Summer sunshine, how I love waking up to the sun streaming through my bedroom window and looking out to green grass green trees and green leafy veggies growing in my garden, so lets talk about what makes a tantalizingly delicious smoothies with green leaves – ok, you don’t have to… yet
What is a Smoothie
Smoothies are usually made up of a blended combination of fruit and vegetables and contain the flesh and fibre. The amounts of fruit to vegetable each are dependant on personal tastes, likes and sweetness and who’s making them! They are super quick, easy and fun for all the family to do. Kids love them and its a sure way to ensure a good boost of vitamins minerals and pyhtonutrients towards RDA. They may give massive energy boosting nutrients to super charge your days too because of the huge nutrient value in just one glass or bottle.
Treat yourself to a refreshing glass of fruit and veg
Fruits are sweet due of their natural fruit sugar content, so a combination of fruit and vegetable is a good option and balances out the more bitter taste from green leafy vegetables ie kale, chard, lettuce, radish and beets. Mint, ginger, citrus fruits, apples and bananas are good basic flavour enhancers and add extra “zing” to a smoothie to counteract the natural bitter taste of greens. My favourite recipe if I have tons of greens to get through is
- 3 lemons and 1 apple with a big handful of greens, green lemonade, yum!
Adding nut milks like almond, hazelnut etc and hemp, coconut or dairy ie goat or cow with yoghurt may be used and children enjoy making these into a delicious fruit milkshake, especially now in the berry season!
- 3 Large handful of strawberries, a squeeze of fresh lemon, 2 mint leaves and a large glass of almond milk and ice
Use a powerful blender to whizz up your favourite fruits. Make it an orange day, green, pink, purple dependent on the ingredients you have to ensure a range of varying phytochemicals ie antioxidants in your weekly regime.
Add orange, pineapple, grapes, pomegranate, grapefruit, berries, add unusual fruits mango, papaya, kiwi anything you fancy. Be your own creativity genius. Melon is best eaten on its own or simply with fresh lime juice and mint. Water melon is delicious whizzed up on its own including the seeds with ice it goes into a pretty pink frothy refreshing drink and is packed with vital antioxidants.
When you are feeling good about fruits then try adding greens lettuce chard spinach etc as this really increases the minerals and vitamins due to the rich chlorophyll content abundant in green foods. Beetroot and carrot are excellent as these are quite sweet as starter vegetables to incorporate.
Daily smoothies can be worthwhile time investment for you, your environment, your health your longevity, don’t you think?
Help grow gardens, eat more vegetables!!!
See how body mind and spirit will thank you…..
By Karina Clappison
