Needing a good green smoothie recipe!

[emily]

Hello all! My husband and I are working our way up to 50% raw (at this point we don't know that we want to be 100% raw, for various reasons, but we eventually think we may want to work up to around 70% raw). Anyhow... I am looking for some good green smoothie recipes for breakfast! We don't have a juicer, and we don't have a Vitamix, but our blender seems to do pretty well overall. Actually, I am generally looking for easyish raw recipes - I love to prepare good food, but we are grad students, and raw food seems to be a bit more time consuming than cooked, so we want simple ways to bring delicious raw foods into our lives during these days. So far we eat a good amount of salads (we make some good salads!), we've made RP's brownies a few times, some occasional sprouts and smoothies, and raw fresh/dried fruits and vegetables. So... anyone have some good green smoothie recipes and simple raw foods? Thanks very much!

[Princess Elaine]

I've been making green smoothies now for about 2 months and no two come out alike...I sorta throw everything but the kitchen sink in...here's my basic recipe....collard greens...a piece of ginger, cilantro, an apple, celery and cayenne (other choices would be a whole cucumber, red leaf lettuce, asparagus) ....I use a regular blender with about 4 or 5 ounces of water....I make a huge one and take it to work and drink some throughout the morning....

I tried it with banana once, with strawberries...I use one fruit and lots of greens...I love them more every day...sometimes to make a really huge one...I make it really thick (no water) and separate into two containers...then add each container back into the blender and add water...that way I have two large smoothies ...one for now, one for later with the same time it took to make one...

Today is 3 months of nearly 100% raw and I feel great...I'd like to shout it from the roof tops how good I feel...

Elaine

[salsababy]

My fav- (one serving)
1-2 bananas, 1/2 cup apple juice, 1-3 leaves spinach or romaine, and lots of frozen blueberries.

Tip: Start small with the vegies and increase as you can tolerate it. When you are not used to it, sometimes vegies have the ability to be over powering and can ruin a good smoothie. :D

[tvillemom]

This is my favorite "recipe"....even my non-raw kids like it! I always buy bagged baby spinach. First (the night before) peel, slice and freeze your bananas. In the am, I put about 4 cups of spinach in the blender with about 1/2 cup of water (maybe alittle more) your goal is to get the spinach to blend down, you may have to mash it some to get it going. When that's done, I add about 1 banana's worth of slices and start pureeing, then add more as it blends up, I usually end up with about 2 bananas in the blender. Then, before it's "done" I add any frozen fruit (about 1 cup), like blueberries or peaches or strawberries, add what you like! Then my kids (liking it really sweet) love a little squeeze of honey. (you could leave the honey out, but tasting it for yourself will tell you!). Anyway, no real "recipe", just eyeball it, taste for yourself. Let us know what you do, and how it turns out!
Wendi

[Veganforlife]

Victoria Boutenki's GREEN FOR LIFE book has some amazing recipes. Sweet, veggie and power smoothies. I bet the library would have a copy you could check out.
I like mine simple too.
2 cups water
handful of spinach (cleaned well)
either an apple (cored) OR the innerds of an orange

That's basically it. Sometimes I'll do strawberries and banana and spinach. Other times I'll do green leafy lettuce in place of the spinach.
I agree - just experiment until you find a taste you like. But then you'll change again - your taste buds will.
I've also used lemon, apple and spinach.
When I first made green smoothies I wasn't adding enough water and eewww! I ended up with green smoothie glue. Then I discovered VB's book.
Do a google search too for GS recipes.
The possibilities are endless!
Happy smoothing!

[emily]

Thanks! These look great! I may try one tomorrow with green leaf lettuce (we ran out of spinach), apple and banana...? See how that goes - I'll report back tomorrow :)

[emily]

oh, p.s. congratulations, elaine! that's incredible... you look good too!

[Bobbie]

spinach, watercress and rocket with pineapple and water

200g kale with 4 bananas and water

[Carmella]

Hi Emily,

As Veganforlife was saying, the Boutenko family has written lots about the virtues of green smoothies.

The following is an extract of their January 2005 newsletter. You can find it along with lots of other info on their site:

http://www.rawfamily.com


Ode to Green Smoothie

As the Russian proverb says: New- is something old, that has been long forgotten. This summer I re-discovered green smoothies. What do I mean by green smoothie? Here is one of my favorite recipes: 4 ripe pears, 1 bunch of parsley and 1 big cup of water. Blended well. This smoothie looks very green, but it tastes like fruit. I like green smoothies so much that bought an extra blender and placed it in my office, so that I could make green smoothies throughout the day. More than half of all the food I’ve had in last several months have been green smoothies. I have so much more energy and clarity that I have removed green juices from my diet. (Juicing has been something that I’ve been doing regularly for years.) Green smoothies have numerous benefits for human health.

1. Green smoothies are very nutritious. I believe that the ratio in them is optimal for human consumption: about 60% - ripe organic fruit mixed with about 40% - organic green vegetables.

2. Green smoothies are easy to digest. When blended well, all the valuable nutrients in these fruits and veggies become homogenized, or divided into such small particles that it becomes easy for the body to assimilate these nutrients, the green smoothies literally start to get absorbed in your mouth.

3. Green smoothies, as a posed to juices, are a complete food because they still have fiber.

4. Green smoothies belong to the most palatable dishes for all humans of all ages. With a ratio of fruits to veggies as 60:40 the fruit taste dominates the flavor, yet at the same time the green vegetables balance out the sweetness of the fruit, adding nice zest to it. Green smoothies are simply the best tasting dishes for the majority of adults and children. I always make extra smoothie and offer it to my friends and customers. Some of them eat a standard American diet. They all finished their big cup of green smoothies with complements. They were quite surprised that something so green could taste so nice and sweet.

5. By consuming two or three cups of green smoothies daily you will consume enough of greens for the day to nourish your body, and they will be well assimilated. Many people do not consume enough of greens, even those who stay on a raw food diet. The molecule of chlorophyll has only one atom that makes it different from a molecule of human blood. According to teachings of Dr. Ann Wigmore, to consume chlorophyll is like receiving a healthy blood transfusion.

6. Green smoothies are easy to make, and quick to clean up after. Many people told me that they do not consume green juices on a regular basis because it is time consuming to prepare green juices and clean the equipment after juicing, or to drive to the juice bar.

7. Green smoothies are perfect food for children of all ages, including babies of six or more months old when introducing new food to them after mother’s milk. Of course you have to be careful and slowly increase the amount of smoothies to avoid food allergies.

8. When you consume your greens in the form of green smoothies, you can greatly reduce the consumption of oils and salt in your diet.

9. Regular consumption of Green smoothies forms a good habit of eating greens. Several people told me that after a couple of weeks of drinking green smoothies, they started to crave and enjoy eating more greens. Eating enough of green vegetable is often a problem with many people, especially in children.

10. Green smoothies can easily be freshly made at any juice bar, restaurant or health food store for the great convenience of health-oriented customers. Please bring a copy of this article to your local juice bar.

I encourage the readers of this article to start playing with green smoothies, and to discover the many joys and benefits of this wonderful delicious and nutritious addition to the menu.

Here are more ideas for your green creations.
Some of my favorite greens to add to green smoothies: parsley, spinach, celery, kale and romaine. My favorite fruits for green smoothies are: pears, peaches, nectarines, bananas, mangoes and apples. Strawberries and raspberries taste superb in green smoothies, when combined with ripe bananas.

Delicious combinations.

Mango-parsley
2 large mangos
1 bunch parsley
Water

Peach-spinach
6 peaches
2 handfuls of spinach leaves
Water

Mango-weeds
2 mangos
1 handful of lambs quarters, stinging nettles, purslane, etc
Water

Strawberry-banana-romaine
1-cup strawberries
2 bananas
1⁄2 bunch romaine
Water

Apple-kale-lemon
4 apples
1⁄2 lemon juice
4-5 leaves of kale
Water

Kiwi-banana-celery
4 very ripe kiwis
1 ripe banana
3 stalks of celery
Water

Pear-kale-mint
4 ripe pears
4-5 leaves of kale
1⁄2 bunch of mint
Water

Finger banana-spinach
10 finger-bananas
2 handfuls of spinach leaves
Water

Bosc pear-raspberry-kale
3 bosc pears
1 handful of raspberries
4-5 leaves of kale
Water

[Revvell]

My smoothie book is now available at www.Revvellations.com.

Revvell

[emily]

Thanks so much, everyone! I tried 2 leaves of green leaf lettuce with one frozen banana and some water this morning - it was pretty good, not amazing, but good - but I was still hungry after it, so I think I will try some of these other combinations with more bulk in them.

Carmella - thanks for that excerpt - very helpful! Her combinations look gooood. Oh, and Bobbie, what's rocket? I haven't heard of that before.

Okay, well, this will surely get us on our way to more raw - thanks!!

[Carmella]

You're welcome.

Rocket is just another word for arugula. It has quite a bite but is wonderful mixed with other greens in a salad. If you find the taste too intense in smoothies, I'd recommend using milder taste greens such as lettuce and spinach.

Have fun exploring!

[star1919]

Carmella... you're such a generous and kind person! :D