Kale Shakes!

That sentence could be read several ways, so lets go with this: shakes, as in the relative of smoothies, make with the leafy green vegetable kale!

Gosh, that sounds gross. But it wasn't! My awesome friend Kristin told me that she makes these and her kids like them, and since I'm always trying to pack more veggies into my life, I thought - hey! Great idea! So this morning for breakfast, we tried kale shakes (God bless my poor husband).

First, we started out with what all my shakes start out with: Almond milk! I prefer almond milk to regular milk because it's a bit less on the calories, way less on the fat, but it's not as much sugar as skim milk. As a person with PCOS, I try to limit my dairy intake and restrict it only to full-fat dairy (the fat makes my body process the sugar more slowly, thereby keeping my glucose levels more steady).

Some complain it has a grainy quality, but I haven't found that... 

I poured whatever was left, but it was probably about 1.5 cups. Then I went to my fruit base: blueberries and strawberries, frozen. I started with a half cup of each, dumped it in my awesome blender (courtesy of Tom's wonderful Aunt Ann and Uncle Jim) and added a ton of kale. 

Organic kale from the local co-op. I love me some greens!

If you can't tell, that's my blender packed to the brim with kale, plus the almond milk + fruit mix on the bottom.

Blended on "ice" for about two minutes, just to make sure to get all the kale-ey-ness out. That did not work; when I tasted it, it was like fruity kale-ly gazpacho. So I added another cup of blueberries. Still was not working. Then a tablespoon of peanut butter. Whoa, definitely not working!! But I had to save this dern shake: I was not going to throw out this hideous mixture, but neither could I ingest it. So I resorted to the ingredient that makes everything delicious: agave. 

Available at Wal-Mart at a very budget friendly price!  

Presto-chango, delicioso! Just a quick squeeze and swirl of this stuff, plus 15 seconds on low blend. It was ready to be consumed and would not cause me to mutter subversive anti-health things under my breath. However, since I still believe it's not a meal without meat!, I had to add a side dish to our smoothie: 

PETA: People for the Eating of Tasty Animals! 

I hear you gasp. "Bacon, Martha? Really? Doesn't that negate the entire health vibe you were going for?" No, no it does not, and if my choices are live to be 100 and not eat bacon or live till I'm 70 without it, I say: Jesus got it all done at 33, so a long life is not required for Heavenly entrance. I believe in bacon! Besides, it has zero transfat and serves as a good dose of fat (along with the peanut butter) to balance out the sugar in the smoothie, and make me feel fuller longer thanks to the protein. 

Good thing our teams are in different conferences, otherwise this marriage thing might not work

Hope you all enjoyed your breakfast as much as we enjoyed ours! Now go make kale shakes if you want to explore the world of vegetables in liquid forms!