Simple Sweet Green Smoothie Recipes

Our kids' breakfast

1/2 cup berries

3 bananas

4 cubes or 4 leaves of green

1 cup water (optional)

1 TBsp golden flaxseeds (optional)

Some mornings we have smoothies and other mornings we have ice cream--it just depends on whether the items are frozen or not. We leave the water out of ice cream and add the flaxseeds to smoothies.

These simple green smoothie recipes from 12 Step to Raw Foods can start your family's appetite. Be sure to adjust and experiment to fit your individual tastes. I have added my own notes at the end. Enjoy!

Apple-Kale-Lemon

4 apples

1/2 lemon (juice only)

5 leaves of kale (remove white stems for better taste)

2 cups water

Peach-Spinach

6 peaches

2 handfuls of spinach leaves

2 cups water

Mango-Weeds

2 mangos

1 handful of edible weeds, such as lambsquarters, stinging nettles, purslane, etc.

2 cups water

Strawberry-Banana-Romaine

1 cup strawberries

2 bananas

1/2 bunch romaine, or 6-7 large leaves

2 cups water

Pear-Chard-Mint

4 ripe pears

5 leaves of chard

1/2 bunch mint

2 cups water

Each of these recipes makes 3 cups of green smoothie.

My notes:

We were blessed with the ability to buy a VitaMix this October so making these is a breeze. What we have on hand is what we use the most. We use apples whenever recipes call for pears because we stored up on organic apples in October. We also dried homegrown, organic kale and throw the crispy treat (to my tastes) in smoothies and on top of salads and live soups. I buy 2-4 bunches of greens a week for our family of five. If one bunch is not as favored and starts to get older (or is not organic and I start reacting to the chemicals on it) I blend it up and freeze it in ice cube trays then put them in a labeled bag.

The first week we had the blender we had a taste test. I blended one leaf of each green we had. Our least favorites were romaine and one of the kales. Our most liked was Swiss chard (without the rib.) We also considered these pretty neutral: celery, red leaf, green leaf, a different kale, and aloe. My kids don't like mint, I do. They also do not favor garlic, I do. Find your favorites. My kids will eat any berry with great enthusiasm.

Start with very little green, then add more as the smoothies find favor with your family. Depending on the apple, I sometimes add a bit of sea salt or stevia. Be aware of the "dirty dozen" in these recipes (the top 12 chemical holders in the produce section.) Use organic when you can.