You’ve probably gathered from my other posts that I’m a big believer in drinking fruit & veggie smoothies. I know that some of my concoctions can look a bit intimidating, so I’m here to help you get past your phobia of green drinks and give smoothies a chance! Here are a few tips to get started:
- Look around your kitchen and pantry and use what’s on hand. This way you’re already familiar with the ingredients from a taste and texture standpoint.
- Start with what you enjoy. If you’re a big citrus fan, include oranges, limes, and grapefruit. If you tend toward the sweet side, consider pineapple, banana, and apples.
- Add small amounts of bitter ingredients and taste along the way as you add more. Most greens tend to be bitter, but some such as arugula actually have more of a peppery taste.
- Kick up the spice level with ginger root, or a dash of cayenne.
- Use frozen fruit and/or crushed ice if you want a colder drink.
- Add a bit of black pepper to help with the digestion of all the goodness you’ve thrown into the blender.
As you get comfortable using familiar ingredients, branch out to try something new. Kiwi, turmeric root, dandelion greens — the choices are endless!
Here is a smoothie recipe (makes 2 servings) using common ingredients that you might already have laying around. If you’re missing something, either swap in something comparable (say blackberries or strawberries in place of blueberries, or mint instead of basil) or leave it out. My featured ingredient below is arugula. This is an incredible green that works in salads or smoothies. It provides calcium, potassium, folate acid, and vitamins A/C/K.
- handful of arugula
- 2 celery stalks
- 1 small carrot
- 1/2 avocado
- handful of basil leaves
- 1 banana
- 1 small apple
- 1 orange
- juice from 1/2 lemon
- juice from 1/2 lime
- 1/4 cup frozen blueberries
- 1/2 cup frozen pineapple
- dash of ground turmeric
- dash of ground ginger
- dash of black pepper
Let me know what you think! #MakeItCount