My Green Smoothie Recipe

I've fallen in love with smoothies as of late. I love how completely delicious and nutritious smoothies are as well as how filling one can be without being too much. I've been working on this smoothie recipe for a while. It's based on a recipe in a book I borrowed from a friend, but has a few Whitney friendly ingredients in it that the recipe didn't call for. This is my way of uping the ante. Feel free to personalize by using pineapple instead of pink grapefruit or oranges, both even if you fancy. I like to mix it up (insert laugh here), but you do what you feel like.

Place the citrus items in the blender first and turn the machine on low for about a minute, then medium for 30 seconds. Make sure everything is blended until mostly smooth, but still a bit chunky (or until completely smooth if you dislike chunk in your smoothie. I like chunk, so I leave a few chunks in at this stage).

Add in 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Add in agave nectar to taste. I like mine on the sweet side so I usually add in ca. 2 tablespoons of agave nectar. Also add in 1 tablespoon of coconut oil (read more here for info on coconut oil's health benefits). That dark no label bottle in the back is my homemade vanilla extract.

Next, add in the cucumber and turn the machine on pulse for 15-45 seconds until just about the consistency you'd like (again, longer for a smoother smoothie or less time for a chunkier one). Once the mix is relatively how you want it, add in the spinach and parsley in to the mixing container using small handfuls at a time (ca. 15 baby leaves or so plus some parsley-my hand is big so adjust for what makes sense for you) until it is all blended in.

Leafy greens like spinach and parsley can be tricky in a non-high speed blender so if you don't have one (like me) add them in slowly, turn the machine on low, then medium, turn the machine off, then repeat. I usually turn the machine on high for 15 seconds at the very end just to be sure I've gotten all the stems blended in at the consistency I like.

The process from beginning to end (including prepping all of the fruit and veggies) takes me ca. 20 minutes.

The only thing left to do is drink or eat with a spoon and enjoy!



This post is for non-commercial, personal use only. Copyright ©2011 by Whitney @ Thanks For The Food.

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