Raw Green Smoothies

Blueberry, Orange and Swiss chard Smoothie

Here is another combination that works well together but rocks if you include the Orange Peach Mango juice! There is something about this particular juice that sets off this smoothie combination. The flavor is full and you are forced to savor it just a little longer because of the blueberry seeds. This one is fast and simple and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

Recipe

  • 1 cup Orange Peach Mango Juice
  • 1 ½ to 2 cups fresh frozen blueberries
  • 2 juicy seedless oranges
  • 2-4 small dates (I used organic Halawy dates)
  • 1 bunch Swiss chard with the larger stems torn off

Optional:

  • 2 Tbs Fresh ground golden flax seed
  • 1 probiotic

Add juice, oranges, dates, blueberries and get it to spin. Add the Swiss chard and grind it up. Let the mixture spin on high for somewhere near 60 seconds (I feel the side of the blender to make sure it’s not heating up). Afterwards, mix in the ground flax seed and probiotic. Spin for a second to mix up and serve!

For some reason, the hint of peach draws your curiosity into the drink to bring out the other subtle flavors. Swiss chard is also a nice mix here because it’s such a mild green. I’m sure spinach would do well too – and I’ll have to give that a try before too long!

Bottom’s up!

Fresh Orange Strawberry Parsley Smoothie

As many of you know, I love parsley! It’s a power packed green with a fresh aftertaste. Unfortunately, it can be overpowering when added to a smoothie. Yet, every once in a while there’s a combination that comes together that builds upon the strength of parsley and turns it into a magical delight!

Ok, well, maybe not magical, but totally doable.

In this case, the Orange and Strawberries that work together to give this smoothie an intoxicatingly fresh fruity flavor. I can’t remember mixing orange, strawberries and parsley before but I’m glad I found this combination.

If you’re looking to find a way to include more parsley in your diet, it’s time to pick up a frozen bag of strawberries and some fresh navel oranges.

 Recipe

  • 10 frozen ripe Straberries
  • 1 ripe juicy orange
  • ½ mire lemon – juice
  • 3 (or 4) little Halawy dates (or your favorite dates)
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 1 bunch washed and shaken parsley

Optional:

  • 2 Tbs Fresh ground flax seed
  • 1 probiotic

The mixing process is pretty straight forward. Pour the coconut milk into the blender first, add the strawberries, dates, lemon juice, pealed orange (no seeds) and blend.

At this point, it should look and feel like Strawberry sorbet! If you’re making desert, you might want to stop right here. If you’re making breakfast, the next step is to add the parsley. Because it’s so cool and thick you can blend it for a bit longer than 60 seconds. The longer you blend it, the smoother it gets.

If you’re looking to add some warmth to it, consider adding some fresh ground flax seed. As you can see in the ingredients picture above, I’ve already ground up a little over a tablespoon worth of golden flax. Oranges tend to cool me down and the flax seed works really well to turn that around. 

In the end, you’ve got a decent breakfast

Now that I’ve had this smoothie a couple times, I’ve noticed that the flax seed tends to give it a grainy feel and taste. But that is subtle next to the powerful parsley, orange, strawberry combination.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Greens are magical – experience the magic.

Parsley Pear Banana Smoothie

I love parsley! When I was a teenager, I would buy it by the bunch and eat it like eating a bouquet of flowers. People that observed this behavior called it ‘grazing’. Looking back, I now think of it as a little weird, but that doesn’t change the fact that I love parsley!

I’ve been looking for nearly two years now for a combination of ingredients that would significantly mask the taste of parsley so that my wife, who really doesn’t care for anything be the taste, would not complain about a parsley smoothie. Normally, all she has to be is in the same room as a parsley smoothie and her spirit gets all worked up. She absolutely detests parsley smoothies!

Well, as it turns out, for the last three days she’s had parsley smoothies without knowing it. And, better yet, each day I asked her what she thought of the days’ smoothie and she’s said “Ok” and “good”, but still complains that it’s too thick (parsley tends to congeal when it gets broken down, thus it’s jello like if you don’t thin it out.)

So, I’m going to have to say that this parsley smoothie passes the Lori test – which is a pretty high bar to get over!

Parsley, Pear, Banana + smoothie

Recipe:

  • 2 Bananas
  • 2 Pears
  • ½ Mires Lemon
  • 2 Medjool Dates
  • 1 cup Coconut milk with Vanilla flavorings
  • ½ cup Dole Pina Colada juice
  • 1 Tbs ground golden flax
  • 1 probiotic

And, of course:

  • 1 full bunch well washed parsley

If you haven’t noticed, one of the key principles of the green smoothies that I make is that there needs to be an incredible base of liquid to really bring out the flavors in the smoothie. In this case, it really is a must have to include the Dole Pina Colada mix! Without this, it just wouldn’t be the same. 

Funny thing about this juice was that a friend came over on the weekend and had a couple pina coladas but left leaving half a container of mix. Not wanting it to go to waste, I figured I’d add it to a smoothie or two. Well, I’m glad that I did for this smoothie would not be the same without it.

Back to the preparation process. Throw everything together and blend.  J 

Well, actually not everything. Add Juice first, throw in bananas, slice pears adding everything but stem and seeds. Pit the dates and add. Squeeze the lemon making an effort to not allow the seeds in (adds bitter taste). And start the blender for a few seconds to break up the bigger pieces. Now grind the flax seed in your old coffee grinder until fine (and standing) add to smoothie. Add probitic and then cram in the parsley.

Blend again and give it 60+ seconds on high. When you feel the side of the blender and you can sense just a little heat, stop!

It’s at this point that you taste it. Is it sweet enough? Peary enough? Creamy enough? The taste that should stand out is the Pina Colada mix and pear granules (those little specs of pear that don’t grind up).

I’ve got one more bunch of parsley, two pears and a couple bananas so I’m sure this will be on the menu for tomorrow. After that, back to mangos! Got a collection of those for under a buck yesterday and one’s almost ripe.

See you next time!

Strawberry Mango Swiss Chard smoothie

Now that winter is upon us (me that is), I don’t feel bad about using frozen fruits in my smoothies! Normally, I advocate using fresh fruits rather than frozen for the molecular structure of the fruit has not been altered by low temperatures. But when it gets cold outside, I like to bring back the feeling of warm season fruit in a way that warms me up. Nothing fits that bill better than Ice Cream!

Ice Cream it is! At least for the first few seconds of the life of this drink. Well, ok, I give, it might not really be iced cream (diary), but it sure does taste like it. And, if it doesn’t, I keep working it until it does. Ultimately, I LOVE to experience great tasting smoothies, thus I’m always working to bring out the best flavors.

So, here we go, a creamy strawberry surprise.

Recipe:

  • 1 ½ cup Coconut milk with Vanilla flavor (ok, ok, it’s not raw, but it isn’t dairy!)
  • 10-12 frozen strawberries
  • 1 banana
  • 1 ripe (if you can find them) mango
  • 2 Medjool dates (don’t eat the seeds)
  • About 1 large Tbs Flax seed
  • 1 probiotic

And, of course, you can’t forget the greens:

  • 1 bunch Swiss chard

When I did my shopping the other day I weighed the Swiss Chard before bagging it. Each bunch came in just under a pound. Yep, that’s right. I use the full bunch and get the biggest ones that I can find. The green smoothies are all about re-mineralizing your body and sweeping out the toxins. So, even though you see all the fruit, it’s balanced by all the greens.

When putting this one together, I combine the coconut milk with all the fruit and blend. The Strawberries take just a few seconds to break down and you end up with something that looks like this:

If you were to look straight down on this, you’d notice that it’s more like a milk shake than ice cream. I probably should have added another few strawberries. That would have thickened it up. Never-the-less, it tasted like a strawberry milk shake – which was close enough for me.

The next step is to grind the flax seed. I love this function for me coffee grinder. Since I gave up making latte’s, that little grinder had sat unused. Now, it’s my flax seed grinder and it works great.

To the ‘milk shake’ I add the rest of the ingredients: ground flax, probiotic and Swiss chard. When I add the Swiss chard, I remove the main rib from the leaf. It’s got some great properties to it, but I don’t want anything in this drink that will distract from a smooth texture.

Now blend. If you’re using a vita-mix, you’ll most likely have to use the plunger to get the greens broken down, but once you’ve got it spinning, flip it on high and give is a whirl.

But don’t stop there! Because we’re using frozen strawberries, we can let the blender run longer and the heat is dissipated into the frozen fruit. And, because we get to let it run longer, we get a creamer feel in the end product.

You won’t get a strawberry seed as you enjoy this one.

Note that this makes about 6 cups!

Light is Life!

Pineapple with Grape and Lettuce

Here is another grape combo that I loved for a couple days. Grapes are so easy! Only blend up the good ones through. Notice I used a healthy slice of pineapple.

Recipe:

  • 1 thick slice of ripe pineapple peeled and cored
  • 1 branch seedless grapes (about 1 ½ cups washed and stemmed)
  • Copule dates (I wanted this one really sweet)
  • 1+ cup coconut milk
  • 1 bowl lettuce
  • 1 probiotic – Optional

Stack in blender:

And give it a 60-second whirl.

Notice the grape skins don’t break down all the way. It gives the smoothie a peppery look, but make no mistake about it, this one is a sweet dream!

One thing that I’ve noticed when drinking green smoothies is that you want to drink the entire quart in 15 to 20 minutes and you want to make sure you mix lots of saliva with it. The more you chew it, the more your saliva glands respond by releasing digestive enzymes. The more effort you put into mixing the enzymes with the green smoothie in your mouth, the better it digests. Same holds true with eating fruit plan. Don’t just bite off a mouthful and swallow.