberries, 1 handful of baby spinach, 1 small piece (an inch) of a frozen banana and 1 cup of unsweetened original almond milk. Sometimes I will substitute chard for the spinach as it also has a mild taste. My 'veggie' smoothie shot in the evening consists of several leaves of chard or kale and half of a lemon.
Has anyone had a smoothie that is mostly fruit (mine also have milk, greens powder, and whey protein) and was able to put in green leafy vegetables and hide the taste? I read the kale has a strong flavor compared to the others, but the one I wanted to try was spinach, since I have had it before.
I'm not even sure if the leaves will blend all the way, since I have one of those Oster blenders.
From experience, kale has a strong bitter taste; however, spinach blends just well, and I notice the drink to neither be too sweet or bitter. I'm more of a spinach fan, despite kale has more protein in it.
I do a really simple recipe for my breakfast smoothie that covers the veggie taste very nicely. 1 packed cup spinach kale blend, 1 cup skim milk, 1 scoop vanilla slim fast and 1 cup frozen strawberries. It tastes like a strawberry shake. I think the slimfast is key, I've also used carnation breakfast drink mix with similar results. When I've used protein powders the taste has been signifigantly less palatable. I know this cuts out protein and adds some sugar, but to me its been worth it because this is literally the only way I can stand to ingest raw vegetable of any kind. I don't care for bananas and that seems to be the go-to for covering up the veg taste. I was very skeptical at first and just added the tiniest bit of greens, but when I couldn't taste it I added more and more. I use the bullet blender single serve cup and now just fill it to the top without measuring, then pour the milk over and blend. Then once I have a green liquid with no bits I add the fruit and powder mix. This is helpful for getting rid of any spinach chunks if you're using a regular blender.
You're really not going to get any significant amount of protein from the fruit or veg, so I wouldn't worry about that. Put in stuff you like!
The main concern with smoothies is that they are basically a shot of sugar, as the fibrous parts are broken down and you get the sugar much faster than you would eating the fruit. So they don't work for people like me, but they do for a lot of other folk. If your smoothie is mostly fruit, this will be more of an issue, but I had problems with it even with smoothies that were mostly veg and had things like oats in them as well to bulk them out.
Spinach is indeed milder than kale, and also easier to digest. If you are on warfarin or a similar blood thinner, be very careful with adding leafy green veg, because the Vitamin K content is high and can upset your INR. Kale is the worst for this, best avoided unless you are having a scrupulously even daily intake and regular INR tests. My partner is on warfarin and avoids kale, though he's OK with reasonsable amounts of spinach.
Personally, I like to make spinach the basis for salads. It doesn't go soggy like lettuce, I don't find it bitter, and it's lovely when teamed with, say, a small tin of chick peas, some red rice, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, herbs (za'atar, usually), and a splash of olive oil and lemon juice. Admittedly I adore veg, so I probably have different tastes, but it's worth a try. Cut it into ribbons if you like, start with a small amount, see what you think.
Has anyone had a smoothie that is mostly fruit (mine also have milk, greens powder, and whey protein) and was able to put in green leafy vegetables and hide the taste?
Yes. But I add in other stuff too.
So far I've used:
Ground cinnamon
Ground nutmeg
Lime juice
Lemon juice
Fresh mint leaves
Fresh ginger root
And I also add in Stevia tablets to sweeten it up because most vegetables aren't all that sweet.
Baby spinach is good, doesn't taste of much. Kale, especially the dark stuff, can be quite strong in taste. I'd start with adding a handful of baby spinach first and gradually get used to adding in more veg. I also use a lot of carrots and raw beetroot. I've got a butternut squash in the cupboard, that will be really mild. I'll put some pie spice in with it and almond milk.
Try this smoothie - Kale Banana Smoothie
Ingredients
2 Kale leaves
1 Banana Ripe banana
1 Apple golden delicious, cored
1 Celery stalk
1 Kiwi
0,5 lime juiced
1,5 cups water
One of my Favourite!)
Really tasty!
"Green" Smoothies
