Why I Love This Simple Green Smoothie Recipe
Not only does Jen have some great tips for green smoothie beginners, but she is also sharing her magic formula for fruit and vegetable ratios so you can change the recipe to suit your taste, dietary needs, or whatever you have on hand.
This green smoothie recipe is perfect as a homemade healthy snack, quick fast-food meal, or even as a way to cool off on a hot day.
What Are The Best Vegetables For Smoothies
In general, you can toss any vegetable into a smoothie and make it taste good. But, there are definitely some that will give you the best results.
- Greens. Leafy greens are a smoothies best friend. They blend up so well, the taste is easily overpowered, and the color is fun! You can easily cover the green up by adding something like blueberries.
- Sweet potato. Cooked sweet potato is the perfect vegetable for a blending. Naturally sweet, it adds a delicious thickness and creaminess to your drink.
- Beets.Simply buy a package of pre-cooked beets and toss some in. They add sweetness and a really fun pink color to food without a ton of effort.
- Peas. Not only are peas sweet, they are packed with protein! If possible, frost your peas to ensure they blend in smooth.
- Squash. From zucchini to yellow squash to pumpkin, these are the perfect vegetable. They blend up smooth as well as having a very light taste.
- Avocado. Pack in some healthy fats by blending in some fresh avocado.
- Cauliflower. The flavor is so light and since its white kids wont notice it at first glance.
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Making Ahead And Freezing
Fruit smoothies are best enjoyed immediately as they tend to separate and get warm the longer they sit out.
To freeze: Divide the frozen fruit smoothie into individual portions and pour into freezer-safe containers or bags. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can also pour it into an ice cube tray and freeze until solid. When ready to enjoy, add to a blender with some milk or water and blend until smooth and creamy.
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What Equipment Is Used For Blending Fruits And Vegetables
Blenders are the most commonly used equipment for blending fruits and vegetables. Blenders work by spinning a metal blade at high speeds, chopping up and mixing the fruits and vegetables into a smooth consistency.
High-powered blenders can puree your ingredients, turning them into a puree or even a nutrient-packed smoothie. You can also use a food processor, if desired, which uses metal chopping and slicing blades to break down the ingredients.
Immersion blenders are also an ideal choice for blending fruits and vegetables as they contain a blending arm attached to a motor base and can be immersed directly into a container to quickly blend ingredients.
Lastly, you can use a hand blender which is a stick blender with a straight body and interchangeable blades which will easily fold and puree your fruits and vegetables.
How To Make Your Smoothie Thicker And Thinner
For thinner smoothies add small amounts of milk, water, or juice. Try to maintain this order liquids first, then soft fruits or vegetables, greens, and ice. Run your machine up to its highest speed and process for 10-20 seconds.
To make thicker smoothies use or add frozen fruit like bananas, add more ice, or frozen yogurt. Run your blender with its highest speed, and process for 20-30 seconds. Thats how you can serve a thickened smoothie.
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Can I Add Greens To My Smoothie
Yes! If you want to add a boost to your smoothie, add a handful of spinach! I recommend blending the spinach and almond milk until smooth, then adding the remaining ingredients. This helps blend the spinach completely so you dont have to worry about any large chunks in your smoothie. If you want to add kale, be sure to remove the stems first. Keep in mind that kale has a stronger, more bitter flavor. So you may need a bit of sweetener to compensate.
There are of course many other add-ins that I love, but these are my go-tos.
What I love about smoothies so much is you can add in so many nutritious ingredients to blend up and you have a quick and easy meal that is loaded with vitamins, nutrients and will leave you feeling amazing.
Guest Post: How To Make A Simple Green Smoothie
We have a super simple and healthy recipe weve been itchin to share with you!!! As a crazy-busy passionate mom, Ive been known to fuel my body with processed junk. Like those days when we found ourselves at Starbucks twice in one dayor driving through Taco Bell for dinner .
I was starved for time, low on energy and just.overwhelmed.
Can you relate?
Well, I discovered something that quickly changed our lives green smoothies. This blended drink of fresh fruits and dark leafy greens gave us energy, a fast healthy meal, and transformed our bodies from the inside out.
No joke. And we made this healthy habit really stick for the past 2 1/2 years and going strong. Now we have over 500,000 people from all around the world hooked on the green smoothie lifestyle too. I hope youll join us!
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Banana Mango Green Smoothie:
This is the perfect introduction to green smoothies. The sweetness of bananas and apple juice masks any flavor from the kale and spinach.
- 1/2 medium banana
- 1 cup mango chunks, frozen
- 1/2 cup coconut water
- 1/2 cup apple juice, or fresh apple cider
- 2 handfuls fresh baby kale leaves
- 1 handful fresh baby spinach leaves
Which Is Healthier Smoothie Or Juicer
Overall, both smoothies and juices can be very healthy and nutritious. A smoothie is a beverage made from blending fruits and/or vegetables and other ingredients such as milk, yogurt, and ice. When correctly made, smoothies can be highly nutritious and an easy, efficient way to get certain vitamins and minerals into your diet as you can add a variety of ingredients quickly and easily.
The downside of smoothies is that they contain all the fibre of their component ingredients, including the skin and pulp of the fruits or vegetables. This usually means that the smoothie is quite thick, and can be difficult to digest.
In comparison, juices are made from extracting the liquid contents of fruits and/or vegetables. By doing this, the fibre is removed which allows the juice to be more easily digested as it is much thinner than a smoothie.
Juices are usually packed with vitamins and minerals, but they do contain very little protein and other key nutrients.
Overall, it comes down to personal preference and what your nutritional needs are. Both juices and smoothies can provide a wide range of health benefits, and are a great way of improving your diet. If you are looking for a quick and easy way to get a large dose of vitamins and minerals, a juice can work well, but if your primary focus is on getting a good balance of vitamins, minerals and protein, then a smoothie may be the best option for you.
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Preparing Your Smoothies With The Help Of Wood Cutting Boards
Before you get started on making veggie smoothies, you need to cut, dice or slice some of the ingredients first. This is why a wood cutting board is the perfect kitchen gadget for you. Made from cherry, walnut or maple, our cutting boards help make preparing your vegetable smoothies a lot easier. Easy to clean and the perfect size to store in your cupboards, all thats missing is the engraving of your choice.
Eating your veggies does not necessarily mean condemning your taste buds to bitter, earthy tastes. With these delicious smoothie recipes, you can stay on top of your needed nutrients in an easy, convenient and delicious way. Visit our products page today to choose your favorite model and start getting your body the vegetables it needs.
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Using Fresh Ingredients In Smoothies
It can be hard to find and afford fresh smoothie ingredients. I often encourage smoothie lovers to buy in bulk, in season, and local to get the best bang for their buck. When I started drinking green smoothies, I was on WIC to help get smoothie ingredients. Because we didn’t have health insurance or steady income, and I used smoothies as my kids’ pharmacy . I discovered we could eat fresh produce on a budget, and that doing so helped us stay healthy.
For this fruit and vegetable smoothie, I encourage you to use fresh lemons and fresh ginger. Costco recently started selling fresh ginger for a GREAT price, so I started grabbing a box each month. They also have giant bags of lemons. Jarred lemon juice often has preservatives and other chemicals, which is why I use fresh lemon juice.
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+ Fruit And Veggie Smoothies
Smoothies are the perfect way to add more plants to your diet. They are FAST, easy, and can be out-of-this-world delicious! This collection of fruit and veggie smoothies is full of simple healthy recipes that will dazzle your tastebuds and are easily adaptable to fit all eating styles.
Adding fruit and veggies smoothies to my familys daily routine was the first major step we took in an effort to eat more plants! They were the perfect start to our busy day that only took minutes to make and tasted so good. Since there are so many ways to mix and match fruit and veggie smoothies, we never got bored with the flavor combinations and were easily able to add so many different plants to our diet. It truly felt effortless!
Even though we are now very comfortable with adding fruits and veggies to our meals in oodles of different ways, smoothies remain our favorite go-to fast food for when life gets busy and we need a quick healthy meal. They arent just for breakfast, TNNers!
Why Make A Fruit And Vegetable Smoothie
Fruit and vegetable smoothies have a great balance of both flavors and nutrition. Fruit smoothies, while full of nutrients, can sometimes end up being more like sugary treats. Vegetable smoothies, on the other hand, are much less of a thing and for good reason. Id rather just eat a salad, thanks
Smoothies are a great way to pack in extra nutrients that you wouldnt normally get in the morning or from a snack. I know many parents think of smoothies for their kids, but hey mom and dad, what about you? You deserve to start your day off on the right foot as well.
And coffee and kids leftovers arent it. Trust me, Ive tried.
Smoothies are really freakin easy, especially for busy parents. They dont require cooking, so you wont forget to turn off the stove, and they require very little in the way of equipment. Youll only need:
- Blender: our Vitamix is my fav, but even something simple like a Magic Bullet will do
- Smoothie cup: if youre taking your smoothie on the go, something like this can be a big help
- Straws: Unless you want smoothie all over your face, youre going to want some reusable straws as well
Ready to commit to starting your day with smoothies? Get the 30 Day Start Your Day with Smoothies Challenge Guide:
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How To Make A Fruit Smoothie For One
Layer the ingredients: In a personal sized blender add the frozen berries first. Then add the vanilla greek yogurt, nut butter, orange juice or water, and hemp seeds if using.
Blend the smoothie: Start by pulsing the ingredients together to break up the frozen berries, then blend until smooth and creamy.
Taste and adjust: Taste the smoothie and add simple syrup or sugar sweetener if needed. Pour into a glass and top with dark chocolate chunks if desired. Enjoy!
Vegetable Smoothie Recipes That Youll Love
When you think of a smoothie, you might picture a delicious fruity drink. But smoothies do not need to be limited to just fruits.
Vegetables are packed with so many nutrients, a vegetable smoothie can be tasty and a simple way to make sure you get important nutrition in your diet. Making a veggie smoothie is a great way to squeeze another serving of vegetables into your day.
If you are not sure where to start when it comes to making a raw vegetable smoothie, then youre in the right place. Here are six smoothie recipes that you will love.
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Yummy Vegetable Smoothies: The Best Way To 5
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Vegetable smoothiesgreen, earthy, stuffed to the gunnels with raw kaleis your mouth watering yet? Probably not and thats where I come in, with healthy vegetable smoothie recipes that are as nutritious as they are delicious.
Three Vegetable Smoothie Recipes
One of my nutrition goals is to make sure to fuel my body with nutritiously dense foods.
One of my favorite ways to get in some quick, easy, and healthy nutrition is with smoothies! I know adding vegetables to smoothies can still be a little taboo for some, so I wanted to create 3 veggie-packed smoothie recipes for beginners.
First of all, I promise you cant taste the veggies, and you wont even know that theyre there.
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Caramel Apple Overnight Oatmeal Smoothie
This vegan, gluten-free breakfast smoothie is perfect for cold mornings when youre craving a fall treat. Dont worry: Theres no caramel in this recipe. Instead, this blogger subs in dates to add natural sweetness, along with antioxidants, fiber, and minerals. Rolled oats also pack fiber and protein, while apples and cinnamon give that undeniably heartwarming taste. This dreamy mixture sits in the fridge overnight, saving you so much time in the mornings.
Are Smoothies And Juicing The Same
No, smoothies and juicing are not the same. Although both involve blending, they are fundamentally different. Smoothies involve blending whole fruits, vegetables, and other ingredients together, while juicing involves extracting the juice of these ingredients with a juicer.
Smoothies are generally thicker in consistency and combine both the juice and the fibrous parts of the fruit or vegetable. Juicing removes the pulp, skin, and seeds and results in a thinner, juice-like consistency.
As a result, smoothies contain more fiber and more calories while juices are typically lower in calories and provide more concentrated nutrition from the fruits and vegetables.
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More Easy Recipes For Homemade Green Smoothies
If you liked this green smoothie recipe, but arent quite ready to make your own flavor combinations, you can try some of these options.
First, if you want a tasty treat for fall, try this Pumpkin Pie Green Smoothie that my kids love. Or, if youd prefer something more refreshing, you have to try this Peachy Pineapple Green Smoothie. Finally, check out my Pina Colada Green Smoothie for a tasty vacation-inspired treat.
You can also check out some more delicious green smoothie variations using the 60/40 formula below.
Making Vegetable Fruit Smoothies
The recipe card at the bottom of the page has the full list of ingredients with measurements and instructions.
Smoothies are a little different because they tend to have more ingredients. Usually, there is some type of liquid, such as almond milk or other plant milk. Some recipes like one shown below even add a little sweetener such as maple syrup or agave.
Another great frozen dessert to try is my Fruit Smoothie Bowls that are fantastic and versatile as well.
One of my favorite frozen smoothie recipes is Chocolate Banana Smoothie because it allows me to have a little bit of chocolate without having to bake a special treat. And, the banana is all thats needed for sweetener.
These frozen vegetable fruit smoothie recipes are so simple to make in a blender and is ready in minutes!
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Need Some Great Recipes
- A Red Beet Smoothie
Use strawberries or cherries as your fruits and beets as your vegetable in this smoothie. Omit the dairy and substitute coconut water to get a bright red color! Keep the milk and yogurt of choice and youll have a pretty pink drink perfect for a princess.
- Orange Smoothie with Carrot and Sweet Potato
With this recipe, youre free to stick to just one fruit since the vegetables are naturally sweet. To keep the orange color, try mango or even papaya!
- Yellow Pina Colada Smoothie with Cauliflower
Try combining pineapple and banana with cauliflower. Youll have a sweet, light yellow drink everyone will love.
My youngest is obsessed with all things dinosaur. Anytime I make him a green veggie smoothie he gobbles up, dinosaur juice. Leafy greens, peas, banana, and pineapple make a great, perfectly sweet drink. We even made a Grinch version for a Christmas Smoothie!
- Purple Smoothie with vegetables
For the perfect purple smoothie, try blueberries, greens, and purple sweet potato. If you need extra sweetness, add some pineapple or apple to the mix.
What Is A Smoothie Machine
A smoothie machine is a kitchen appliance used to make smoothies, which are blended drinks typically made with fruit and other ingredients such as yogurt, juice, and ice. Smoothie machines are usually quite easy to use and generally come with a base or jar that the user places ingredients into.
The base contains a powerful motor and blade assembly that is used to blend the ingredients together, resulting in a smooth, creamy texture. Some machines also have removable parts that allow the user to change the texture and consistency of the smoothie.
Additionally, most machines now come with numerous settings that allow you to customize your smoothie, including variable speeds for different ingredients, as well as a pulse button that gives you ultimate control over the texture.
Smoothie machines are great for those who enjoy drinking freshly made smoothies and are looking for an easy and convenient way to make them.
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