First, a mild warning. This smoothie is not for the faint of heart. Smoothie drinkers who love fruity, yogurty, milkshakey smoothies need not apply.
I am a big time smoothie drinker - we were even guzzling veggie juice for awhile until my juicer met its demise in our (apparently) recalled dishwasher and we decided to replace it with a Vitamix instead. All that to say - we are not strangers to juices and smoothies that are more on the vegetable side of things than the fruity milkshakey side of things.
But this has taken a little getting used to for me, so I'm just putting it out there. It is, however, so incredibly good for you that I implore you (yes, IMPLORE YOU) to give it a go. And you can tweak it a little if you decide you need a little less veg and a little more fruit. Just don't tweak it TOO much or you'll sort of miss the point. Ok, are you with me? All geared up and ready to be brave?
GOOD!
This recipe comes from Kimberly Snyder - celebrity nutritionist and author of The Beauty Detox Solution and Beauty Detox Foods.
Here is what you'll need:
1 cup filtered water, cold
2 cups organic spinach, chopped
1 cup organic romaine, chopped
1/2 banana
1/2 cup organic celery, chopped
1 organic pear (or apple), chopped and cored
1 Tblsp fresh lemon juice
1 super cute smoothie assistant
Add filtered water, romaine and spinach to your blender and blend until smooth. We love our Vitamix for this but I have read that other blenders work well if you chop everything up finely and give the lettuce, spinach and water enough time to blend well.
Once that is blended, you'll add the celery, apple/pear and continue to blend until smooth. Then add your banana and lemon juice, blend again and you're finished! It SERIOUSLY glows, right? You can tell your kids it's alien juice or something.
My husband is a little weirded out by the color - I was too at first, but I just tell myself how many nutrients are jam packed into this beverage. Depending on how much you drink in a serving, you'll get anywhere from 1 1/2 cups to 3 cups of dark leafy green vegetables, which is more than many people get in a week! And honestly, if you use a super ripe banana, add an extra apple or even a few drops of REAL liquid stevia it's delicious. I don't like the taste of stevia, so I have found that a super ripe banana does the trick for me. Even better if it's frozen because it adds a nice little frostiness to the smoothie.
I wish I could convey to you how much my 2 year old loves this stuff. It's like toddler crack. So think of it this way - even if it takes you some getting used to, chances are your toddler will suck it down and not even know he should prefer milkshakes to veggie smoothies. This particular recipe makes one very big serving - I usually pour this into 2 mason jars. I drink one in the morning and save one for the next morning. It should save for about 2 days in the fridge.
There is also a recipe for a larger batch that you can freeze in individual containers and thaw as needed. I've found that it takes 2 days in my fridge to completely thaw. And honestly, it just tastes better fresh so I prefer making the smaller batch.
This is 64 ounces of the Glowing Green Smoothie!
So...who is going to be brave and try this?
