I'm really interested as to know what greens people like to include in their daily smoothies or juices. I mean the ones that they ALWAYS include everyday and quantities (btw what's a US cup??). Also if anyone knows which ones they feel best on/different effects...etc that would be nice to read as well. Please post as I'd love to read everyone's answers about it (without having to get relevant bits from other topics). :o)
My usual (juice) is: celery, romaine, cucumber, carrot - and sometimes spinach, courgette, or leafy herbs.
I'm now starting to incorporate more leafy greens like spinach and kale. I use about 200g each of lettuce and celery, 100g each cucumber and carrot, and a handful of greens. Makes one glass.
bumping
Kale, lately - I planted some about a month ago, and it is growing nicely. I love it.
Spinach
carrots (only occasionally, my blender blows and I can't get a smooth smoothie when I use carrots)
I just got some beets, I think I'm going to throw those in tomorrow - I've never actually had a beet. :) I'm excited
I recently met someone who loves throwing Brussels sprouts in her chocolate smoothie in the morning.
A cup is 8 oz or roughly 240 ml. It's about the size of a tea cup ( for a visual ) :).
I love everything about kale :D
Spinach and kale are my favorites! Spinach makes me feel AMAZING! :)
Thanks for posting guys! this is very interesting, raw brussels and chocolate, hmmm... I used to LOVE them cooked.
Thanks Spirit for the 'cup' knowledge, I am much elucidated now. :D
Kale lovers so far, - I'm exited to have had my first kale experience ever today!
Yeah - spinach and kale are the best! I find others (romaine, gem lettuce, iceberg lettuce) very bitter and tasteless at the same time. (Iceberg - is it a green actually?? I've heard that it lacks nutritional value.)
Talking about Brussel sprouts - does anyone know what you can do with them in a raw form, any recipes?? I think that they would tase horrible but then again I thought the same about raw broccoli before finding out my now favorite salad recipe!
i only like spinach and i eat it everyday. it's usually 1/2 a pound or more. i just don't think any others taste good in smoothies. i've tried romaine and kale and i totally gagged.
I just eat Brussels with salt and pepper
Joanna I envy you. I wish I chug spinach til my eyes burst but I find I rarely include it!
I am not much of a green juicer/smoothie maker. I wish I could but juicing is so expensive and it fills me for all of an hour! I could try doing them smoothie style but then I would have no idea what to include in them with out wanted to hurl everywhere.I like to eat them...but drinking?
I know there is a smoothie vs juicing thread around here I'll have to find. To me....juicing fruit is a natural thing but I would love to move towards green smoothies. I would love to be one of those people that cant wake up properly unless they have had their green smoothie!
JB if you have any advice on making me a green smoothie lover by all means please show me the way!
Cheers!
http://www.myrawconsciousness.blogspot.com
I use spinach and chard (without the stem) and it really taste good to me. I don't have a fast speed blender, but I get very good results just by adding little liquid at the begining, and then leave it blend for a while. The kick for me are raw cranberries (I love the tartness) and bananas, of course. I also like to add an inch of ginger, and sometimes some cinnamon, it makes all the difference!
To start, I would try to use just a cup of greens, until you get used to the flavor. Then you can add a lot more without gagging... just a suggestion.
Oh, I forgot! parsley taste really good in green smoothies, somehow the flavor changes when you combine it with orange and berries...
I Love parsley smoothie with cantaloupe and apples!!! yum my favorite
iliveyourdream, i hardly taste the spinach in the smoothies, but maybe it's because i'm so used to it now. my favorites are...
spinach, banana, grape- i add the grapes first, then bananas, then greens. it mixes really well that way and doesnt leave the bottom all liquidy and the top filled with pulp.
spinach, mango, grape- i'm totally obsessed with this!!! i use 1 mango but you could add another one to make it sweeter. i think it's plenty sweet enough with just the one though
spinach, banana, cherry- this tastes like a chocolate milkshake to me! i use frozen cherries because nothing annoys me more than pitting cherries. i add a tsp of cacao or carob sometimes, too.
the only liquid i add is water-but not too much. i like my smoothies thick instead of watered down. the amount of spinach is different each time. it's basically how much i can fit in the blender after i've added the fruit. it's usually 4 handfuls though.
i hope this helps!!!
yummy sounding recipes there.
It's so interesting how different tastes can be, like I find romaine and kale juice delicious, whereas parsley makes me gag. Once I put a teeny bit of dandelion in a carrot juice and I was gagging! Makes me think dandelion is definitely not for eating (at least by me).
Reading this I miss brussels, maybe I'll try them raw, or have them only lightly steamed this season.
Life without greens would be so miserable, power to the juice/smoothie! :o)
Well those combinations dont sound so foul. Thanks!
For the grape,nana, ad spinach what are the portions? Just handfuls?
http://www.myrawconsciousness.blogspot.com
i make really big smoothies because eating at school can get annoying to me. i usually use 1 lb of grapes which is about half a bag. i weigh mine when i'm at the grocery store so i know how much i'm getting. i then add 3 or 4 bananas on top of that and then about 4 handfuls of spinach. i blend all of that with a little bit of water and then add more spinach until the whole blender is full. you could definitely scale it down if you don't like eating so much at once. my mom is shocked i can drink the whole thing haha
JB - that's really interesting, I just saw a YouTube video of Kevin Gianni making a big green smoothie because it's a way to pack the nutrients and calories in around a busy lifestyle. Although I have to say your combo sounds way more appetising than what he put in it, I'm tempted to try it, but i can't get any organic grapes near me.
Joanna: I finally tried mango/grape and it was way too sweet - my mango was HUGE though so maybe that was my problem. in fact, it was so big, I couldn't fit any greens into my blender! I'll have to try it with a smaller mango next time!
I always make smoothies of cucumbers, celery and broccoli. i love spinach in them too but its expensive so i can never afford alot of it here.
http://lilearthmuffin.wordpress.com/
I just keep it simple and use romaine lettuce as my green.
Bok choy, beet and carrot greens, purslane, and aloe are some others. Victoria Boutenko lists about 40 different kinds in her book Green for Life. She says that leafy greens (as opposed to broccoli or zuchinni) combine well with fruit.
Spinach, kale, n' collards!
My top fave is romaine, followed by kale, then spinach...preferably baby spinach =)
Spinach, kale, chard, collard greens, and romaine.
I tried using mustard greens in a smoothie once. Yeah, don't do that. LOL It was really gross. I really, really like kale because it lasts longer than spinach in the fridge.
About the brussel sprouts- if you try juicing them, I would recommend starting slowly. I had a VERY bad juicing experience with cabbage (a close relative), and found out later that some people who eat the whole foods don't always do well with them juiced. I figured since I could eat raw cabbage as slaws, juice would be even better. Just a note of caution.
I would think that you could make a type of slaw out of raw brussel sprouts? Sorry, I eat my brussel sprouts steamed, so I can't tell you how it tastes from personal experience. Though, it sounds interesting, so I may have to try a raw brussel slaw.
If you want to try something that is RAWmazing that you can "feel" working and makes you instantly connect with the entire Universe, put in Organic Raw Dandelion, Dino Kale, Pineapple, Apple, Banana, Broccoli Sprouts, Goji Berry these few ingredients along with your favorites has a RAWmazing synergistic COSMIC EFFECT try it! You instantly plug and connect into the Divine, the Universe, your higher self and everyone I made this for a client it cured him instantly of a severe nerve condition where he was in so much pain and could not walk, his doctor gave him literally 10 different prescription pills which only made it worse, he hired me and I cured him instantly with one green smoothie! We all drank it and felt super powers and I included it in my RAW SPA Cuisine recipe book...everyone that I have made this agrees and feels the RAW POWER it is incredible...
Blending is better than juicing, you get the pulp, and fiber and your body absorbs the sugar slowly and appropriately and it is closer to "eating" so is healthier and better and saves you money, you get more nutrients instead of wasting, when juicing you might be getting to much sugar into your body at the same time...also use a glass straw to keep sugar away from your teeth and enamel...
I absolutely love spinach... I buy a huge bundle of organic and put half of it in each green smoothie I make.
It includes:
1 huge handfull of spinach
1 fresh mango
1-2 bananas
juice from 2-4 apples depending on their size
coconut oil
chia seeds
flax seeds
spirulina
its amazing and I am so addicted to them. sometimes ill add strawberries too~