I am on a steady regimen of Vita-Mix smoothies. Lettuce, orange, and blueberries for breakfast, followed by some variation of the combo pictured here for lunch.

This one turned out great… for a bunch of veggies blended into a drinkable beverage, or as I prefer to call it, a healthy lunch smoothie.

There are no exact measurements here. Add more of what you like, but not necessarily less of what you don’t like! Don’t skimp on the greens!

• a few broccoli florets
• 2 carrots
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1 golden delicious apple
• 10-15 beet greens, wilted
• a handful of wheatgrass
• a handful of sunflower sprouts
• 3 frozen strawberries
• 1/2 red beet
• 1-2 cups water

I think I’ll be having meals very similar to this much more frequently. I forgot how much I loved tostones, so now I’m going to be looking for meals that compliment my newly-re-found favorite side dish.

I made up a simple guacamole, which is really probably more of some American avocado salad… but it’s an avocado, 1 clove chopped garlic, juice from 1/2 lime, sea salt, and pepper.

For the black beans, I sauteed 1/2 of a yellow onion in a little peanut oil just to keep it from sticking. When the onion was soft, I added one large carrot, covered the pot, and let that cook for a few minutes. I added a can of rinsed black beans, a nice pinch of cumin, 2 cloves chopped garlic, and let this cook while I made my Tostones.

I expect to have dozens of variations of this dish as the year goes on…

Here is another healthy lunch smoothie. Super healthy, and not so bad going down.

Ingredients:

• 1 apple
• 2 carrots
• lettuce (large handful)
• 1 cup pineapple chunks (I used frozen)
• 1/3 red beet
• 1 green onion
• splash of Boulder Hot Sauce, Smokey Serrano flavor
• 2 cups water

This might not sound good to you. I don’t know if it would have sounded good to me a few months ago… during the stage of my life before I had my Vita-Mix. Everything has changed now.

Why has everything changed? Because now I grind up a ton of veggies to drink for lunch. I had been living on peanut butter or almond butter sandwiches for lunch for almost the entire 5 years I’d been living in Colorado. This past January I spent my birthday money (plus some of my own) on a Vita-Mix, and it has changed my life. If you have one, you’ll likely understand. If you don’t, you might find me weird. Either way, here is one of my healthy lunch smoothies.

Ingredients:

• 1 apple
• 2 kiwis
• 1/4 golden beet
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 handful parsley
• 2 carrots
• 3/4 cup snow peas
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
• ginger (as much fresh ginger as you like- I used 1 tsp)
• 1-2 cups water (add more if you like it thinner… or should I say, less thick)