Green Smoothie - "Weeds in the Garden"

3 bunches red dandelion greens
4 leaves rainbow chard
1 small juicing orange
~3 oz mango frozen
~3 oz peaches frozen
~2 oz strawberries frozen
Dulse
3 T ground chia seeds

I called this Weeds in the Garden because I got the chard from my garden and dandelion greens are considered a weed. A very nutritious weed. Kind of funny that I bought the weeds from the store. I'm going to look into growing dandelions. Easy of course, but I don't want them to take over my whole garden.

This was very green tasting so probably not for the uninitiated.

I found a conjoined twin chard in the garden!

Green Smoothie - "Mixi"

3 leaves lacinato kale
Large handful baby spinach
1 cucumber
1 small ruby red grapefruit
1 small handful raspberries frozen
1 handful mango frozen
3 T ground flax seeds
Water

I love the way a bit of citrus can really liven up a smoothie. The acidity balances out the bitterness of the greens and the sweetness of the cucumber and mango. This was a great blend.

Green Smoothie - "OGP"

4 bunches dandelion greens
1/4 cantaloupe
~4 oz peaches frozen
Dulse

I couldn't figure out why I called this OGP. After an embarrassing amount of time, I realized it's Orange Green Purple!

I made this when I first started using dandelion greens. I made them the only greens in this smoothie because I wanted to get a good idea of their flavor (in a smoothie). They kind of taste like a mix between wheat grass and swiss chard.

Green Smoothie - "Swamp Thing"

3 leaves lacinato kale
Large handful baby spinach
Large handful frozen blueberries
1 small orange
Small handful frozen mango
Dulse
3T ground flax seeds
Water

This sure was ugly but nutritious!

I put a few pieces of dried dulse in water before I start chopping the produce. Then I add it to the blender along with the water it soaked in. This ensures that no minerals are lost.

I grind the flax seeds in this coffee grinder and add the powder in at the very end of blending.

Green Smoothie - "Romaine Rooibos"

2 handfuls baby red & green romaine
3 romaine hearts
1/2 cucumber
1 small handful blackberries frozen
1 large handful pineapple frozen

Dulse
~8 oz rooibos Earl Grey tea
Ice

I found some Rooibos Earl Grey tea at Whole Foods right before I made this so I was excited to try it out. I'm a huge fan of Earl Grey but I don't drink caffeine. It was good but not very Earl Grey tasting (to be expected). I had a serving of it leftover and noticed it when I was making my smoothie and thought, "hey, why not use that instead of water?" It turned out well! This was the first time I had used tea in a smoothie. It gave it a different flavor--slightly sweet and astringent (in a good way).

Green Smoothie - "Frozen Blue"

3 leaves rainbow chard

2 large handfuls baby spinach

1/2 cucumber (not pictured)

1 small handful mango frozen

1 small handful pineapple frozen

1 small handful peaches frozen

1 large handful blueberries frozen

Handful raw pumpkin seeds

Ice 

Water

When I made this (a long time ago--I can tell by the plastic straw and the poor picture quality), I had a lot of partially used bags of frozen fruit. I decided to use it all up and not let the fruit get that frosty again. Because a lot of the ingredients were frozen, the blender had a hard time mixing it up. I didn't want it to be too watered down so I added the cucumber. Cucumbers and watermelon are great ways to add liquid to a smoothie without that weird watered-down taste.

Green Smoothie - "Cherry Rainbow"

Large bunch of rainbow chard (I had about 4 leaves of each color--pink, red, orange, green)
~8 oz cherries frozen
~8 oz chilled vanilla almond rooibos tea (no flavorings, just vanilla bean, almonds, and rooibos)
3 T ground flax seeds
A few shakes of Ceylon cinnamon
Ice

I actually made this today so this recipe is jumping way ahead but I just felt like writing about it now.

I stopped juicing and blending for a while because I got really busy with other things and then I started to get headaches almost every day. Maybe because I stopped? My skin is also not too great since stopping. I was determined to make a green smoothie today but didn't have much in the way of produce (or any groceries for that matter) so I went out to the garden and harvested some rainbow chard. Thankfully, I had some frozen cherries left. I was a bit worried that this would turn out bitter but the tea and the cinnamon really helped balance things out and it had a bit of a kick. This was a very watery smoothie--more like a juice but that is completely fine with me.

Green Smoothie - "The Cuke"

3 leaves rainbow swiss chard

2 large handfuls baby spinach

1/2 cucumber

1 handful mango frozen

Meat from young Thai coconut

Handful raw pumpkin seeds

Ice

Water

I forgot to take a picture of the smoothie...nothing special...green.

Even though it only had 1/2 a cucumber, this one came out tasting like a cucumber smoothie. The cucumber must have been very intense! I love cucumbers so I thought this tasted great, of course. 

Green Smoothie - "Peaches 'n Greens"

2 large handfuls baby spinach

2 leaves beet greens

1 thin slice watermelon

10 slices frozen peaches

Handful raw sunflower seeds

Ice

Water

Less watermelon and more peaches would have made this taste more peachy but I needed to use up this watermelon--the thing was huge!

Don't be fooled by the "before" pic--there are a lot more greens than it appears.

I added the seeds at the very end so there would be some chunky bits to chew on. It's a good thing to "chew" your smoothie to get the digestive process started. Chewing causes saliva production to increase and that's the first step of digestion.

Green Smoothie Fail - "Dandy Melon"

2 large handfuls baby red & green romaine lettuce
~6 dandelion greens
1/2 cucumber
1/2 Tuscan cantaloupe
Handful frozen mangos
Ice
Water

I thought I'd try a Tuscan cantaloupe...this one was not good.  I'm guessing it just wasn't a good melon rather than that Tuscans aren't good.  It tasted like BO. Here's a tip: taste the produce before you add it to the blender. This recipe is still good though--as long as you use a good melon.

Green Smoothie - "The Tracy"

2 large handfuls baby spinach

2 leaves Swiss chard (yellow)

3 leaves dandelion greens

1 thin slice watermelon

Handful frozen pineapple

Handful frozen cranberries

Ice

Water

Made this for my friend,Tracy. She was looking for a way to get more greens and veg in her diet. She doesn't like greens (or most vegetables) at all and I wanted her to try them in this form. She wanted me to include the pineapple and cranberries. I thought she wouldn't like it because it wasn't very sweet (cranberries add tartness but not sweetness and it doesn't cover up the greens' bitterness well) but she said she liked it. I believe her because she drank all of it!

Green Smoothie - "Green Watermelon"

3 leaves swiss chard

2 large handfuls baby spinach

1 large handful frozen mango

1 thin slice watermelon

Ice

Water

Maybe not the most original name but very descriptive. The watermelon flavor was very strong but the greens complemented it perfectly. The frozen mango added sweetness, minimized foaming, but didn't add flavor so it let the other ingredients shine.

Green Smoothie - "Tart Thanksgiving"

1/2 cucumber
2 handfuls baby spinach
2 leaves lacinato kale
1 handful frozen cranberries
1 thin slice watermelon
1 small handful raw pumpkin seeds
Water

I call this Tart Thanksgiving because of the ingredients--cranberries and pumpkin (seeds) not because I made it for Thanksgiving. I kind of figured I'd have to add more than just the cranberries for the fruit part but wanted to see how it tasted alone. As expected, it was way too tart so I added the watermelon (more than you can see in the picture--it had already sunk down). The smoothie was very tart (but in a good way) after that.

Cranberries add flavor, tartness, but not sweetness. If you use cranberries, you will need to have another fruit that is sweet enough to balance out the bitterness of the greens.

I added the pumpkin seeds at the very end so that there would be something to chew on. Something to change things up.

Green Smoothie - "Melon Rainbow"

1/2 cucumber peeled*

1/4 cantaloupe

3 large leaves rainbow chard

1 thick slice watermelon (not pictured)

Water

*I didn't know it at the time but you do not need to peel cucumbers.

This tasted great but was very foamy--I did not know it at the time but frozen produce and/or ice keeps the foam to a minimum. 

Green Smoothie - "Green Melon"

1/2 cantaloupe
1 cucumber, peeled*
2 leaves lacinato kale 

2 large handfuls baby spinach
2 leaves red chard 

Water

*I didn't know it at the time but you do not need to peel cucumbers.

It looks like there is less greens then there really is because the cucumbers are sitting on top of all of it. This is the first green smoothie I made that didn't need major tweaking. The only thing I would change knowing what I know now (other than not peeling the cucumbers) is add ice and less water to compensate. The ice (or frozen produce) keeps the foaming to a minimum. 

Green Smoothie - "Purple Leaves"

~5 oz frozen blueberries

2 lacinato kale leaves, ribs removed*

2 large handfuls baby spinach

1 handful of purple/red leaves from packaged spring mix

1 stalk celery

Water

*I didn't need to remove the ribs but didn't know it at the time

I love how purple this one turned out! The combo of purple leaves and blueberries overpowered the green colors. However, the greens overpowered the taste. I now know that blueberries are not sweet/strong tasting enough to be the lone fruit. I should have added mango or watermelon if I wanted more sweetness without a strong fruit flavor or added pineapple for strong flavor and sweetness. 

Green Smoothies Explained

Purple Leaves
 one of my purple "green" smoothies

When some people hear "green smoothie" they think of a smoothie that's green but the "green" doesn't just refer to the color. In fact, many of my green smoothies are purple or brown. The "green" refers to the greens in the smoothie.

Generally, a green smoothie contains greens, fruit, and sometimes vegetables and other ingredients. The purpose of the fruit (along with the nutritional value) is to cover up the taste of the bitterness from the greens. Some people say the greens/veg should be 40%. Some say 60%. I'd say that you should start with the amount of greens/veg that you feel comfortable with. If you start out with 60%, you might think it's disgusting and give up on green smoothies altogether. Start out with more fruit and as time goes on, your taste buds will adjust and you'll find yourself actually wanting more greens and veg in your smoothie! So even if that means starting out with just a few leaves of greens in your fruit smoothie--that's okay. Don't be discouraged--you will get there!

A Note About Measurements

Some of my recipes contain exact measurements (oz, T, 5 leaves, etc.) and some are more vague (1 handful, 2 bunches, ). I will give the precise measurement if it's easy to measure/count or it's already been measured out. But there isn't really a point for me to pull out a scale or count how many grapes I used because these don't need to be precise recipes--it's not baking. For one, you might have a blender pitcher that's not the same size as mine. And your juicer might not pull the same amount of juice. Another thing is produce taste can vary greatly (not to mention your own personal taste). So 1 lime might taste great in my juice buy your 1 lime might not be enough for you. And my lime might be very sour and your lime might be pleasantly fragrant. With juicing, it's easy to taste and add as you go. With blending, it's a little bit more difficult to add more (especially if your pitcher is full) but not impossible. And hopefully you'll be able to be able to pick up tips and learn from my mistakes on here.

Sometimes I'll say exactly how much juice I got. That's because two of my containers for juicing are actually large measuring cups. Other times I'll just say how many servings. For juice, I consider a serving whatever fills up the pictured glass (don't forget the ice). With blending, I usually make a little less than what my pitcher holds (6 cups) so I don't even mention how many servings it is.

Green Smoothie - "Green Pine"

1/2 pineapple
2 lacinato kale leaves, ribs removed
2 large handfuls baby spinach
Water

This is the first green smoothie I ever made. I had no idea if my Oster Beehive blender would work on greens (I had only used it on frozen fruit before). I didn't blend it long enough at first so it was chunky. Ended up pouring it back in to blend longer and it was fine.

I now know that I should have added ice or frozen fruit to keep the foam to a minimum. I hate foam! Also, There is no need to remove the ribs from greens. It's a waste of time and food and nutritional value.

But overall, it wasn't bad for a first attempt. I hope my experiences will help you make excellent green smoothies.

Green Smoothie Basics

If you're using a blender that isn't heavy duty like the Vitamix or Blendtec (I have an Oster Beehive), you'll need to pre-chop your produce. But you don't need to cut out the ribs of greens or peel cucumbers--those blend up fine. That being said, certain greens just won't blend up smooth enough and there's nothing worse than taking a big sip of smoothie and feeling tiny bits of greens on your tongue. My husband likened it to eating a cigarette. I'd skip curly kale and a large amount of dandelion greens. Lacinato (AKA Dino) kale blends up beautifully though. The beehive does fine with frozen fruit straight from the bag.

My recipes are somewhat different than many I've found because I do not prefer super thick and "creamy" green smoothies. I don't like using bananas or avocados. My average green smoothie contains 50-60% (by volume, not weight) greens and the rest is frozen and fresh fruit, little bit of veg (usually cucumber or some other gourd), seeds, water, and ice. I don't use milk/nut milks or yogurt. But this is just my preference; I'm not saying there's anything wrong about thick and creamy green smoothies.

I like to alternate the produce in the blender and then pour the water (or other liquid) in. But you should do what works for you and your blender. The picture to the left is from my very first green smoothie (heavy on the fruit). I leave a little bit of space at the top so it can blend. If you have more than will fit in the blender, blend it down and then add more making sure to always leave some room at the top. Always use something frozen, be it ice or frozen fruit, to keep the foam to a minimum.

You'll start to get the hang of it so don't be discouraged--it's not rocket science! ;)