watermelon

Kale Blueberry Mango Watermelon Smoothie

There are two ways that I most enjoy eating kale 1) with blueberries and 2) with even MORE blueberries mixed with watermelon! Watermelon, all around, makes for a great addition to smoothies, but in this case it thins out (and cools) what is normally thick (and warmer). If you love the Kale Blueberry smoothie post I’ve made before, you’ll really love this one!

Oh, and I have to say that I’m totally excited to see the kale coming on in the garden. It’s still a bit cold for it, but I’m able to get the first smaller leaves. I can’t tell any taste difference between the larger leaves and these smaller ones, but it just takes more. After a harvest, I feel that I’ve left the plants naked and exposed! Yet, when I revisit in a few days they look back to normal.

Recipe:

  • 1 cup rejuvelac
  • 1 cup blueberries (wet measure as you poor them into the blender
  • 1 ripe mango
  • Couple medjool dates
  • 2-4 cups watermelon
  • Juice of ½ lemon

Start off by blending all the fruit to liquefy.

Now we’re going to add our bowl full of kale.

As with most greens, they don’t consume much volume.

After packing the leaves in, blend for 60 seconds or more but don’t let the mixture heat up. You can easily monitor the temperature by holding your hand against the side of the blender. If it’s feeling warm, you spun it for too long! Just run it long enough to break everything down. You don’t want to have to chew chunks of kale.

In the end, you’ll have around 7 cups to enjoy and share with a friend. If you’re the only one, you’ll probably get a breakfast and lunch out of this recipe. It’s worth it, really…

Sometimes I wish I had some voting software that I could include with these smoothie recipes. It would be cool to get the votes of others are they try them out too. I could envision a five start system. Five being the best, I’d put this one on that five star list!

Kale Mango Strawberry Melon Smoothie

This recipe is a slight variation of the Kale Mango Blueberry Melon Smoothie that I also just posted. I loved that blueberry version so I figured I’d make a slight change and substitute strawberries for blueberries. Well, once again the melon carries the day and shines through to make a gently complex smoothie that is easy to drink – for it is kale!

I’m looking forward to raspberry season so I can say that I’ve tried all the local berries that I love. Blueberries have a strong flavor and a little bit of grit form the tiny seeds, whereas strawberries add a fresh tartness yet the seeds are softer. Raspberries, I’m sure, will add a grit and a wonderful flavor for they are probably as strong as blueberries.

In any case, the strawberries are subtle and the melon stands out a bit more in this smoothie.

Recipe:

  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • 1 large mango
  • 2+ cups watermelon
  • 3 large medjool dates
  • 2+ cups strawberries
  • 1 cup rejuvelac
  • 1 large bowl fresh garden kale

Stack it all in the blender and liquefy.

Once liquefied, press the kale in and blend for 60 (or more) seconds until everything is ground up thoroughly.

As you can see, I had a bit of fun with this one. Every morning I shot for about 7 cups smoothie. This morning I added just a bit too much melon so I poured it off to make a bit more room for the greens. It made for a festive glass of predominately fruit smoothie. I shot for ½ lb of greens every day and in the process get the fruit. The fruit is just there to mask the strong flavors of the greens. Every once in a while it’s nice to ‘go conventional’ and not turn all the smoothie green!

Read about raising your pH and balance out your intake. You’ll feel better and be able to focus your energies on what you like to do without thinking about your body not being able to make it.

  • You are what you eat.
  • You are how you feel.
  • You are what you think.
  • You are what you do.
  • No one stops you but yourself.

Peach Mango Melon Lettuce Smoothie

Peach and watermelon is a GREAT combination. These are two great summer fruits that always go over well on a warm sunny morning. Even if the peaches are not as ripe as you want, they will still work in this recipe. The trick is the mango. It provides the creaminess if the peaches can’t.

Now the lettuce, well, this smoothie would probably be ten times better if you didn’t add ¾ lb lettuce! The lettuce always brings in a bitterness that’s hard to mask. As much as I love lettuce, I’d probably mix spinach in with this fruit next time. It’s too bad I don’t have much spinach in the garden this year for I’d do just that. It just so happens that I’ve got tons of lettuce. So, lettuce it is…

Recipe:

2 peaches

  • 3 cups watermelon
  • 3 larger medjool dates
  • 1 large mango
  • 1 cup rejuvelac
  • 1 large bowl fresh garden lettuce

Place all the fruit in the blender and spin it for a few seconds to liquefy the fruit.

Now stop! Drink it like this – unless you’re really bold.  J 

If you know you want ¾ lb lettuce, stuff that into the blender and spin on high for about a minute. Don’t let the liquid heat up for you’re not making soup.

With this one, I got a ½ and ½ treat for the morning and a quart for brunch later. I love being able to get multiple flavors in the same glass. That’s king of fun.

Remember though that the idea is to get the greens. Smoothies are all about increasing your green intake. Your greens should taste good and be something you can eat in larger quantities.

It’s a great day for a smoothie – have you had yours?

Peach Watermelon Lettuce Smoothie

I love how watermelon simply blends up into … pink water! If you have a vertically seedless watermelon lying around and a bowl full of lettuce, this will save you a half hour of chewing time. If there’s one thing the blender does well, that’s preprocess food!

This smoothie’s really simple:

Recipe:

  • 2 peaches
  • 6 little dates
  • 1 inch slice of watermelon
  • 1 bowl lettuce (fresh garden lettuce if it’s available)

Cut the watermelon into small enough chunks to fit into the bottom of the blender. If they are too big, it will take a while to get the entire mixture to spin. Once the littler chunks start to move, the force of the moving water(melon) will bring down the other fruit and it won’t take long before it’s green mush.

As it turns out, this mixture made up almost two quart containers! Watermelon really goes a long way. Make sure you have a friend over for breakfast if you mix this one up.

Peach, Apricot, lettuce smoothie

It took a while, but I finally found some ripe apricots! I love these little orange dry-ish type fruit. One day I’d like to have a apricot tree in my backyard that would offer up sweet ripe golden nuggets like I found here.

I guess, since I’m at it, I’d love to have a full collection of fruit trees in my back yard. I’ve been putting it off for years now, but I know that the next place I move to will have room so that I can put in 20-30 different trees with a wide verity of fruit. I’ll have apples, pears, plums and figs as the base trees. To that, depending on the type of weather the area will have, I’d add peaches, apricots and cherries. Between all the trees, I’d grow different berries – raspberries that is.

Back to the smoothie.

Recipe:

  • 2 peaches
  • 4 to 5 ripe apricots
  • Bowl garden lettuce
  • 1 ½ cup watermelon juice

This is going to make a bit more than one quart.

But it will be runny. The watermelon gives is a light watery texture that makes it really easy to drink. You almost have to slow yourself down so that the mouthful’s mix with saliva adequately. You always want to make sure you ‘chew’ your smoothies to activate your saliva glands to really pump out the digestive enzymes. You don’t want to miss any of this wonderful nutrition!

I think I’ll make this one again!