Our family has enjoyed green smoothies on and off for quite a while. I'm sure it's the same for many of you. But one day, something came into my life that forever changed green smoothies for me...
A Vitamix.
Oh, baby. Do I love my Vitamix!
But even if you don't have a one of those (they are quite spendy - it was a splurge of a gift!), your blender can make some amazing concoctions as well.
The basic smoothie recipe is sweet fruit, veggies and greens, and liquid like water/ice or milk. You can play with it by adding various bonus ingredients. We put protein powder and flax meal, and sometimes wheat germ in ours and have recently been adding spirulina powder and diatomaceous earth as well.
Here are the smoothie recipes I'm enjoying the most right now:
Dr. Oz Green Drink
- 2 apples
- 2 handfuls spinach
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
- 1 chopped celery stick
- 1 inch ginger root
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 1 medium cucumber
- 1/2 cup water
Kale, Pear/Apple, and Spinach
- 1 giant handful spinach
- 1 giant handful kale
- 1 apple or pear
- 1/2 - 1 whole banana, frozen (or fresh with a few cubes of ice)
- 1 cup milk, nut milk, or juice
- 1 tablespoon honey, optional
Tropical Smoothie
This is a modification on some other recipes I've found, like the Green Gator pictured above. :)
- 1 cup cubed pineapple
- 1/2 cup frozen mango (I buy this in bags at the store)
- 1/2 banana
- 1 handful kale
- 1/2 handful parsley
- 1/2 handful dandelion greens
- 1/2 cup water
Quick Tips
- Most recipes seem to make two giant smoothies. They also usually list the ingredients in the order you should add them to the blender.
- To avoid wasting greens, you may want to blend them and freeze in ice cube trays. Just pop some green cubes in your blender for smoothies later!
- To try new greens: Swap in a half cup here and there of arugula, endive, kale, dandelion greens, and parsley.
- To ease into drinking greens, add more sweetness: banana, cucumber, unsweetened fruit juice, pineapple, carrot, mango, milk, yogurt, and apples.
- Spinach is sweeter than kale, dandelion greens, etc.
- Oranges and lemon can help the taste of more bitter greens
- Fresh ginger (only an inch) is AWESOME in veggies smoothies and is great for avoiding or fighting off colds. I chop ginger into inches and freeze them on a sheet, transferring to a ziplock for later use.
- A giant golden delicious apple will make nearly any combination of veggies taste good. Today I added one to spinach, celery, and carrot and it tasted great.
- If you have a Vitamix (or even not), join the Yahoo group Vitamix Enthusiasts. They'll send you a link upon membership to a vast array of recipes and tips, including what you can throw in (apple cores, whole celery, etc.) that you could not do in a regular blender.
- Pinterest can give you some good ideas too. For a place to start, here's my smoothie board.
Linking up at Tasty Tuesdays with Janelle and Natural Living Linkup.
Thanks SO much for posting these! My husband has just begun doing the "smoothie thing" and was wanting me to find some good recipes! I still can't get over the "green" part...I love fresh spinach, but I don't know how I'll feel about it pureed! :)
ReplyDeleteHope you're having a great week!
Mrs. Sarah Coller
You're very welcome! Glad you found it helpful. BTW - Add enough blueberries to that smoothie and it becomes purple. :) Problem solved!
DeleteWe have a Magic Bullet that's starting to show its age and a standard mixer that's never been out of the box. Sounds like one or the other might actually work for these - I was beginning to think I might be interested in an official juicer, but I've not wanted to devote the cash or counter space to something I figured would get minimal use.
ReplyDeleteI had a juicer once. Meh. The thing I like about the Vitamix, which is a blender not a juicer, is that all the fiber and good stuff stays in the drink. Any blender will work for that. The Vitamix or Blendtec are nice because you can do more. I use mine several times a day for dicing, blending, making breadcrumbs and dry mixes, making peanut butter, an even grinding wheat berries for flour,
DeleteBut my point was juicer = meh, in my opinion, although others may disagree. Any decent blender is sufficient for great smoothies!
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