Now that is a green smoothie: Lip Smackin’ Lime Smoothie made with lime Jello
Green smoothies seem to be all the rage these days. Making a normal fruit smoothie and throwing in some kale, swiss chard, spinach, etc. I was totally dubious and resistant. Still, I was curious.
One week each night I added a different green to my regular smoothie to see which one worked, which one didn’t. In the end… I still don’t get it.
See, I love salad. I mean, I LOVE salad. I also cook with greens all the time. Why can’t a fruit smoothie be a fruit smoothie?
I suppose they are really good for people who don’t like to eat greens or just do not have time to make a salad but for me, it just doesn’t work. I could taste the chard. I could feel the kale in my mouth. I could see the green flecks of spinach in my mango smoothie. No thanks.
It reminds me of the juicing craze which I also experimented with. I could not live with the waste, the expense or the flavour. I just decided to eat more produce instead.
I am glad that people have a means for getting more healthy food in their diet but my smoothies are going to be all fruit, all the time. And I will enjoy them with my giant spinach salad.
What do you think? Is the green smoothie just a fad or is the best thing that ever happened to your foodie life? Am I missing something or is this just another trend in food fashion?
You already know how I feel about green smoothies Miss Suzie; we’ve had this conversation before.
I have to sing the praises of my green smoothie though, and share how it’s helped both me AND the Canadian.
Green smoothies have played a key role in restoring my health (life long auto-immune diseases). I started getting better having just straight-up fruit smoothies every day, but I noticed my health really improving when I added a couple of green smoothies per week.
Then it occurred to me that having a green one every day would help even more. Did it ever!
I credit that super-nutrition with helping me to feel like a human being again!
And my Canadian….that man wouldn’t TOUCH anything green! 🙁
And his health was seriously failing him. I challenged him to try my green smoothies. He did, and now he swears that they’ve saved his life!
I know what you mean about the bits of kale…HATE THAT.
My solution is to throw some green grapes and water into the blender at the highest speed, and while it’s whizzing around, I toss in the kale (washed and no stalky parts!).
I let that blend for a while as I chop up the rest of the fruit (ideally that would be an apple, an orange, a pear and a banana…the more bananas, the sweeter the smoothie, and frozen bananas are best of all).
I also add some milled flax seed for more nutritive value, and some psyllium seed husks for …well….you know….fiber.
I swear to you that this smoothie tastes sweet…just like fruit, and usually not green at all (occasionally I run into some extra GREEN-tasting kale…I agree, I do not like that).
I could sing the praises of this stuff all day long, but in the end it’s to each his own.
So there’s my two cents 😉
I’ve never tried a green smoothie before, except for the ones I make with Pistachio Pudding and I know that doesn’t count on the health-o-meter lol.
I know from others that drink them that they swear by the health benefits and I’m defintely curious, but I really enjoy just fruit, with yogurt, honey etc…I’m open to adding greens but it would really have to be the right combination of sweetness, no chunky green bits or bitterness otherwise it will turn me off immeditately.
BTW, I just noticed that your photo is a Lime Smoothie not a veggie smoothie, what a relief to know I’m not the only one that adds jello products in my blender LOL, that made my day!
I’m with you, too, Suzie, no green smoothies for me. And I am like you in that I love salad. I really love vegetables more than anything and have a blog to prove it. But I think a kale smoothie is a delicacy best left to others. 🙂
Thank you! I’m glad someone else agrees with me that greens are best left to salads and don’t need to mingle with the fruits in a smoothie. I tried it with spinach once, and I won’t do that again. Smoothies paired with salads? Fine. Smoothies and salads blended together? No thanks.
Tee hee! I also love greens & salads; & herbalist Susun Weed suggests that if you want the MINERALS from your kale, cook it longer (20 minutes – an hour!!) to extract those. Again, we can get Vit C etc from other things, but these greens can be a storehouse of minerals.
I go through phases with my breakfast – usually coconut milk kefir with … right now, applesauce from my lovely apple tree. Throughout the summer, I’ve played with green smoothies this summer, also blend for several minutes, which does a better job extracting goodies & mixes in Oxygen, so I feel ‘full’ quicker!
I have a grape vine, so add YOUNG (still shiny) grape leaves, a few comfrey leaves, ditto quinoa (wild spinach) red perilla etc, to that coconut milk kefir, & maybe a few figs from my tree (while they were fresh) or some other fruit. I enjoy it! I also add hemp seed or freshly ground flax or chia seeds for protein & omega threes.
My daughter watched ‘Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead’ – if she weren’t a nursing mama right now, she has considered doing a juice/smoothie fast! (she already eats way healthy, lots of greens & veggies, little meat, rare dairy, no gluten, egg yolks, peanuts or almonds (per screening) …. & is really healthy. Still – makes you think 🙂
Have fun with your smoothies – & bring on the salad 🙂
Hiya!
I put berries in my “green” smoothie and an orange and 1/2 banana.It’s more of a “green health drink” than a smoothie because with all the greens( kale, spinach,chard,parsley, depending on what I have) it is NOT smooth. I’m sure most people would find it gross because I’ll toss in some broccoli and tomatoes too, whatever I find. I’m drinking it because I could not EAT that much in one sitting. Trying to pack in the nutrition. I still love my salads and fruit.
I make blueberry smoothies with spinach in them for the girls because they are such picky eaters. They drink them and love them and have no idea. 🙂 I don’t eat tons of greens either so it’s nice to drink something that’s extra healthy. 🙂
I make blueberry smoothies with spinach in them for the girls because they are such picky eaters. They drink them and love them and have no idea. 🙂 I don’t eat tons of greens either so it’s nice to drink something that’s extra healthy. 🙂
Green smoothies are for people like me, who really don’t enjoy eating their veggies enough. I eat broccoli daily because I have to. Not my fave.
My sweetie pie makes me a smoothie with blueberries, strawberries and spinach which is so good!!
If you can get your vegetables the old fashioned way, I say go for it.
Green smoothies are not for everyone.