smoothies•verdes

Owen's always pretending to be a spy these days.  According to him, a spy is someone who goes on a secret mission.  There are two types of spies, depending on the intent of their mission: good and bad.  I'm pretty sure he learned this from watching Cars 2.  
I've gone on my own secret mission lately: to sneak more green vegetables into my kids (and myself and Brock).  While my kids might beg to differ if they ever found out, I consider this a good mission so I'm calling myself a good spy.  This smoothie recipe is the result of my good spy efforts.  
My cover was almost blown the other day when I was making these and Owen saw the contents of the blender pitcher just before I fired up the blender. 
"That's not lettuce in there, is it Mom?" asked Owen.  "I don't like lettuce."    
"Lettuce!?" I laughed nervously, "That's just the stuff that makes it green.  Don't be ridiculous -- lettuce in a smoothie?!"
Hmm...  Lettuce-- I hadn't thought of that...
Anyway, Owen seemed satisfied by my answer and I managed to avert that disaster. And, I was so excited to see both of my kids happily slurping down their smoothies.  Brock and I liked it too-- it was fruity, slushy and sweet, but not crazy sweet, like some smoothies.  And I couldn't taste the greens!  Woo hoo!  Get out the "Mission Accomplished" banner and the flight suit-- I was ready to declare it a success...
Until I made them the next time and Oliver didn't want any.  Drat!  At least the rest of us were still excited about them.  But for Oliver, I had to go super-stealth: I dumped it in an opaque sippy cup with a little extra juice and called it juice.  And, voila-- he happily slurped it down and my mission was again accomplished.  Whew-- that could have been embarrassing, with the banner and flight suit and all...

the veggies:*

• 2 cups lightly packed spinach**
• 2 cups lightly packed torn kale, stems and tough center veins removed
• 1/2 avocado, scooped from the peel
• 1 cup plain or vanilla Greek yogurt
• 3 cups frozen mangoes and/or peaches***
• 2 cups apple juice

the love:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a blender until smooth, pulsing to break up any larger frozen fruit chunks.

tips:

*If someone's on to you and you need to go super-stealth, you could try my method above (mix with extra juice and serve in an opaque cup) or you could hide the green-ness of this with the bold color and flavor of berries.  Let's call them Smoothies Rojos: Substitute the mango and peaches with strawberries and raspberries, and the apple juice for cranberry-raspberry juice.  You could also use vanilla or strawberry yogurt instead of plain to sweeten it a little more.
**I like to buy the big 16 oz clamshell packages of pre-washed baby spinach for this-- it's super-convenient (just throw it in the blender), and much cheaper per ounce than the smaller clamshells.
***A combination of both fruits is nice-- it seems to have a more complex flavor that covers up the greens a little better.

meet the (mostly) veggie•loving family

Our family is what you might technically call ovo-lacto vegetarians, meaning we don't eat animals but we do eat eggs (ovo), and dairy (lacto; most notably, lots of cheese!).  And no, we don't eat fish--they're animals, too (we've been asked that one or two times before...)!  We make one exception to our vegetarianism: marshmallows.  We're big campers, and could not bear to sit around a campfire without them.
By necessity, we keep our meals simple, affordable, and usually healthful.  I don't use a lot of obscure ingredients because they simply aren't available in the rural mountain community where we live.




Mama (Angela): I'm an at-home mama to two wily and energetic little boys.  I've been a vegetarian for about 14 years, and have slowly grown to love almost every veggie.  I'm always striving to expand my repertoire of simple, healthy, meat-free meals that my family will eat without complaint.  Now I'm excited to share some of the recipes I've found, adapted and created with my family, friends, and anyone else who may stumble upon them!  
My favorite meal is sag paneer with fresh-baked nan.  Sadly, I have not yet figured out how to cook really good authentic Indian food at home, and do not (yet) own a tandoori oven.

Brock is a wildlife biologist by day and a loving father and husband, artist, handyman, and so much more on nights and weekends (check out his website at wabisabiwolverine.com).  He dutifully eats his veggies, especially when they're accompanied by a hearty chunk of french bread.  He also loves nan-- but with dhal.



Owen is a too-smart-for-his-own-good four-year-old who loves Matchbox cars and (with a little gentle coaxing) at least tries most of his veggies.  His meal of choice is pineapple pizza, but he also loves anything involving pickles or black olives.




Oliver is almost two, is obsessed with animals, and, to the chagrin of his mama, is currently veggie-phobic.  His favorite meal varies by the day.