Recipe: Everyday Green Smoothie
Perhaps one of my favorite things to drink - especially on a hot summer day - is my green smoothie, because it’s packed with fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as supplemental vitamins and minerals to help fuel my body and keep me feeling my best. Here is my go-to recipe:
I start with a base of banana, though if you don’t like banana you could start with any of your fruits fresh as opposed to frozen. I like the consistency that the banana provides, as it softens the smoothie and prevents it from getting flaky. Depending on the size of the bananas and the amount of smoothie I am making, I will use anywhere from 1 to 3 bananas for this. The smaller baby bananas tend to be sweeter and more delicious in this recipe than the larger “regular” bananas we have access to here in the States. To this I add my greens! I have been using kale lately, either dino kale or curly kale depending on what I have on hand and what is fresh. If you massage the kale well while washing, it helps remove some of the stiffness, and removing the central stem removes the bitterness from the greens.
If you don’t like kale, you can always substitute for something like spinach, whether fresh or frozen. There’s a common misconception that frozen fruits and vegetables have lost all of their nutritional value, and this just isn’t the case. For some people, frozen options are less expensive and more readily available than fresh options. Go with what you have access to!
Next comes your liquid base. I generally add about a cup of fresh squeezed orange juice to this, because I like the acidity that the juice provides to cut some of the flavors in the smoothie. That being said, I don’t juice my own oranges regularly. In fact, I rarely do. My local grocer offers fresh squeezed juice that I pick up every couple of days, but you can opt for whatever minimally processed and low sugar options you have access to. Try to avoid the heavily processed juices, though, as they are loaded with artificial sugars and preservatives.
If you don’t like orange juice or prefer to maintain the sweet flavor of your smoothie, you can opt instead for a nut milk to add creaminess. Oat milk is a great option, but I have also used almond milk as well, though I tend not to as it can sometimes overpower the smoothie with almond flavors. If you're looking for something more neutral, oat milk or rice milk are great options. Lastly, good ol’ H2O is always the best way to go!
From here you can add your choices of fresh or frozen fruits to the mix. My go-to is frozen mango as it is available to me year-round, and I can always keep it on hand. Throughout the year I will utilize things like fresh pineapple, strawberries, or peaches for varying flavors. About 1-2 cups of fruit is sufficient depending on the volume of smoothie you’re making. If you don’t have frozen fruit or veggies to add to your smoothie, I would recommend peeling and freezing your bananas, as having something frozen helps keep the smoothie blending well and prevents it from becoming too thin, flaky, or chunky.
To this I also add 1 teaspoon of Hawaiian spirulina powder, and about 1 teaspoon (this one I measure with my heart) of organic shelled hemp seeds. The spirulina is a great source of vitamins A, K1, K2, B12, iron, amino acids, carotenoids, antioxidants, and phycocyanin; it’s also grown sustainably on a Hawaiian farm using natural sunlight and lava-filtered water, free from pesticides, herbicides, GMOs, gluten, lactose, soy, and solvents - and it’s vegan! I get my shelled hemp seeds from Trader Joe’s because that is what is local to me, but you can find them at most grocery stores (generally in the baking aisle), and last I checked Costco carries them as well. They do have a relatively shorter shelf life, so if you’re only using them for smoothies, I wouldn’t recommend buying them in bulk. That being said, they’re an amazing source of vegan protein and omega-3’s that I add to smoothies, salads, bowls, and pretty much anything else I can.
Once you’ve finished adding your bulk ingredients, finish off the smoothie by adding your (9.5 Kangen) water to blend. Depending on how much smoothie I am making, I either blend in my Nutri Bullet or in my Vitamix blender. The smaller Nutri Bullet requires more liquid to blend smoothly than the Vitamix does because it has fewer blades, and the Vitamix includes an additional tamper you can use to mix ingredients towards the blades if necessary. Either way, make sure you add enough water to ensure your smoothie blends well and doesn’t come out too thick or flaky.
Add your green smoothie to your favorite glass and enjoy the tropical mangos, pineapples, oranges, and other flavors you selected! This recipe is also really great with Wyman’s wild blueberries, though the smoothie comes out more of a blue-black color than it does green.
Enjoy! xx