Tag Archives | breakfast

In my first blog, I wanted to share the basics of how we make smoothies at our house.  Green Smoothies have been a staple in my diet since 2008 and I drink one every day.  Green smoothies provide high-density nutrition to start the day and I am excited to teach you how to make them easily and deliciously!

A green smoothie is one of the fastest foods that you can make in your kitchen in under ten minutes with prep and clean up.  Make sure that you have a great blender for your green smoothie to produce the smoothest smoothie without chunks of greens. I prefer Vitamix or Blendtec blenders for the creamiest smoothies.  Once you have all of your ingredients, you can get started making your first green smoothie.

First, you’re going to start with a liquid base.  Just make sure your liquid is nearest to your blade in whatever blender you have.  If you have a Vitamix or Blendtec, you’ll fill up the blender to the 2.5-3 cup mark with a liquid base for 2 quarts of smoothie.  You can use coconut water, water, nut milk or a juice as your base.

We use about 3 cups of water as our base. We don’t normally consume dairy, so we occasionally use almond milk for a creamier texture.  Feel free to play with your base and find what works for you and your family.  After you have added your favorite liquid base, pile in your washed greens. This can be a combination of leafy greens and other green plants — kale, spinach, lettuce, parsley, etc… Greens are the most nutrient dense food you can consume so be generous! Spinach is a really mild green and a great way to start out. Over time begin to add other greens too for nutritional variety. We typically use about 3 cups of packed greens.  Once the greens are in the blender blend everything down for 30 seconds, or until the greens are well incorporated into the liquid.  This prevents big chunk of greens in your green smoothie.

Once you have blended down your greens add a combination of fruit that you enjoy.  Low sugar fruits like berries are a great choice, but feel free to experiment and use what’s in season.  One of my favorite seasonal treats is peaches that we buy in bulk from the farmer’s market in summer and freeze to use all year – but they don’t usually last that long! Avocados and bananas make for a creamier texture and they are a personal favorite for every smoothie we make. Mangoes are perfect for adding a little extra sweetness. We may throw in apples, carrots, or a seasonal fruit we have around to keep the cost of the smoothies down.  We add about 2.5 cups of mixed frozen fruit into our smoothies. That breaks down to one small banana, one medium apple and a cup of berries if you want to make it super simple.  Play around with ingredients and what you find at the farmers market.  Frozen fruit can be found in abundance at the grocery store or Costco.  

Last, but not least, you can add some fun mix-ins if you’d like, or go straight to the final blending. We always add a drop or two of an essential oil into our smoothies. Lemon, Wild Orange, Grapefruit are all favorites. You can really get creative: citrus bliss is yummy, ginger, cinnamon, lime etc… Just be cautious with the HOT OILS like cinnamon and the strong oils like ginger and peppermint. Start by using a toothpick to soak up one drop of the essential oil and then swirl the flavor into your blended smoothie. A little essential oil goes a long way and you want to enhance your smoothie with good flavor and benefits that come from using the oils. We’ve ruined some batches with too much ginger and peppermint.  Feel free to also add in some almond butter, flax seeds, chia seeds, protein powder, maca powder, etc… The green smoothie possibilities are endless! 

Add a handful of ice to the top, blend until smooth, and you’re done!

Based on that formula, you could use:

• Almond Milk, Spinach, Apple, Banana, Lemon Essential Oil, and Ice.
• Water, Spinach, Banana, Cacao Powder, Almond butter, Wild Orange Oil and Ice.
• Coconut Milk, Power Greens, Banana, Strawberries, Citrus Bliss Essential Oil and Ice.
• Water, Kale, Banana, Pineapple, Mango, Lime Oil, and Ice.

A fun recipe book that we use to get inspired is our Dash Diet Cookbook. There are lots of GREAT ideas for great tasting smoothies.

Have fun! I’d love to hear about your favorite green smoothie recipe!