Sunday, November 02, 2008

Getting Healthy

I don't usually get around to eating all the fruits and vegetables I buy before they go bad. So about a month ago, I started making smoothies to try to use them up. I've been on a smoothie kick ever since. I didn't think it would last very long, because my usual philosophy on food is: "If it takes more than 30 seconds to make, that's too much effort." But for now I'm still going at it.

It's not a good idea to use more than about three ingredients in a smoothie, because then the tastes all merge together and you can't really taste anything specific. But today, just for fun, I thought I'd make the ultimate smoothie, with ALL the ingredients. Here's what I included:
  • 3 bananas
  • 10 strawberries
  • A handful of blueberries
  • 1/2 cup of chunk pineapple
  • An apple
  • 1/2 cup of orange juice
  • A few baby carrots
  • A celery stalk
  • About 2 inches of cucumber
  • A handful of spinach
  • 5 ice cubes
It actually tasted pretty good, even though you couldn't really make out individual tastes. The color was, well... you decide:



Around the same time I started making smoothies, I also started making "health pizzas". I use whole wheat crust, lots of vegetables, some pineapple, turkey pepperoni (70% less fat!), and sometimes actual turkey as a topping. But the most visible difference is the spinach, which is kind of a separate layer between the sauce and the toppings. The spinach doesn't have too much taste after cooking, but it adds to the nutritional value. (Even though all the good stuff gets killed when you cook vegetables...yeah yeah.)

(The pizza in the pictures below did not have the whole wheat crust.)