yummy power-juice: the swamp tastes good. (odwalla knock-off)

despite my joking title, this really is some seriously good stuff. not only good for you, but also delicious tasting. i submit that anybody doing a blind test taste for this would think they were drinking a pink strawberry-banana smoothie. 

i started thinking more about healthy food when someone who came across my blog emailed me. they are developing an App to help people eat better food, exercise more, and live healthier life styles.  (and they wanted my opinion on it! tooooootally flattered, by the way)  aaanyways, that got me thinking: wouldn't it be better to eat healthier if healthy food tasted delicious? 

i can't claim any brilliance for this recipe. my mom is the one who makes this stuff all the time. i'm pretty sure i don't eat nearly as enough veggies as i should. i am also pretty sure that to get the most nutrition out of fruits/veggies, they should be eaten raw.

and in this case. drunk.

this drink is yummy. not doubt about it. but it also makes me feel more energetic. on days where i'm so busy that i forget to make a vegetable side dish or grab a salad, i drink this stuff. 

oh, and plus i'm pretty sure that if you buy this at the store as a Odwalla Superfood drink, it's like $3 (on sale) for a single serving. totally not cool.

let's break the cost of this drink down. for a full blender full we have:

10 frozen strawberries .75 cents

1 frozen banana .19 cents

1/2 bunch of organic kale .50 cents (i bought it on sale at whole foods for .99 cents/lb)

1  1/2 cups of juice .75 cents

4 ice cubes: free

total: $2.19 for a full blender

 

I added a bit more juice, ice and kale after this. So this really does make a full blender-full.

make sure you have an empty bottle to store it in. I used some of this juice in the drink and then just poured my finished product in.

gather your ingredients:

10ish strawberries, whole

1 frozen banana, peeled

1 1/2 cups of any juice (i usually use apple)

4 or so ice cubes 

3 large handfuls of raw kale leaves (no stems!)

put everything in the blender. start it on low and then work it up to high. you'll have to stop it a couple times to stir the ingredients around. after everything has broken down pretty small, put the blender on high and let it go for a couple minutes. you really want the kale leaves to break down so you can't see little pieces in the drink.

it will be a little frothy. that's ok, it's just from being swirled around so much.

pour into your container and enjoy! 

remember that you can always alter this recipe: you can add carrots and/or celery, fresh apples, frozen grapes. it's a great base to customize to your own tastes!

oh and p.s.  happy birthday to the best mom ever. you still look like my sister. or so the tell me ;)

p.p.s. thanks for *still* letting me borrow your clothes :)