Berry-Spinach Smoothie Freezer Packs

This is not a "recipe", but since learning that my friend Stephanie makes her smoothie packs ahead of time -complete with fresh spinach- and freezes them, I have not been able to stop doing the same. I'd never thought about freezing fresh spinach before, but doing it this way means you never worry whether the spinach is going bad or won't last the whole week. Plus, freezing fresh vegetables when packaged right doesn't lose much, if any of the nutritional value. Now, when I need a quick breakfast I just add the contents of my freezer bag to the blender with a cup of coconut milk and a spoonful of plain Greek yogurt. Really, you can add anything you want but I like to keep it simple.

I've been watching my sugar intake in an effort to lose a few remaining baby pounds so I only do mixed berries for the fruit part of the smoothie. Berries are lower in sugar than other typical smoothie fruits such as banana or oranges and also have a higher nutritional profile, so this is a fantastic option for me. I go heavy on raspberries and blackberries and lighter on the sweeter blueberries and strawberries, but I still always include all four. I also add 1/8-1/4 teaspoon of stevia to my bag of frozen berries and spinach to help sweeten everything up so I won't need to add other sugary fruits.



I can't tell you how convenient this is. I underestimated how much time this actually saves. Plus, having them ready to go like this means I choose smoothies more often, which is always a good thing.

I reuse the ziplock freezer bags too. Since theres no real residue, its easy to dry them out and fill again for my next smoothie round.

These are the kind of ideas I love. So simple it's genius. And like I've said before, I like to incorporate more simple in my life.

Oh, and this baby? She started clapping yesterday! 6 months 2 weeks old.



Clapping, but not sleeping on her own yet. My friend Beth and I have been talking about our babies who don't sleep -she is in newborn stage and has it worse- it's amazing how talking with someone who actually gets it and is in the trenches with you can help. Am I off topic again? Gah, well while I'm here I might as well tell you that the second I sign off here I will begin to sing "Just Give Me A Reason" by P!nk...passionately in my kitchen...Anyone else catch her Grammy performance last night? Loved it!

And, back to the topic at hand...

Berry-Spinach Smoothie Freezer Packs
makes one pack (but you'll want to make several packs at one time)

1 cup lightly packed fresh baby spinach
1 cup mixed berries (I do half raspberries, then fill in with a mix of blueberries and blackberries plus 2 strawberries per pack)
1/8-1/4 teaspoon stevia

Place ingredients into a freezer ziplock bag, squeeze as much air out as possible and freeze. When you are ready to make your smoothie add the frozen contents of the bag into a blender and add 1 cup coconut milk (sometimes you may need more to get it blended up well) and a tablespoon of plain greek yogurt.