Friday, February 3, 2012

Good Morning Citrus Smoothie


One part of my eating habits I wanted to change is breakfast. As I said before, I love bread, but I just don't thrive on bread alone. And I end up starving after just 2 hours after eating, which is not that great, really.
So the smoothie entered my life. I did not stop eating bread completely, but I really try having something else whenever possible now. I began with making green smoothie (aka the Green Monster), tried one with beets in it (kind of strange, tasted really healthy) and now this. Citrus for the wake-me-up-boots I really need in the morning. Banana for sweetness, and what I really love about it, some chicory (or Belgian endive, however you may call it). I have been adding some greens to most of my smoothies, but I love the chicory here, because it doesnt change the color of the smoothie. Green smoothies just don't look that great.
One of Michael Pollan's food rules in In Defense of Food is to eat mostly plants, and mostly the leaves (not seeds) of them. I like to eat salad, but I love to have other options to increase my intake of leafy plants. And you can't actually taste it (I tested it on my boyfriend), which is great, because I don't always want to have a green tasting smoothie. The chicory loses the bitterness it usually has in between the brightness and sourness of the lemon and orange juice and the sweetness of the banana.
Oh, and I felt great this morning, much more awake than after a cup of coffee.




Good Morning Citrus Smoothie

Ingredients:
1 orange or blood orange
1/2 lemon
1 head chicory (they are about the size of my hand, lenghtwise; if yours is bigger, you can use less)
1 banana, frozen and cut into pieces

Juice the orange and the lemon, cut the chicory into strips and put it into a blender. Add about a glass of water and the banana. Blend until smooth. Pour into a glass and enjoy.

4 comments :

  1. I need to get a juicer or a better blender, this sounds great!

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    1. I have a rather cheap immersion blender, it works well for smoothies, soups, etc. And it is really easy to clean. And I use a super simple plastic juicer (something like this: http://bit.ly/AeEk4R)

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  2. Looks awesome, Lena. I definitely never would have thought to put endive in a smoothie, but if it really isn't that noticeable, why not? Is In Defense of Food more about nutrition than the Omnivore's Dilemma?

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  3. In Defense of Food isnt that much about nutrition. He tries to show how we got from eating food to eating food like substances, and how we got so confused about what to eat and what not to eat. Perhaps you have seen his rules "Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants." He proposes a few rules, or guidelines, as to how we can choose what to eat, for example: Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldnt recognize as food; Eat mostly plants, especially leaves; or Eat Slowly.
    I can recommend it if your interested in these things. The rules themselves are also in a shorter book "Food Rules", but the first part of the book really spoke to me.

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