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 - "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.