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Monday, November 7, 2011

warm green breakfast smoothies





The last thing I want to start my day in the winter is a cold glass of green smoothie. Never mind that kelp, spirolina, soymilk, and protein powder are touted as a wonder breakfast, I long for something warm and soothing, but loaded, of course, with all those vitamins I'm supposed to drink for a happy, healthy life.

Wait a minute. What if I simmered up all those lovely veg I love: spinach, arugula, and my new discovery of turnip greens ( which turns out to be THE super green) and well, why not add a big handful of parsley? Yum, yum, yum! Add a spoonful or two of that leftover rice and some good-for-you herbs and a dash of hot sauce? That would do, wouldn't it?

Such a lovely way to start the day, don't you think?

Makes two big smoothies.

1/2 a peeled onion, cut up
1 T. olive oil
2 cups beef, chicken, or vegetable broth
1/4 t. thyme
pinch of nutmeg
a small sprig of rosemary, de-stemmed
two drops of hot sauce (optional)
2 1/2 cups packed greens ( I sliced up turnip greens, arugula, and spinach today)
1/2 cup roughly chopped parsley
1-2 T. leftover rice (optional)
freshly ground pepper to taste

Gently saute the onion in the olive oil in a medium saucepan for 5 minutes.
Add the broth, herbs and nutmeg, greens, and rice and cook until the greens wilt down completely. Remove from heat and cool for a few minutes, then puree in a blender or use an immersion blender to puree completely.(Note: I'm not sure the rice is necessary to thicken the smoothie, so you can skip it if you want)
Serve in glasses or mugs.

Enjoy your beautiful day!

PS/ I didn't notice any bitterness with the turnip greens, perhaps because they were very fresh and barely cooked for this recipe ( as read in the Whole Foods comment section on turnip greens).

6 comments:

Kate said...

This sounds fantastic to me!
I try to punch up my smoothies in warm weather with a variety of greens to enhance the vitamin intake... but as the weather cools and then freezes I turn to less healthy morning starters.
The idea of a warm smoothie never crossed my thoughts.
Health, ease and warmth all rolled together in a mug... you are a genius!!!

katrina said...

Thanks, Kate! Isn't it funny how we ignore the obvious until one morning there's a "ah-HA" moment - mine came as I was heating up leftover soup for breakfast:) So delighted you agree!

Kalyn Denny said...

Love the sound of this. I'm not a fan of cold smoothies but this sounds comforting.

katrina said...

Thanks, Kalyn - I feel the same way about those chilly smoothies. Skipping the 3rd cup of coffee lately for this instead. And love those turnip greens!

Barb said...

This smoothie is a really pretty color, but I don't think I could do this for breakfast.

(Hey...I notice that my Word Verification for this comment is 'guzzlers' - kinda funny considering the subject matter, huh?)

katrina said...

Hi Barb - "guzzlers" - that's hilarious! I know what you mean about green smoothies, which turn me off when I see a great big glass of cold smoothie. For some reason, this smoothie ( basically a glass of warm soup) is delicious - at least I think so.