Green, Green, It's Green They Say

I've been feeling the need to get back to green smoothies for a while. This morning I finally made one. This is about the "greenest" of the green smoothies. I like how it tastes, but there is no confusing this one with ice cream or a milk shake. It tastes....well. It tastes green. It's a fresh clean taste. But if you are new to smoothie making, you might start with a more fruity one. I will usually throw spinach or kale into the fruit-based ones. This one is kind of the reverse—mostly green veggies with an apple thrown in. 

It only takes minutes to make this but it looks like a lot of work when you pull out the ingredients. You busy mamas might decide to take this counter full of vegetables and go ahead and bag up the amounts for several days worth of smoothies. (I might do this, too, in a bit.) You can add the apple as you make it.

You can use other blenders, of course. There are good blenders out there that cost less. The biggest difference is that my high power blender will blend it to a smoother consistency. And you might have to cut the apple and celery into smaller pieces with a less powerful machine. You don't have to spend a ton to make these. But I do love my Vitamix!

This recipe came from the Vitamix man I watched at Whole Foods soon after I got my Vitamix blender. I wanted to watch it in action and learn things that maybe I had missed looking at the book. I remember he said this smoothie was intended to sip on all day long—a constant blast of high-powered nutrients all during the day. He had a web site with all of his recipes. But last week when I wanted to look up this recipe, the site was in "suspended mode." I am so glad I had printed out the recipes when I first found them. 

KEN'S DAILY GREEN DRINK

1 cup water

a handful of spinach

a handful of baby kale

4-5 Romaine leaves OR 1/3 handful of parsley

a stalk of celery

an apple, quartered

5-6 pitted dates (be sure they are PITTED)

2 cups of ice

Place all ingredients into blender in the order listed. Blend, following instructions for your blender, until desired consistency is reached. 

I had one glass for breakfast and filled a container for later in the day. They never taste as good later as the freshly made one, but I'll give it a good shake and enjoy it "cold" instead of "slushy." I don't know who Ken is, but I thank him for sharing this recipe. I feel healthier already.

Drinking this smoothie made me think of the song---Green Green. I remember it from my high school days when I was a big fan of The New Christy Minstrels. Guess I'll just make today green through and through. The drink. The music. I might even find a green shirt to wear.