Belinda Olsen Photography » Utah Wedding & Portrait Photographer | Logan, Utah | 435-881-2184

Recently I have discovered a new favorite breakfast: green smoothies (or any variety of juicing combinations)  Like everyone else, I thought that green smoothies looked absolutely disgusting. How could people really drink that?!?

I was editing photos and watching Netflix one day.  As I browsed through health shows I decided to watch, Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, with Joe the Juicer.  I was amazed at all the benefits from juicing.  People said over and over that it was better than they thought it would be.  That night I tried a green smoothie and didn’t like the chunks of vegetables and spinach…ew gross.  About an hour later I ran to Bed, Bath & Beyond and bought my Behville juicer.  I’ve never looked back!  (I signed up for the BB&B newsletter to get a 20% off coupon specifically to save money on my juicer)

I’ll tell you a few tips and tricks:

  • I use half fruit and half vegetables.  My goal is to have a variety of colors to ensure that I’m getting a variety of vitamins and nutrients.
  • Try all sorts of fruits, herbs and vegetables.  If you’re not sure if you’ll like it, start by putting in only a little. Mint and ginger are winners!
  • Celery is much stronger than you think! One stalk is plenty.  More than that will overpower your juice.
  • Peel beets!  I made a batch where I washed my beets but didn’t peel them and my smoothie somewhat tasted like dirt…or at least what I imagine dirt would taste like.
  • Peel oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes, pomelo and other citrus.  The pith (white stuff around the fruit) is really bitter.  You’ll thank me for sharing this tip with you, I promise.
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  • When I juice there is usually a surplus due to the large variety I like to use.  I put the extra in ice trays to freeze and use for convenience later.
  • I also freeze greek yogurt for the added protein.  I  juice all my fruits together and all my veggies together.  That’s why I have some green cubes and some fruit cubes.  I will add my frozen fruit/veg cubes with milk, frozen fruit, a banana and mix in my Ninja I got on sale at Sam’s Club.  Great purchase!PINIMAGE
  • When you go to the grocery store get a few extra produce bags.  I put this in the container where all the skins, pulp, etc go.  (you can see this on the left)  This makes clean up much faster!  For you people who say that I am getting less nutrition because I’m not eating the skins.  I promise you that I would never eat this many servings of fruits or vegetables without juicing!PINIMAGE
  • Almost every time I take the juice and then put it in my Ninja and make a smoothie out of it.  This is just what I prefer.  I add ice and *always* a banana.  I think that a banana really blends the flavors together.  One banana is plenty for my preference.
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Here is my beet, apple, pear, plum, carrot, spinach, orange, ginger, celery, jicama, tomato, parsnip, banana smoothie!  If you’re nervous to try juicing here are some great blogs for you to check out:

  • My Juice Cleanse – great recipes, tips, benefits and scientific breakdown.  No you don’t have to juice for all three meals!
  • Green Food, Green Thumb, High Heels –  Lindsay is really down to earth and a great read.  We both really love to cook and view the kitchen as our sanctuary!
  • Peas & Thank You – Sarah is very innovative with her recipes.  I’ve even snuck in some tofu at our house with no one noticing 🙂 I’m not sure about the whole vegan thing…but her recipes are really good.  I really, really want her cookbook.
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If you’re still nervous,  come on over and try a smoothie with me!

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  • kristin - Belinda. This is great! Thank you! I need to get in the habit of juicing more. Mine just never seem to turn out that great. Maybe I need some coaching. 🙂ReplyCancel

    • Belinda Olsen - Anytime you want to come by and juice with me you are more than welcome!ReplyCancel

  • Chelsea Lewis - I want to try this so bad! I don’t eat hardly ANY fruits and vegetables regularly and I think I could if I did this!ReplyCancel

  • Ginger - Maybe we should do this for a Macey’s get together! 🙂ReplyCancel

  • Cindy Steel - YAY! I had me a green smoothie just this morning! We are getting back on the bandwagon after a couple month hiatus. 🙂 Thanks for showing how you do it and the great ideas!ReplyCancel

    • Belinda Olsen - I hate how easy it is to get off of the bandwagon. I always feel much better after having my smoothie’s for a few days in a row. It’s amazing how much energy I have!ReplyCancel

  • Carey @ My Juice Cleanse - Belinda,
    You certainly make the juice look so beautiful and delicious with your photography!ReplyCancel

  • golden goose sneakers - I am also commenting to make you know of the great experience my friend’s child experienced using the blog. She came to understand some pieces, which include what it is like to possess a very effective teaching spirit to have others just learn some tricky subject matter. You undoubtedly did more than readers’ expected results. Thanks for showing such good, trusted, edifying and even unique thoughts on your topic to Tanya.ReplyCancel

Family sessions are wonderful!  I especially love Logan this time of year with the fall leaves changing color.  I was really excited to photograph the Walker family. I can’t believe how fast this family has grown.  It doesn’t seem like that long ago that Kari & Garrett were getting married.  It’s crazy to think that S-E-V-E-N years ago I was taking these photographs for them:

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What a blast from the past!

I convinced Kari’s little girls that they could call me Aunt Belinda.  At first I tried to convince them that Kari & I look a lot a like…Kari with her blonde hair and blue eyes.  Me with my brown hair and brown eyes.  That argument didn’t go over well. Next, it was because I’ve known their mom longer than their parents have known each other.  This won them over.  I love the fact that my logic made sense to their little girls.  It made me love them a little more  😀

PINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEMy favorite!   Thanks Kari for being such a great friend! PINIMAGE

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  • Kristin - Those are so beautiful!! Lovely lighting and posing. So pretty.ReplyCancel

  • Cindy Steel - I agree with Kristin! Beautiful family and lighting. My fav is probably the one with the three little girls. So cute!ReplyCancel

 My pinterest board lately has been reflecting how much I enjoy my favorite season, fall.  I thought I’d share weekly some fun things I’m loving on pinterest.  This week, the fall edition!  I love the intense colors, how the sunlight gets warmer in color, pulling out my sweaters and scarves and good comfort foods (which I’m learning to make low cal so Bob Harper doesn’t come attack me).  This fall I am determined to find myself a great pair of inexpensive carmel colored boots.  If you have any great input, let me know!

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Image Credit:

1. Fall Cottage    2. Richard Schilling Land Art   3.  How to Tie a Scarf    4. Martha Stewart Fall Centerpieces    5.  Food Network Soup Recipes 

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I hope everyone had a great Halloween!  We had a total of three trick or treaters come by…all people we knew.  I look forward to having cute little kiddlets one day and dressing them up for Halloween.

On to a totally different note. I had the best weekend ever!  I spent the majority of it with Kristin, Chelsea and Cindy.  In February we went to a photography conference, WPPI, and loved chatting mostly about photography for a week.  Over the summer we decided that we needed to create our own educational photography weekend. This weekend was that weekend!

We camped out at Kristin’s house.  I wish I would’ve taken a picture of all the stuff we brought.  I think girls in general pack on the heavy side.  On top of that, we added our camera gear and laptops to the mix!  We laughed hysterically, talked about business, had dinner at yummy Firehouse Pizzeria and then had ice cream from Charlie’s. (one of the best ice cream places in Logan!)

In the morning we went and had breakfast at Kneaders.  (I’m sooooo excited that Logan has one!) Kristin and I went to one of the most beautiful weddings I’ve ever seen at the Logan Temple.  While we were at the wedding Chelsea posed as a bride for Cindy to photograph.  Kristin and I caught the tail end of ‘bridal’ pictures and I can’t wait to show you some of those later this week.

Kristin and Chelsea showing off their beautiful iPads.  I can think of at least 100 practical uses for an iPad.  I will be adding this to my Christmas list!

PINIMAGEKristin!PINIMAGEPINIMAGEChelsea!PINIMAGEPINIMAGECindy!PINIMAGEPINIMAGEMe!  Thank you Cindy for taking these!PINIMAGEPINIMAGE

I know I’ve said it several times, but it is great to have friends who encourage, support and understand my passion of being a photographer!

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  • Chelsea Lewis - I loved our weekend and I LOVE our fall leaves pictures! =) Yay for us!ReplyCancel

    • Belinda Olsen - Playing in the leaves was great! I should do that more often.ReplyCancel

  • Becca - Belinda, I don’t know if you’ll ever see this as I’m commenting on an old post- but I wanted to tell you that I love your photography and wonderful ideas… and you look AWESOME in that last pic! Love it! Great blog.ReplyCancel

  • Belinda Olsen - Thanks Becca! I get really self conscious in front of the camera (like most people). I appreciate your sweet comment 🙂ReplyCancel