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stevio
Raw Newbie
today I am taking the first real step in working towards a raw diet. My blendtec arrived today, and I am drinking my first green smoothie as I type this.
My first green smoothie: 3 kale leaves with stems 1/2 fresh pineapple 1 ripe banana 4 mint leaves water ice
my initial observation is that the blendtec is an amazing tool. I was once a fairly serious woodworker, and I know the value of a good tool, and I have no doubt that this one will serve me for some time.
my second observation is that the smoothie tastes fine, not great, but it leaves an aftertaste of lawn clippings and a burning sensation in my mouth, throat and stomach. My guess is it is the kale. Is there some trick I don’t know about to make this taste less like lawn clippings? Is it the stems?
I bought a lot of organic greens today at the market, so I will be experimenting heavily through the weekend with the recipes, but I would like to try and make the kale work, and not give up on it quite yet.
Comments
A great blender is definately valuable if you are really committed to eating this way. I had a (reasonably priced) cuisinart when I first started trying out green smoothies. about four months after it started getting used once or sometimes twice a day it started making STRAAAANGE noises… hmmm. Then one morning as I was blending my smoothie the blades just stopped and it emmitted a high pitched(highly unpleasant) whine. And puffs of smoke. I took the hint and gifted myself with a vita-mix, before I managed to set something alight!! I definately hear you about the aftertaste. I’ve been off and on of the raw thing for nearly a year and I still can’t stomach much of the stronger greens in my smoothies. Generally I stick with milder tasting things like spinach, amaranth, beet tops, etc. If I do kale or collards or something of that sort I’ll do one leaf. I’d say start with a fruit combo you like and try mild greens and small amounts of greens at first. You’ll probably be able to increase it as you go. The burning could also be due to the slight acidity of the pineapple, no? Ooh, and make sure you are “chewing” you’re green smoothies. get those digestive juices flowing and what not.
hola stevio.. been doing green smoothies for over a year now.. would say that half a pineapple is way too much acid fruit.. no idea which of many kales you have but they should not give you any ‘burning sensation’ ,in fact organic kale in a smoothie can be almost sweet.. suggest you try no more than half a cup max re the pineapple, 3 or 4 good sized kale leaves..2 bananas..,maybe a bit of fresh lime juice and I’d throw in an apple or a bit more mellow fruit.. and adjust from there..its mango time down here so always include a huge mangoe in my morning two quarts along with other greens such as swiss chard, dandelion greens, parsley, spinach etc..enjoy..
an easy trick to making greens more palatable is by adding a little fresh lemon. just slice about 1/4 of a lemon and throw it in. it helps neutralize the “green” taste. also consider adding more water to thin it out a bit. it helps it go down easier. good luck!
NICE JOB, stevio!!! Way to go… we will be here for you through your transformation! I recommend keeping a photo journal of your progress. I recently started juicing and I HIGHLY recommend it for you. My absolute favorite green juice is lots of dark organic spinach leaves, a ‘bunch’ of celery, one large cucumber, a carrot or two, and half a green apple (red works fine, too). It is SOOO refreshing!
i think the burning is from the pineapple. too much can give a rough burning sensation in the mouth. Usually I just put a few chunks in, and a huge handful of kale
Wow – i didn’t realize people use such little amounts of kale. What is the purpose of 1 or 2 kale leaves? I generally use (for a 32oz smoothie) one head of kale and about a half blender full of fruit (maybe 6 peaches, 4 mangoes, or 2 pints strawberries), plus about 8 oz of water, depending on how watery the fruit is alone.
I use tons of greens in my smoothies too. one or two big handfuls. I stuff that blender.. it all goes down anyway. I like my green drinks bright green!
The burning sensation may be from the mint! I know whenever I use it, I always get a little tingle in my mouth. I find that to be really refreshing though.
I find adding a banana or mango helps make the smoothie more creamy, and less “green”, and I also add other fruits too, like blueberries, oranges, strawberries, etc. You definitely get used to the green-ness, and you’ll start using more greens and less fruit. You’ll even start craving the smoothies. Seriously!
Well, I will say this, despite the unpleasant aftertaste, tonight for dinner, all I had was some olives and the green smoothie. That was 3.5 hours ago, and I still have more energy now than I did for most of the day prior to that meal. I am already looking forward to tomorrows breakfast smoothie!
More kale, less pineapple. In fact, tomorrow shall be strawberries and bananas with the greens, and we’ll see about that acid issue.
thanks for all the replies.
go stevio! go stevio!
OK, I figured it out.
I have not eaten Kale ever, and I started with so little as I didn’t want to have to throw away the fruit on my first green smoothie attempt. I certainly forsee myself blending much larger quantities of greens as soon as breakfast tomorrow.
As for the burning, it was because my kale was mustard greens. It was mislabeled at the market (the sign was in the wrong place). Previous to today, I had always regarded kale as a wilted garnish on a plate with a hamburger.
I went back into the fridge and tried a leaf to see if that was the strong aftertaste, and there was the unmistakable mustard flavor and the burning.
I looked for a picture with google images, and confirmed my suspicions.
So, anyone have a good recipe for a smoothie with mustard greens?
yikes! add the lemon, it will help. other than that, my mustard greens smoothies always turn into my “hold your nose and chug” smoothies. (ha, ha) I drink them down anyway. also, it’s helpful to take some dates, remove the pits, put them into a jar, and submerge in water. these soaked dates can be added to any smoothie to make it sweeter, without adding refined sugar.
one more thing – mustard greens are super nutritious, so don’t give up on them.
Stevio – Ok, that is really funny that you made a smoothie full of mustard greens. yikes. i guess you’ll know how to tell those two greens apart for now on. ;) i promise you, kale is a lot more palatable than the bitters (mustard, dandelion, etc.). Do you have a juicer? The bitter greens might blend in more easily if you juice them with some calm greens (cuke, romaine, or celery) and then dilute with lemon and/or apple juice. It is great that you are committed to this and experimenting. We all have at least one horror story from when we first started, so don’t feel bad about the mustard. I just made our (me and boyfriend) smoothies for the day – I used one pineapple and 6 really ripe pluots and just under two heads of lacinto (dino) kale. it made 64 oz of smoothie and looks so incredible – it is speckled with little red spots of the pluot skin. i can’t wait!
Have you tried Asian Greens – bok choy/pak choy? I prefer them in green smoothies – cheap, nutritious and much milder in taste and easier on the stomach. If you have trouble with the potency of spinach, kale etc. then you might like these alternatives if you can get your hands on some. Easy to grow, too! :) You don’t need much fruit to overcome the greens taste. Some watermelon, a banana and a few dates or stevia, a couple of apples and maybe some lemon, berries or orange… I agree that the pineapple is probably the culprit that packs the punch. That’s a lot of acid! By the way, I shelled out and bought a Vitamixer Pro and I couldn’t live without it! It literally blends things in 10 seconds! Seriously – you could chuck a block of wood in there and turn it into soup it’s that powerful! :) I blend almost everything these days!
Good luck with your next smoothie experiments! ;)
Fiona
Well, this continues to go well. Thanks for all the support.
I was on the road yesterday. Went back to the land where I grew up (about 3 hours from where I am now living). Had a smoothie for breakfast (red swiss chard based) one with lunch (spinach based) and one with dinner (kale based). I brought my blender on the road with me.
At lunch, I had lunch with my parents, and shared the smoothie with them. They both eat fairly terrible, but struggle trying to do better. They loved it, and are going to start incorporating them in their diets.
For dinner, I had dinner with friends who were up visiting from out of town as well, and 2 of the 4 of them loved them, and one of them is claiming she plans to start incorporating them in her daily food routine, and will try to get her “junk food vegetarian” husband to have one or two per week to get him some nutrient dense food into his diet.
I feel quite lucky, I stumble onto this healthy food idea, and my friends and family are not only not looking at me like I am from mars, but some of them want to get in on the action.
As for the asian greens, I love them. I will have to find an asain market in my area. Great suggestion!
Natalia Rose’s “Green Lemonade” is super refreshing (it’s intended to be put through a juicer but probably doesn’t have to be…you might just have to add a little water if you plan to blend it.)
Ingredients:
1 head Romaine, minimum of 5 or 6 nice sized Kale leaves, 1 apple (Fuji or Pink Lady), 1 Lemon, a good sized chunk of Ginger (about 1-2 inches)
run it all through your juicer… and drink it down fairly quickly* (or brush your teeth right after)...
*Dental Hygienists warn their patients not to “sip” lemon-based juices … because lemons can wear on dental enamel
Regarding the use of Kale in smoothies – I saw Victoria B demo making a smoothie on U-tube and she tears the Kale from the middle thick, white stem. She does not use that part of the leaf. Just FYI.