Green Breakfast Smoothie + Menu Plan

Back in July I got into juicing and making my own smoothies. I think I have tried just about every combination of fruit and veggies imaginable! Some I really like, some the kids will tolerate and others were a "well obviously these fruits don't mix well with these vegetables." It's truly been a trial and error all summer! 

However for the past 9 weeks now, I get up every morning, grab some coffee and get to work making this smoothie. It's a good start to the morning and depending on how ripe your fruit is, it can be rather sour (which may help to wake you up!) or it can be really sweet. In the case that it's too sweet, I either cut back on the over-ripe fruit or I'll add grapefruit juice to mine. I've also recently become a big fan of flavored green tea, so I'll add a glass of it to each smoothie or juice that I make. I love Lipton's Green Tea Superfruit brands, the Dragon Fruit Melon and Blackberry Pomegranate are my two favorites! 

Pineapple Orange Spinach smoothie 

makes 2 large servings

- 2 handfuls of spinach or about 2 1/2 cups 

- 1 handful of kale or about 1 1/4 cups

- 2 oranges, juiced (set juice aside) 

- 1 cup pineapple chunks

- 1 small mango peeled or 1/2 of a large mango (peeled) 

- 2 sprigs of mint leaves

- 1/4 of a carton of wheat grass or about a 1/4 cup

- 12 oz. of cold green tea or water

- grapefruit juice (optional) *** make sure that grapefruit won't interact with any medications you are taking beforehand ***

Directions

Add all ingredients into the blender, leaving out the orange juice. I have a smoothie setting on my blender, but you'll just want to blend everything until it is smooth. Once your smoothie is... smooth (no chunks left behind!) pour in the orange juice (and grapefruit juice if using) and stir to blend. I pour mine over ice in a very large glass add a straw and enjoy! 

I've made a few variations of this smoothie like using a 1/2 head of romaine lettuce to replace the kale and spinach, or replacing the pineapple with peeled guavas. You could also add ground flax seeds or ground chia seeds to this smoothie too! This is now Peter's favorite drink in the morning, it grows on you after awhile. :) 

Here's what I have planned so far for dinner this week! I love making these menus,  I've always found that it's helpful to plan out everything I want to make for the week, and I'm nosy and like to check out what other people are eating too! :) 

Monday
Minestrone Soup, wheat rolls

Tuesday
Pulled Pork tacos with shredded cabbage and mango-avocado salsa, Honeydew

Wednesday
Honey Sesame Chicken Thighs (slow-cooked) coconut brown rice, sauteed green peas and green beans (grilled tofu for me) 

Thursday 
Grilled garlic butter Salmon, Pinenut Couscous, Roasted Strawberry Spinach salad 

Friday
Broccoli Cheddar Carrot Soup, Grilled Ham and Swiss cheese on Wheat Rolls

Saturday
Southwest bbq salad with grilled shrimp (tomato, avocado, black beans, corn, cilantro, green onion, red onion, with a Bbq ranch yogurt dressing) watermelon 

Sunday 
Grandma's Sopes (and lots of leftovers!) 

Breakfast ideas
pumpkin butter (for lattes and oatmeal) 
pumpkin pie oatmeal 
zucchini-carrot-wheat coffee cake muffins
Turkey mushroom breakfast burritos 
Pineapple Orange Spinach smoothie 


Hope your week gets off to a wonderful start! 
xo ~ Tara