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It’s a rare day that goes by in our home when we don’t make a fruit smoothie. Call us addicted. It’s a wonderful addiction to have!
Since I have 3 little ones and a husband that rely on me to help them get in maximum nutrition with each and every bite they take, I frequently use our family’s beloved smoothies as a way of getting that nutrition in without fight and without fuss.
One of our favorite ways to do this is by adding fresh greens to our delicious fruit smoothies. Summer is the perfect time to learn how to make your own green smoothies with the abundance of greens that are out at your local farmer’s market, in your CSA box, or even in your own garden!
We love to make a mix of frozen berries, (which we pick and freeze in season each summer), bananas, cultured dairy or coconut products, a sweetener of choice, and of course, lots of greens. We make one most mornings and my children will slurp this down in 2 seconds flat and be asking for more.
The beauty of the green smoothie is that I can easily serve up the equivalent of a salad portion of these very dark and beneficial greens, in a form that is extremely digestible, makes it easy for the body to absorb all of the fantastic nutrients, and that everyone will happily devour!
Rather than write about how I make them, I thought I would just do a show-and-tell:
(If only I could finish the video by reaching out and handing the smoothie to you– I guess you’ll just have to try making one yourself!)
To recap (or for those who didn’t watch the video)…
Benefits of Fresh, Dark Leafy Greens
- Contain vitamins C, E, and K
- High in Beta-Carotene
- Minerals- high in iron, calcium and many important trace minerals as well
- Greens have phytonutrients and antioxidants, which protect cells from damage (may help to prevent cancer, among other things)
- Amino acids (the building blocks of protein- greens contain more than you might think!)
- Improve quality and quantity of red blood cells, as well as circulation
- Help to eliminate bad breath!
- Detoxifying for the body because of their chlorophyll content (this is what makes them green), which supports the liver and helps to pull toxins, including heavy metals, out of the body
- Contain crucial Omega-3 fatty acids (not mentioned in the video- but very important!)
- Lastly, greens are also high in enzymes (which aid digestion), they boost energy levels, they help to strengthen the immune system and more!
Stephanie’s Basic Green Smoothie Recipe:
Serves 2
1 cup kefir/yogurt (or other dairy substitute, like coconut milk)
A good handful of green leaves, with the stems removed- Your choice of any dark, leafy like spinach, kale, swiss chard, collards, mustard greens, turnip or beet greens, or even a dark green lettuce. You can cram as much or as little in as you like, depending on your tastes and preferences.
1 cup frozen or fresh berries (blueberry, strawberries, raspberry, or any other kind you like!)
1 frozen or fresh banana
1 Tbsp. raw honey or other sweetener to taste
Purified water (enough to get a smooth blend and pourable consistency- add more as needed while blending)
- Combine all in your blender, starting with liquids on the bottom (the order I have the ingredients in is a good way to do it).
- Add water almost to just under the top of your fruit level.
- Put the lid on and start blending. Add more water as necessary.
- Blend for about 20-60 seconds, depending on your blender and how powerful it is. In my VitaMix, I rarely blend for more than 30 seconds, usually less. In my previous Oster blender, it was often more like a minute in total.
More Green Smoothie Resource:
Spinach… I don’t see any spinach! @ Heavenly Homemakers
The Wonders of Green Smoothies @ Passionate Homemaking
Green Smoothies with Kale @ Kitchen Stewardship
Are you smoothie fans in your home? How do you ensure that you get enough of your leafy greens?
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I discovered green smoothies this spring. My kids LOVE them.
Jennifer Jo\’s last blog: Indian kick continued
Fantastic video, Stephanie! We love kale but never thought to put it in our smoothies. I am definitely going to try this.
Jackie@Lilolu\’s last blog: Homemade Toothpaste A Bust For Us
I want to try this! Sounds tasty. Do your children know there are greens in their smoothies?
Yes, sometimes they do! I don’t always mention it because they don’t notice and now that they’ve had it so many times, they don’t really care. I can’t remember if I served it without telling them the first couple times, just to see if they could tell and were happy with the taste.
But I do try to be open with my children about what I serve them. I want them to understand why I’m doing it, and to have their own motivation to eat healthy things, not just because I sneak it in. I did come upon my blueberry trick (for covering up the green color) for their benefit, though.
Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home\’s last blog: A Gardener’s Look at Life
My whole family likes green smoothies! In the summer, we like to use all frozen ingredients so its nice and cold. Sometimes we’ll make it turn out nice and thick, like a milk shake! Yumm!
I use yogurt and milk for my base. I have to ask though – does kefir have a huge advantage over yogurt? Yogurt is easy for us ~ I can get it in the store and it’s easy to make at home without ordering anything special for it. (Like a kefir starter?) I’m just wondering if I really should switch to kefir or if just using plain yogurt will be OK.
Why do you need to remove the stems?
Can we have the smoothies with the stems blended?
Tks
Sure you can. It’s just that many blenders don’t do a really fantastic job of blending up the stems, and it just makes the smoothie not as, well, smooth. Or as pleasant to drink. But if you have a good blender that can do it, there’s no reason not to!
Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home\’s last blog: Making Healthy Smoothies With Your Fresh Summer Greens at Simple Organic
Eeek! What a great idea for using up my CSA greens! Thank you for this tip. I’ve been making lettuce soup – yummmm – but I love this idea for smoothies. We have them almost everyday at our house and my kids (and me!) love ‘em. I have a bunch of sprouts from my CSA too – could I put those in there?
Sarah @ Mum In Bloom\’s last blog: Recipe- Frangrant Curried Turkey Meatballs
Love green smoothies (as long as I don’t get too carried away with the kale)! I freeze individual peach slices, too, and sometimes use them instead of frozen berries. I’ve also noticed if I use a little coconut oil and a couple eggs from our chickens the smoothie can keep me going for 5 or 6 hours.
Yes, I absolutely have put sprouts in smoothies from time to time! Another idea with sprouts is to add them to blended fruit to make into fruit leathers. I do that all the time when I’m making fruit leathers for my kids.
Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home\’s last blog: Making Healthy Smoothies With Your Fresh Summer Greens at Simple Organic
I have a question about these. Many greens are more nutritious when cooked because it reduces oxalic acid which binds some of the minerals. Have you tried this with the greens cooked a bit?
No, I haven’t. I know that some bloggers have written about how they lightly steam and blend up the greens, then freeze them in cubes to add to their smoothies, which is one way to do it. Personally, I keep them raw in our smoothies, and then we also eat them lightly cooked in our meals. I think that there are benefits to eating them both raw and cooked, so we just try to incorporate both into our diet.
Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home\’s last blog: Making Healthy Smoothies With Your Fresh Summer Greens at Simple Organic
We LOVE green smoothies at our house!
it works best to put the greens in first with a little bit of liquid – I use milk – and then blend it on high to get the greens really ground up well. Otherwise if we stick everything together the greens seem to be a little more chunky, shall I say, and noticeable.
I have found that with our blender (a regular Oster, not anything special like a Vitamix!
I have only made green smoothies with spinach so far, so I’m excited to expand our repertoire and try to some new greens in it this summer! Thanks for the great idea!
Here’s a link to my green smoothie recipe:
http://www.liverenewed.com/2009/08/going-green-smoothie-style.html
Good suggestion with just blending up the greens/liquid together first, Emily! I’ve been spoiled with my Vitamix for a few years now, so I’m starting to forget all the tricks I used to use.
Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home\’s last blog: Making Healthy Smoothies With Your Fresh Summer Greens at Simple Organic
Oh, I love green smoothies! The first one I made one, I gave it to my husband in a colored glass, so he couldn’t see the green in it – and he liked it!
My whole family loves them, and it’s a great way to get my boys to eat greens. I’m trying to grow a new harvest of spinach now, and can’t wait to use it! P.S…. if you have an immersion blender, they’re awesome for smoothies, and it makes clean-up easier!
Thanks for sharing, your recipes are close to what I make. I have a magic bullet, which is good for when you making individual or 1 serving smoothies. The thing I learned is to blend the greens & kefir 1st before adding the fruit to insure greens are finely chopped. I use a plethora of tropical fruits (& always blueberries) & love to top with coconut milk. Adding a sweetener isn’t necessary for fruit is naturally sweet, but the use of raw honey has it’s medicinal properties too
True. Some fruits are definitely sweet enough on their own. We use a lot of berries that can sometimes be tart (like raspberries) so they do need a bit of extra sweetener at times, plus my hubby just has a sweet tooth. So I like using honey because it has other nutritional qualities to it.
Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home\’s last blog: Making Healthy Smoothies With Your Fresh Summer Greens at Simple Organic
We do this too. You have some great extra tips here I will have to try. For us, we don’t usually use anything but water (due to dairy issues and not liking coconut). I find that I need a bit less greens and a bit more frozen banana by just using water (well maybe its that I don’t use sweetener either since I can’t tolerate them well). Anyways it took a few tries to get some combinations that we really like around here. And even then sometimes I have to taste it and add something and blend some more.
I have to admit, I’ve never had a green smoothie, and I KNOW my husband would refuse to try it if I made one! Maybe I’ll have to get some opaque cups for this very reason! I am pretty intrigued…does the smoothie TASTE like kale/etc, or does it have a grassy taste? Is the green taste totally imperceptible?
Nikki Moore\’s last blog: The Return- and Discovery
It really depends on how much you use. The smoothie I made in the video tasted mostly sweet and fruity, with just a faint hint of kale. I find spinach has less of a perceptible taste than some other greens. You could start with less greens to begin with, and keep adding them until you find that the taste is simply too “green” for you. I have also found that we’ve gotten more used to it, so we can tolerate more than we used to be able to.
Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home\’s last blog: Making Healthy Smoothies With Your Fresh Summer Greens at Simple Organic
We love green smoothies!! My favorite is a one that has frozen banana, blueberries, spinach, cucumber and ginger. YUM!!!
That does look really good, Stephanie. We love smoothies too. We usually have them at least once a day. I love adding squash and zucchini, but I have never added greens. I really like kale, so I will definitely be giving this a try. (-: It was good to “see” you again in the video. Hope that you are having a great week!
And I’ve never added squash or zucchini!
Thanks, hon! Hope you’re having a great week, too!
Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home\’s last blog: Making Healthy Smoothies With Your Fresh Summer Greens at Simple Organic
You and your family are very lucky that you can tolerate raw greens. Many of them are very high in oxalate, especially spinach. In people who are susceptible, oxalate can bind with calcium to form calcium oxalate crystals, which can lodge in almost any tissue in the body causing or exacerbating pain and inflammation.
High oxalate greens are not healthy for everyone. A good source of accurate information on the potential troubles of high oxalate foods is provided by researcher Susan Owens at http://www.lowoxalate.info
The more I tried to juice or make smoothies, the worse I felt! I’m happy you and your family can enjoy them.
Sandra Lee\’s last blog: 101 rays of gratitude
I try to use kombucha or orange juice in place of added water. The vitamin c in the oj helps with iron absorption from the greens (I believe). Also I’ve found that my family doesn’t need sweetner, that the banana/fruit adds enough sweetness…although we on occasion do enjoy the benefits of raw honey.
added bonus…freeze the extra smoothie into popsicles…my kids are gobbling these down this summer!!!
Sounds great! I’m inspired. Time to go get some kale from the garden.
Laryssa @ Heaven In The Home\’s last blog: The Aim Of Music
Ok, this may give me the kick in the pants to try kale and chard again.
Shannon\’s last blog: New rules on the way regarding sunscreen
I’ve never been a big juice drinker. and my mother juiced EVERYTHING growing up…but I”m going to try…at least a way to use up almost too fresh veggies and fruits. thanks.
I linked to this on my blog – http://parentplanet.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/great-sites-8-26/