The Lazy Genius Podcast - #31: The Lazy Genius Makes a Smoothie

Episode Date: September 18, 2017

Yes, we all know what a smoothie is, but in this episode, we'll dig deeper into smoothies than you ever thought possible. Why do we drink them? When should we drink them? What's the actual best way to make them? I've got you covered... in smoothie. Show Notes: Your Smoothie Survival Kit complete with my favorite recipes Simple Green Smoothies, i.e. my smoothie Internet godmother Smoothie Booster Cubes to make all that green stuff easier The Lazy Genius Shops at Aldi Joy the Baker's take on smoothie freezer bags. Side note: she uses way more fancy stuff than I do, but the technique is the same. Plus she's funny. I mean, y'all know Joy, right? Follow me on Instagram this Thursday (September 21st) at 12:15pm ET to talk smoothies LIVE. This podcast is hosted by Kendra Adachi and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today's episode is episode 31. The lazy genius makes a smoothie. You're like, mm, Kendra, we know how to make smoothies. Calm down. I know. Point taken. But here's the pitch for today. I believe smoothies are the perfect lazy genius food for multiple reasons. If you already drink one every day or regularly, this will give you more reasons why and if you don't drink one every day I think in about 20 minutes you're going to want to so in the playbook today we're going to talk pretty simply we're going to talk about why we make smoothies when we make smoothies and how we make them um you know me like it's about way more than just a recipe right if um if you if recipes were the only thing keeping us

from doing this every day we'd be doing this every day like there's more to it than just having like the perfect smoothie recipe i do have some smoothie recipes for you. They are on the blog. You can access them in the show notes at the lazygeniescollective.com slash lazy slash smoothie. Okay, let's get started. Why do we make smoothies? I am guessing that you want to be a genius about feeding your body and your family's bodies, good, nutritious things that also taste great. But you want to be lazy when it comes to preparing said nutritious foods, right? Smoothies, are super lazy genius because they require practically no work. I mean, really, they give you a huge nutrition boost depending on what you put in them and they taste good. So most of us don't get as many

fruits and vegetables as we should every day. Sorry Dr. Oz, especially those like magical leafy greens. We've all heard about the leafy greens. Salad is fine, but oh my gosh, it's like so much work. Smoothies, though. So I can put a few handfuls of spinach. into my smoothie and I can get my greens without it tasting like dusty grass. Like that's a real thing. Yes. Yes, it is. It is a real thing. It is so fantastic to pack like a ton of goodness into one delicious drink that like it's also portable. I mean, how great is that? Put it in a cup and a straw and off you go. Okay. Now let me tell you about my favorite smoothie like resource is called, is a website and there's actually a book with full of recipes and tips and stuff. It's called

simple green smoothies. Now this, they do focus on green smoothies, which essentially just means that there are greens in them. That's really the only difference. But unless you're using like really, really strongly flavored greens and only like water, which would be, that's just like kale juice and that's nasty. Um, you don't really taste the greens. Or if you do, they even like add something. It's really quite lovely. But that is my favorite website for like smoothie information. And I will link to them in the show notes for sure. They have a formula, a smoothie formula that is fantastic. And I share that on the blog with my favorite recipes. But the thing that I love most about their perspective is just have one green smoothie a day. If you want to do more for your health

and how you feel, don't go crazy, adding like calorie restrictions and eliminating a ton of foods and walking 100,000 miles. Like that's not real. But you know, like we kind of go. extreme sometimes. For some of you, that is your reality. Like you're good. You know, you exercise all the time and you eliminate all these things from your life and, and you're still not angry. So that's fantastic. You do you, man. Power on. But for most of us, I think, we're just trying to make it. So the idea of just adding one green smoothie to your day is such a simple solution to a problem that I think feels insurmountable. Now, you probably aren't going to like start dropping pounds and look like Cindy Crawford just by having one green smoothie a day. But I have done this. I drink one green

smoothie pretty much without fail every single day. And I feel better. Like I really, I am not going to blow smoke at you. Like, I really do feel better. The smoothie, it usually takes the place of something less healthy, generally, like, especially at that like four o'clock apocalyptic kid time. and I'm getting like more nutrition right on a regular basis on the daily basis which is so great so if you worry about having healthy options every day just add in one green smoothie just add one that's all you need to do and just see what happens and the variety you get variety there because you can use like so many different ingredients right but the method is the same so you don't have to think about it or like make another decision or do something that requires all

of these steps. Like, if you just put it in your head, I'm going to have a green smoothie every day. How great? Is that? Oh, my goodness. It saves so much brain space. Okay, so I talk a lot about, and lots of other topics, I talk a lot about kind of decision fatigue and cognitive load to sound really fancy. Basically, our brains run out of decision-making ability every day. We have a limit on what we can choose and like how much we can choose. but things that are automatic. I talk about this in routines and rhythms. Things that are automatic that fit into some kind of routine that we do every day,

those do not count against our brain's decision limit. They don't count. That's why I love Monday uniforms. I love meal plans. I love laundry days. And I love that we have a smoothie for a snack after school every single day. It even helps my kids, I think. They're not faced with another choice, like right after their own long day at school.

They know we're having a smoothie. The flavor changes from day to day, obviously, that's just based on what we have around. But there's virtually no decision-making at all. And the result is delicious. It's delicious. And my kids do not hold back when they do not like something. Like, they are strongly opinionated. And I promise you that these smoothies, the recipes that I give on the blog, they taste great.

okay so if you have kids um or even it's just you and you need something in the afternoon I really highly encourage making a smoothie your afternoon snack um if you do have kids like you just make one big one and pour it into as many cups as you need and then everybody gets fed um in their you know their stomachs get fed then their brains too because they're not making a decision like how great is that so and there's also something kind of sweet about all of us having the same snack. That might seem a little bit too like sugary, but it's, it is kind of sweet. Okay, so when do you make it? That's why. It's healthy. It helps lessen your cognitive load. It takes a place of other things that might not be quite as healthy. When? When do you make it?

Clearly we have hours in the afternoon. I already said that. But some people have one instead, like for breakfast. They have that instead of like a plate of something. or a bowl of cereal. And if that's the case, you definitely do want to kind of pump the protein up on that a little bit. Again, I talk about recipes and kind of particular ingredients on the blog. So you can check that out. But for now, the idea is to choose the time of day when a smoothie could be the most helpful. Maybe that's breakfast. Maybe it's lunch because you like often forget to eat lunch or you get crippled by only having a few minutes to make something and you just end up eating the sandwich crust from your kids lunch you know the drill that's how it goes but if you

try it for one week like pick a time that you think might work really well for you try it for one week where you add a smoothie at the same time every day and see what happens if you're thoughtful about when you have it it could improve your entire day more than you anticipate it's magic it's a magic smoothie now it might not it might not it might not make a difference for you but then you know then you don't have to wander around wondering will a smoothie change my life You can be like, no, it won't. No big deal. Move on to the next thing. No big deal. No judgment here. Okay, so on the rare occasion that we don't get our family afternoon smoothie, you know, like if a grandma picks up the kids and takes them for ice cream or something after school,

I have a deal with myself. I drink one smoothie a day, and it has to have greens in it, which is pretty much always spinach for me. If that doesn't happen in the afternoon with my kids, It still has to happen, which means I have it after dinner instead of, you know, ice cream or something. Now, yes, ice cream is more fun than a smoothie. This is super true. But since the smoothies actually do taste great and they make me feel better than ice cream does, at least in the long run, they make me feel better than ice cream does, it makes that exchange of ice cream and smoothie for ice cream better and a little easier. like it's not so bad but on the afternoons just to be clear on the afternoons that i do have my smoothie dessert is super real you guys i'm not trying to take away your ice cream that would be that would be cool

with me it would be so incredibly cruel okay the point though the when matters like it really does so find the best time find that lazy genius way that works best for you that lazy genius time that you get to be a genius about your nutrition about your energy about just the time to make something but you can be lazy because you just put it in a blender and go to town. It's great. Okay, so we know the why. We know the when. What about how? Okay, adding spinach to your smoothie is such a no-brainer to me because it is super easy to do. It doesn't really affect the taste, but it gives you something your body is probably not getting enough of on its own. But this is very important. You cannot just add spinach and expect it to go well.

Have you ever had a smoothie with chunks of spinach? Like those little tiny pieces and they get stuck on the straw and junk. And that's, it is so nasty. That is so nasty. At least to me, it's nasty. Aw isn't something we need to travel for. It's something waiting for us in everyday life, whether in a city street or a moment with a work of art.

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Get it nice and juicy. Please for the love, do not smell it or you will hate your life. But once it's blended well, then add the fruit and yogurt or whatever you're doing. It's a perfect smoothie. No spinach chunks. Now, okay, if you also do like chia seeds or hemp seeds or something like that, the same thing is true. Like blend the tough stuff first until it's smooth with just the liquid and then add your fruit.

Okay, I'm telling you, that is such a game changer for your smoothies to be magical. Okay, next thing. The fruit. I always use a banana because it makes it creamy without having to add dairy. and I do better without dairy, which is a travesty because I love dairy so much. But I do try to limit it. This is an easy way to do that. A banana helps make it creamy.

And we always have bananas around, right? I mean, hands up to all the people buy bananas every other day. Like so many bananas. So we always use a banana. And then all the fruit that I put in the smoothie other than the banana is frozen. I buy mine mostly at Aldi and Costco. I do have a podcast episode. I'll link to it in the show notes.

The Lazy Jeanne's shops at Aldi. I don't even know if I mention frozen fruit because it's a newer discovery for me, and I recorded that episode months ago. So you can still listen. I don't know that I'll mention frozen fruit, though. But Aldi has great frozen fruit, and some of it is even organic, and it's so much cheaper than a lot of places.

But Aldi and Costco are my picks. Sometimes I'll get at Target if it's on sale. Like I might be at Target, and we desperately need something, and I'm not going to go to Costco for a few. days but for the most part all the in Costco are my places um and the list of fruits that we use i have on that blog post i mentioned so you can check that out um oh oh and did i mention that that blog post is full of gifts of jake jillenhall because it is you are so very welcome um okay

so one of the most important reasons that i use frozen fruit is so i don't have to use ice I have this really weird thing about ice and smoothies. I think it feels like watery and it tastes different to me. I don't know. Maybe it is like psychological. But frozen fruit works great. And then I don't have to put ice cubes on it. Ew.

I've actually heard though, I've heard from some people that frozen fruit doesn't have the same like robust flavor as like fresh fruit would or if you thaw the fruit a little bit. I have never noticed that difference. Maybe it's there and I'm just like too hung up on my ice cube. situation that I don't want to notice, but I feel like I still get flavor and it's fine. But if, because I have let it sit out a little bit and tried to taste the difference and I, I didn't taste the same to me. It might not to you.

But as long as we're getting our smoothies, like do your thing. It doesn't really matter. So, okay, so blend your greens first, right? Oh, and by the way, your greens are fresh. You don't need to like steam them or do anything like that. Like just pop them in with the liquid. Then you add your fruits frozen. if you can, fresh if you have to, thawed, whatever you want to do.

And you're all set. You don't have to do ice cubes if your fruit is frozen. Hallelujah. And then please, for the love, drink it right away. In snack world, there is nothing worse than a room temperature smoothie. That's why I like to do frozen fruit, because if you ever made one with fresh fruit and you're like, oh, it's so cold, ugh. I mean, it's just nasty.

So I like to start, I have a lot of opinions about smoothies. So try to not let it sit out for too long, or it's going to be a disaster. Okay, a couple more things. And we'll finish up. Okay, so I drink mine out of a mason jar because I'm a super basic white lady. But I actually really love seeing the color of it because it's like, sometimes it's like really bright green and cool. It makes me feel healthy. And I am.

I am really healthy when I drink the smoothie. And I also like to feel, this is so weird and tactile, but I really like to feel the cold of the smoothie through the glass and I don't get that same sensation through plastic. I promise I'm a normal sane human. But it's kind of multi-sensory for me to use a mason jar. And for me, that makes a difference. Like, I really like that. I also stole one of those, you know, this big old wide straws that come in water bottles. I stole one from a water bottle that nobody in that family really used. And I used that for my straw. For a while, I used those metal straws that like that are shaped like a regular thin straw but I couldn't get them clean.

I know they come with like a little straw brush, but I haven't got time for that. So I use the big old straw and that way I'm not using like a straw that we have to throw away out all the time since we drink so many smoothies. Try to avoid that as much as we can. Okay. Next thing is I have never made those pre-portioned smoothie bags. I'm sure they work great. But pulling a few things out of the freezer isn't really a pain point.

for me. Creating another system to store in my freezer is, though. So I don't do that. But if that helps you to just pull off the bag and go to town, that's great. What that does do is if you do use greens, it kind of takes away the whole blending your greens with the liquid first, since it's all in a bag. So that's the one thing. One thing that you can do to help you with that actually is to make smoothie booster cubes. I will also have that in the show notes as a post I wrote a while ago. And basically you blend up all of the hard things, like the spinach and the chia seeds and like all the little bags of things in the greens.

And you blend them all up with liquid first and then freeze them in ice cube trays. And so they're just ready to go. And you could put those in your smoothie bags with your fruit and then call it a day and be great. Okay. And finally, one last tip. If they're, you know how like there's just a little bit of smoothie left in the blender or in your cup or one of your kids only drink half of theirs okay and if the germ part of all that doesn't skeeve you out you can pour extra smoothie into an ice cube tray and before long you'll have enough cubes to make a full smoothie or you can just like

throw one or two cubes in no matter what flavor of smoothie you're making and you you won't really be able to tell the difference but you'll get a little bit more smoothie you're not going to waste it you get that extra ice thing so it's like more frothy and all that so that's a good thing to like don't throw away that little bit of smoothie that's left in the blender I think that's think it's worth keeping. For me, it's worth keeping. It might not be for you, but it's worth considering keeping at least. Okay, I really hope that you see the payoff of having a smoothie every day. Yes, it is good for your body, but I believe it's actually better for your brain. I really, anytime I can cut out a decision and fuel my body well, are you kidding me? Like,

that is so fantastic. And don't forget about Jake Gyllenhaal. Don't forget that he's waiting to smile at you in the post that I wrote about my favorite smoothie recipe combinations. And you can find all of those, kid approved and all, at the lazy genius collective.com slash lazy slash smoothie. Okay. Now, let's do a quick lazy genius tip of the week before we go. Do you have a plastic grocery bag in your car to collect trash? Okay, here's the thing.

I want to be lacy about cleaning out my car so bad because I hate it so much. I hate going and cleaning out the van. It's the worst. So my best genius way to clean it less often is to have a bag in the front for trash. I know that this is not rocket science. But like I just will always forget to put a bag in my van for trash because that's the biggest culprit. At least in my van, that's the biggest culprit for a messy van is trash.

So having a place for it to go automatically, it gives me way more space between. like real van clean outs, which let's be real, like don't really happen that much. So if you don't have a trash bag in your car, put one in there. Like right now, go do it. Mine is in the front seat in the front of the console. Is that right? But just like kind of, yeah, at my side. Like, I actually pull out the drink holder drawer. I have a drink holder drawer because I'm fancy. No, I'm not. And I'll just loop the handle of the grocery bag over that and then close it. And so it's like stuck and that's where all my trash goes. Tactic. Love it so much. So get yourself a car trash bag. It is such a lazy, genius way to keep your car clean. Okay. That is it for today.

I will, honestly, I will never, ever, ever get tired of saying thank you for listening. Like truly, thank you for listening. Thank you for sharing this podcast with your friends. One of my favorite things about this in the whole world is I love getting emails from you guys and you like apologizing for being crazy when you say you share almost every episode with your friends and I'm like you are not crazy you are extra awesome so keep sharing like it's truly the greatest kindness that you can show me in the show like it's it's just I'm so grateful um you guys are just the best okay remember be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't see you next time if you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life it's so dangerous

to live that more dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life because when you're living a B or B plus life, you don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think, okay, an A plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts.