Green Smoothie Treasure Chest: Mason Jars & Working Glass

If you're like me, you're busy and you may use smoothies as snacks on the go, or a really large smoothie (with a significant protein) as a meal replacement.  But wait, you need a blender and straw--not very travel friendly.  My solution?  I blend my smoothies in the morning for a healthy breakfast.  Or before I leave home for the day I make my smoothie and use mason jars (with plastic screw top lids) or working glass jars as to-go containers.  From my experience the plastic mason jar lids are pretty spill resistant, but I doubt they're completely water tight so be careful--put the smoothie in a plastic bag to catch spills if you're going to put the jar in your purse.  If you purchase a dozen mason jars, they make fun and stylish water glasses too!  (Sorry for the weird flash picture).

Now these won't keep your smoothie cold, but if you're going to drink the smoothie on the drive to work it doesn't need to stay cold all day.  Or you may have a handy refrigerator at work to keep your lunch and snacks cold.  One note--you may get questions at work like, "What is that?"  "What are you drinking?"  "Gross."  Remember, instead of a morning doughnut, you're having fruits and vegetables.  You've made a healthy choice.  Good for you!  But if you want to keep your smoothie more red and purple, use beet powder or extra blueberries.  Remember you'll still have bits of spinach and kale floating around.  And bananas and avocados will start to turn a little funky gray color in the course of a day, but no worries--the smoothie is still okay to drink.  Though I wouldn't suggest keeping a smoothie for more than about a day and a half (and keep it refrigerated!).  If I make a whole blender full of smoothie, I usually have one full meal sized smoothie and a smaller size, which I store in a 14 oz working glass jar or a smaller jelly jar, as a snack for later in the day.  Also, remember to rinse out your smoothie container once you've drank it--otherwise bits of spinach and fruit residue will dry onto the jar (no worries,  a light scrubbing will remove it if you forget to rinse).

Here's some Amazon links to purchase:
Mason Jars (pint size as pictured)
Plastic Mason Jar Lids  (these are the regular size, they also have wide mouth size--check the size of your mason jars before you purchase!)
Working Glass Jars 21 oz and Working Glass Jars 14 oz (pictured above)

Upcoming posts--My blender and eco friendly glass straws!

Green Smoothies Ingredient Profile: Beet Root Powder

I've decided to do a few smaller entries on smoothies and the ingredients I use to break all the info down into smaller, more manageable pieces (and because I'm lazy).  Today's ingredient is beet root powder.  Here's a not-so-great picture I took with my cell phone.

Beet root powder:  Has the highest sugar content for a vegetable and can also be used as a dye. One of the nutrients in beets/beet root powder is betaine.  Here's some info from the Mountain Rose Herbs profile:
"Betaine (the same as the nutritional supplement trimethylglycine, not the same as betaine hydrochloride)."
"Beet powder provides a wide range of nutrients, but its most significant phytochemical is betaine. This plant chemical helps the liver and kidneys recycle the amino acid methionine to maintain the body's stores of s-adenosyl-methionine, more commonly known as SAM-e."  If you've never heard of SAM-e, there's been a lot of recent press about it's ability to help with depression (again, I'm not a doctor, this is not meant to diagnose, cure, or treat you.  It's just info).  Here's a link to a NY Times article about a study done on SAM-e.


"Betaine also helps the liver process fat. This prevents the accumulation of fatty tissues in the liver (steatosis), especially in heavy drinkers, and it also prevents excessive triglycerides and LDL cholesterol in the blood."


The Mountain Rose Herbs site says one teaspoon of beet root powder is equal to the nutrition in one beet.  And it's easy to incorporate a teaspoon into a smoothie.  It tastes kind of how you'd expect it to taste, like a sweet/tart dried beet.  It doesn't really change the taste of your smoothie, if anything it helps cover the veggie taste a little and make it a prettier red/purple color instead of weird green/brown/purple.  The beet root powder I used in my smoothie is from my local co-op, but I will be ordering some from Mountain Rose Herbs in the future (buying in bulk is cheaper!).  I have ordered other products from their site before and had a very positive experience (great selection of sometimes hard to find natural products--essential oils, herbs, tinctures, cosmetic and cooking oils, spices, etc.-- and good quality).  Here's a link Mountain Rose Herbs "B" section of bulk herbs, check out beet root powder!


There will be more entries on ingredient profiles and a smoothie how-to coming soon.  Be sure to check out my previous entry introducing my veggie smoothies.