Do you make smoothies?

Ingredients: Spinach, flaxseeds, banana, avocado, soy milk and honey to taste

I use to think blending fruits together was for babies or people with weak teeth like seniors as I didn't understand why any adult would prefer to mash their fruits together.  Infact one of my housemates in my University days use to make smoothies almost every morning and she even introduced me to this healthy diet. It however took me a LONG time to adopt this healthy refreshment. I started blending my fruits in the summer of 2011 in Beijing where I had a blender with 2 jars.

After months of not using the other jar, I decided to put it to good use by blending some of the fruits I had bought from the fruit markets before they went bad. And so my love for smoothie began! Every neighbourhood in Beijing has a fruit market which are easily accessible to pedestrians and so I would buy different types of fruits and take them home to blend. I enjoyed blending different types of fruits together so much that I even bought a Smoothie recipe book from the Chinese Amazon website.

Ingredients: kale, spinach, water, honey, cantaloupe, avocado, mangoes and flax seeds

Fast forward to Canada; last month while perusing Facebook, I came across a link to a 30 Day Green Smoothie Challenge for the month of may on simple green smoothies, a lovely site founded by Jen and Jadah. At the time, I was actually thinking of ways that I could increase my daily intake of vitamins and minerals in order to improve my overall diet. I was also contemplating actually trying a green smoothie and trying the super vegetable which is Kale. So you could say that the post came at the right time. While I am not on the 30-day challenge, I do try to drink a cup of green smoothie a day, supplementing "missed" days with a bowl of green salad or one or two fruits.

I've made 4 different mixtures throwing different fruit and non fruit items together. The four mixtures have all been delicious so far, I was actually surprised I liked the taste!

I wouldn't recommend drinking a green smoothie late at night, as the high fiber content could interfere with your sleep.

Do you drink smoothies? Do you add vegetables to your drink?  What is your favourite mixture?