How I get my greens.

I KNOW I need to eat green leafy veggies, particularly spinach. Spinach is one of those super-foods. I try to eat spinach every day because I'm often anemic and I really believe that EATING your vitamins is better than taking a pill. So.... this is what I do.

1. I buy two big bags of baby spinach when I do my every-other-week shopping trip. I put one in the freezer. I put the other in the fridge.

2. For the first week after my shopping trip, I eat a salad each day for a snack, or with lunch, or with dinner. I'm not a salad fan, in general. I like some restaurant salads, like the ones with iceburg lettuce, egg, cheese, deli ham, buttery croutons, bacon bits, and homemade ranch. Umm....those break some rules and end up kinda fatty, salty, and not-so-good for me. I've had to re-learn to like a slightly different type of salad. I like STUFF on my salad. I make my stuff count as a carb or a protein. Here are two I like.

a. Big handful of spinach, sliced boiled egg, 1/4 cup grated cheese, a sprinkle of sunflower seeds for crunch, 1/2 of a sliced pear or apple, shredded carrotKraft Lite Raspberry viniagrette (I need to learn to make my own 'cause Kraft isn't really all natural like I'd prefer)

b. Big handful of spinach, 2 oz of leftover chicken or pork, a sprinkle of slivered almonds for crunch, canned mandarin oranges, sliced celery or pepper, Newman's Own Light Asian Sesame dressing.

3. The second week, I make a smoothie each day, using my frozen spinach. It gets all frozen together and stuff, no biggie. Just crunch it up with your hands and shake about 2 cups worth into the blender for each smoothie. I add juice, fruit, water, protein powder, and you have a carb/protein combination PLUS my super spinach. I never add yogurt to my green smoothies. Just seems wrong to me.