How to Make the Perfect Green Smoothie

General Guidelines for Making Green Smoothies

Green smoothies are a great way to get more fruits and vegetables in your diet.  Experiment with ingredients to find your favorite smoothie!

 

·         STEP ONE:  cover the blades of your Vitamix or blender with liquid. This can be water or juice. It will help the blending process.

·         STEP TWO: Add fruit. Green grapes, pears, apples/applesauce or juice of any of these are sweeteners. Bananas, pumpkin, peaches, etc. can be used as thickeners. This is a good time to add yogurt if you are including it.

·         STEP THREE: Add any supplements, like chia, while blender is on and mixing, and before you add the greens. It seems to get incorporated into the mix better this way.

·         STEP FOUR: Add greens. Spinach is mildest, followed by Napa cabbage, bok choy and young Swiss Chard. Full grown Swiss Chard and Kale have a more noticeable taste as does celery.

·         ADD ICE: Ice gives your smoothie a nice texture after blending, and is very refreshing. You can add frozen fruit at the end instead of ice for the same effect. I like adding frozen strawberries or blueberries.

Blueberry Green Smoothie

I thought I'd share my impromptu recipe for a green smoothie this morning that turned out fantastic. I had to go back into the refrigerator and get the same ingredients that I had just used so you could see what went into this before it was blended.

Above, as pictured, I included a handful of spinach, a stalk of celery, a large leaf of napa cabbage, 1/2 cup of blueberries, and last but not least, 1/2 a frozen banana (I slice them up and freeze them so they are ready to blend). With a vitamix, always cover the blade with liquid first to facilitate blending. I used crystal light lemonade! You can use water or juice.

It was delicious. Hope you'll try it and let me know how you liked it!

Green Smoothies

Have you every heard of green smoothies? If you haven't had one or never heard of one, you are probably wondering why anyone would drink something that is the color of green! Well, get ready for a nutritious, delicious drink for breakfast, lunch or really anytime you are in the mood.

I have a Vitamix blender, which is really great for making smoothies, and lots of other things. No, they aren't paying me to endorse their product. I've had my Vitamix for over 20 years, a gift from the best mother-in-law on the face of the earth, yep, that would be my mother-in-law, Ella. She is 94 years young and is still doing great. Anyway, back to the smoothy. You can get some recipes from http://www.vitamix.com/ . This is a great way to start. Once you know what ingredients you like, then just start experimenting. Today, I started with:

1 c. green grapes (picked up today from the farmer's market...sweet and delicious)
2 c. baby spinach
1 medium ripe banana
1 medium peach, peeled and pit removed (also picked up at the farmer's market)
1/2 c. lemonade (it was already made up and in the refrigerator)
1 c. ice cubes


You just put it all in the vitamix, or blender and put it on high for about 1 minute. I should've taken a picture of my vitamix, but forgot...next time...now it needs cleaning! I have the all stainless steel one. Love it!
Can I just say how totally delicious this is! You do not taste the spinach at all, but do get the wonderful benefit of the phytochemicals, B vitamins, and Beta Carotine! What is not to love about that! My DS#4 emphatically DID NOT want to drink this, but I insisted. He loved it as did DH. The flu/cold is going around, so I am going to start serving these more often. This made about 3 8 oz portions.