Get Your Green Smoothie On (Recipes & a Tip)

Get Your Green Smoothie On (Recipes & a Tip)

I’ve been a fan of green smoothies for about 5-6 years now. I love them.

And what’s not to love?

They are healthy and taste great. (well, they can taste bad too but I’m going to help you with that)

I would’ve shared them with you before now but around January of last year, within months of starting this blog, I had lofty dreams of creating another blog devoted solely to food and recipes.

Funny. I had no clue how involved (creating content, taking photos, editing photos, writing, building etc) a blog was.

I do now.

Let’s just say, I won’t be starting a second blog anytime soon. ;) (edited to add…I did finally start that blog in March/2015 –>> www.foodiechicksrule.com :) )

So….that means I’ve decided to share some of my favorite recipes here with you all. See the new little “recipe” tab up above?

That’s where they’ll be.

I love to cook and I love to cook healthy which means I have a bunch of recipes I’m looking forward to sharing with you throughout the new year.

But first….let’s talk GREEN SMOOTHIES.

Super healthy and a great way to get your veggies.

I’m also a fan of juicing but today we’ll just talk smoothies. :)

The problem with making smoothies has always been prep and such. Not really a problem, I suppose, but just involved and time consuming.

All fine and good…and healthy…. but who has time for that?

So, I tended to get a bit slack in my smoothie making at times.

Until I decided to pack them up in serving sizes for the freezer.

So there’s the “tip“…

Lay it all out, cut it up, package ….all at one time. What a time saver.

So simple…not sure why I never thought of doing this before. Anyway, wow, sure makes it easier to eat healthy!

Grab a bag, add juice or water and go…

Can’t get much easier than that…..

*I’ve included an affiliate link for the Vitamix below (which I love!). See full disclosure here.

My blender is a *Vitamix 5200 Series Blender that I purchased from Costco about 5 years ago.

It’s a bit pricey but worth it, in my opinion.

It blends everything up WELL. And you want these green smoothies blended well, trust me on that. ;)

If you don’t have a Vita Mix, no worries, you can still make palatable smoothies. :) It’s just my preference to use the Vita Mix for them.

Years ago when I first started making green smoothies organic fruits and vegetables were more hard to come by.

Nowadays they are much more readily available. Costco has all kinds of organic berries and fruit, frozen.

They also have some organic greens and vegetables. Kroger is a great place for organics too. (no affiliation..it’s just where I shop :) )

You definitely want to use organic whenever possible, for obvious reasons.

I’ve had many requests for recipes but I will tell you, it’s a “trial and error” kind of thing.

I will include some here for you though.

You will figure out as you go along what you like and what you don’t.

What tastes good and what doesn’t.

And how to add things to camouflage some of the stronger greens (like Kale and Mustard Greens, for example–>and always remove the stems, they make your smoothie very bitter)

As a rule, I’d suggest rotating your greens weekly. You don’t want to eat the same thing over and over again.

Too much of anything is not a good thing. The same applies with your additions. I’d rotate and mix it up a bit.

Even taking a break from smoothies all together, from time to time.

So don’t forget to label your smoothies with the type of green that it contains (and the date is always good too) when freezing.

You can add any kind of juice (or water to keep the “sugar” content down) or milk, almond milk etc.

I personally try to stay away from cow’s milk and do not drink soy milk for health reasons.

My choice is unsweetened almond milk or water, occasionally juice.

Below are some ideas of ingredients for your green smoothies:

Greens

Spinach

Kale

Romaine Lettuce

Parsley

Chard

Mustard Greens

Beet Leaves

Fruits

Mango

Apples

Oranges

Pears

Peaches

Bananas

Grapes

BerriesStrawberries

Blueberries

Raspberries

Blackberries

Blueberries

Vegetables

Celery

Carrots

Beets

Cucumbers

Peppers

Fresh ginger root is a nice addition too sometimes. Gives it a bit of a zip. ;)

You can add things like Flax or Chia seeds, protein powder, etc.

Cocoa is nice to add along with almond milk (and even instant coffee crystals) for a “Frozen Cafe Mocha” style drink…only healthier.

You can use sweeteners until you get used to the flavor. I don’t anymore unless I’m making something like I mentioned above.

The fruit makes it sweet enough for me.

The sweeteners I use are Stevia, Xylitol and Agave. (I don’t use Agave as often)

You can use whatever you like to sweeten.

Anyway, here are a few recipes to get you going.

(ice is not necessary if you make them ahead of time and freeze)

–all recipes say “1 large handful”…adjust as needed, more or less. (I do more greens/veggies and less fruit but I don’t like very sweet things in general)

A very good basic recipe to start:

1 large handful of spinach

1 banana

1/2 mango (or 1 peach)

small handful of grapes

5-6 baby carrots

ice and water

Click here for more recipes you can print. (FYI-you can replace any of the greens in the recipes with other greens)

(most of these make somewhere around one large and one small smoothie. I drink the large portion first thing in the morning and save the rest for later in the afternoon)

OH! ..and don’t be turned off by the lovely brown shade these “green” smoothies can turn with the addition of berries.

They may not look appetizing but they are still super healthy and still very green. ;)

Now remember, these are just basic guidelines. You can add a little more of this or a little more of that.

You will get a feel for it after you’ve made a few.

And if it doesn’t taste right, add something until it does.

Have you tried green smoothies before? Think you might?

I hope you will. It’s a great way to get your veggies in. :)

**Please visit my new FOOD blog over at www.foodiechicksrule.com for more recipes!**

Note: I am not a health professional or medical doctor. The information and directions given on this site are of my own opinions and my own experiences with such and not meant to take the place of medical or professional advice. You may choose to try any or all recipes, etc, I post at your own discretion.

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Original article and pictures take http://www.artsychicksrule.com/2014/01/green-smoothies-recipes-tip.html site