If you remember from a few days ago, I wrote about trying oranges rather than apples in my Mint Chocolate Spinach Smoothie. Well, this posting is that variation. I have to admit that I like the orange base much better than the apple one. Apple is good, but orange mixes so much better with the cacao.
If you have fresh mint and some oranges laying around, this one is worth a try.
Recipe:
1 cup coconut milk
½ cup water
2 oranges
1 banana
2 medjool dates
Heaping spoon full raw cacao powder
Big hand full fresh garden spearmint
½ lb fresh baby spinach
Remove the leaves from the mint stocks, remove the seeds from the dates and pretty much mix everything up on the blender.
As you can see, I added the cacao last. Everything else is just packed it. Got to love that Vita-mix!
Got a little bit more than this, but the tastes all come together to make something that’s sweet and minty.
If I were to make this one again, I’d use orange juice as the base in order to really bring out the orange flavor. But even with just two, the orange flavor comes through and it balances out nicely with the cacao and mint!
I love mint! It’s the first thing I get out of the garden every year. Yum…..
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!
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.
But this one has a twist of Honeydew melon to really round out the flavor. I can’t stress it enough, if you get a chance to make juice for the base of your smoothie, there are a few that work really well:
Watermelon
Honeydew melon
Orange
Apple + berry (whatever kind you really like)
Or, if there’s something else that stands out as easy for you, consider it. Juice makes the best base. I look forward to the start of summer every year for the first Honeydew melons to arrive. I know they are a little ‘crunchy green’ having been shipped half way around the world, but when you juice them, you get all the flavor that you can sweeten up a little if need be. It’s pure goodness!
3 oranges
1 banana
1 inch ripe pineapple
1 cup fresh Honeydew melon
A few small dates as a sweetener
1 bowl fresh garden lettuce
I simply love the fact that my garden’s provided me with more than enough beautiful crisp green left lettuce all summer. I hope it lasts for a few more months.
Notice that I picked apart each slice of orange to see if it had seeds in it or not. If so, I removed the seed(s). There’s something about orange seeds that I really don’t like to blend. It’s up to you, but I remove them.
I’m sure this blender full made a little more than this quart. But yum. Give it a try, I’m sure you’ll love it.
If fresh fruit and greens it not your thing, mint-chocolate might be what the doctor’s calling for! I’m thankful to have a couple different types of mint growing in the garden, and as it turns out, this variety of spearmint is coming on strong right now. It’s amazingly refreshing when added to a smoothie and, as luck would have it, it doesn’t take much.
What I absolutely love about this smoothie is the fresh garden lettuce! Yes. It’s been a cold wet spring that there was absolutely no sunlight for growing – just enough to survive. The zucchini plants that I put in in may just sat there for more than a month. It wasn’t until the clouds parted that the plants actually started to grow. And, now that the sun has arrived, I’ve got a bounty of lettuce. These leaves are delicately succulent with no bitters. They’re so good, you could just graze your want through the garden – which is what I did today for lunch.
In any case, I had company over this morning and offered them a green smoothie. Being grateful guests, they willingly agreed to whatever I wanted to make. Knowing that one of my guests has a love affair with chocolate, I decided to sneak in just a little:
Little cacao goes a long way
And as you can see, it really wasn’t much. But the combination of flavors all mixed together to make for a mouth watering delight.
Mint-Chocolate Lettuce Smoothie
Love that garden lettuce
Clockwise from left (sort of):
Three tips of fresh mint (about three pairs of leaves each)
Add milk, probiotic, dates to blender. Peal leaves off mint stocks and use only the leaves. Peal oranges and make sure no seeds make it into the blender. Add bananas and then stuff in the lettuce.
It all fit!
It’s hard to imagine that that entire bowl of lettuce fit into the blender at one time. It took a little packing, but it wasn’t too bad.
Blend for about 60 seconds. You’ll want to start out slow and get the greens turning before you whip it up to high for the 60 seconds.
When good and smooth, add the little spoonful of cacao and about ¼ teaspoon vanilla. It really doesn’t take much vanilla at all. Blend for a couple seconds so the powders mix in.
Serve.
Just part of the results
With the volume from the oranges, bananas and coconut milk, the end result was nearly 8 cups. After using the nice glasses for the guests, I ended up with what was left over. It was probably 2 cups that tasted great and went down smooth.
I’m going to have to get me some descent party glasses that I can use for breakfast on the weekends. As much as I love me quart size jar (with lid), I don’t really need it around the house on a lazy Sunday morning.
If you love mint and chocolate, you’ll probably love this one. Life’s too short to not give it a try!
