Jennifro

Green Smoothie 

my style

Here is how I make me green smoothie every morning.  Of course the ingredients vary, but the how-to is basically the same everyday.  I like mine less thick so toward the end I generally add a little more ice and water till it's "right."  If you start to experiment, you'll begin to figure out what you like and how you like it.  For example, I really thought I would be a fan of the vegetable based smoothies--tomatoes, carrots, jalapeno, cucumber, carrots etc but so far I haven't loved anything I've made.  Maybe if I thinned them out more with tomato juice, I'd be better off.  But so far the consistency kind of gags me with the vegetable flavors.  Here's what I made just now and so far it was my favorite:

2 very ripe peaches--skin on
1 cup of blueberries
2 1/2 frozen bananas
1/2-1 inch slice of lime--peel on
2 cups cold water


Blend this very well so lime skin is pulverized


This filled my vitamix nearly half full.  Then I added about 5-6 cups baby spinach.  After that was smooth I added enough water and ice to take the smoothie all the way to the top of the blender which makes about 64 ounces. It was a dark brownish color thanks to the blueberries--not pretty but very good!

I've found that adding a thick slice of lemon or lime and/or a huge handful of mint makes the drink so fresh tasting--I love it.  I always include lemon or lime now. Just use what you like fruit-wise.  I've tried almost everything so far and don't think you can really go wrong with anything--by always adding the frozen banana, it'll generally be sweet enough.  A tart honey crisp apple is also very flavorful.  Lately I've added half a cucumber (skin on) which gives it a different taste, but good.  One other add-in I just started is ground flax seeds or chia seeds--can't even taste them.  If you make something and it's too tart you can always squeeze in some honey--which usually fixes it.

My general rule is fill the vita-mix with about 1/3 fruit then the rest will be water, ice and greens.  Baby spinach and kale are really mild tasting but I think it's really important to add in other stuff.  I have used different chards, lettuces, beet tops etc.  but it will mostly come down to what you like.  Even if I don't love the flavor of chard, I don't really mind using it a few times a week since I believe in the health benefits.  One way to incorporate a variety of greens is to mix them up in the same smoothie--1/2 spinach 1/2 rainbow chard for example--this will help tone down the flavor of something you don't love.  Next thing I want to try is lime, coconut and banana as the fruit base.  We had a smoothie in St. John made with those fruits + soursop, whatever that is, and it was incredible.

Cheers!