Regular blender, kale not good in green smoothies!

[ellenalesa]

I have been using spinach in my green smoothies and I LOVE it. I read that it is important to vary the greens so I tried Kale. I don't have a Vitamix, my blender is a Hamilton Beach, I think. Standard kitchen blender.

Anyway, kale is GROSS when you have to chew it in your smoothie! LOL...

I don't have the $$ for a vitamix...Can I still use kale? Should I put it in the food processor first?

What other greens can I use?

Thanks...

Ellen

[elian]

Do you have a juicer? You could try juicing it first.

[karenbeel]

You can use swiss chard or different lettuces, they are softer like spinach and blend very well. hope this helps.
Blessings Karen

[luvmyfruit]

I have a horrible blender, so I juiced the kale first and it worked fine :)

[Jewels]

Hi....I usually blend my greens with some water first to make sure they are liquified before adding other ingredients to the blender. I use a Magic Bullet blender. Hopefully it will work with yours as well.

[veganman]

I put kale or collards through my juicer with the homogenizer so it purees it. Then, I put it in the blender.

[Rawkinlocs]

Before I got a Vitamix, I also had a Hamilton Beach and it blended kale into my green smoothies just fine.

But try this next time and see if it works better for you...

1. Add the greens and just enough water to cover them into the blender.
2. Blend the greens into a puree as much as you can without overheating.
3. Now add your fruit and a little more water IF needed and blend well until you see no specks of greens at all.
4. Optional: Add some frozen strawberries (or other frozen fruit) and/or ice cubes and blend.

That's one way to try it but when I did them in my H.B. I'd just add the bananas first then apples or pears on top of that, then the greens and about 1/4-1/2 c. water and I'd blend that until I saw no more green bits and pieces and then I'd add my frozen fruit and/or ice..so that's another way you can try.

But either way, I just wanted to let you know that I successfully made green smoothies using kale in a Hamilton Beach blender.

[ellenalesa]

I'll try it again. I love spinach in my smoothies but I read that you need variety.

How about collard greens? Are they too bitter???