Mama’s Green Smoothie

Markham mama Natasha swears by these smoothies!

As defined in Wikipedia Green Smoothies are health shakes or smoothies, made by blending green leafy vegetables, such as spinach with fruit, some of which may be frozen, and water or ice. To balance flavor and nutrition the typical ratio in a green smoothie is about 60% fruit to 40% leafy greens. In my opinion it's life in a glass! Try it and you'll be hooked, literally it's known that once you start drinking these smoothies your body starts to crave the wholesome goodness. Here is a link to a few good recipes , and here are a few tips that I find helpful:

• be flexible, the first time I made these I followed recipes, now I just wing it, do what sounds good and it probably will be, if not drink it anyway, waste not, want not and learn for next time
• Use ripe fruit bananas, pears, mangos etc. makes your smoothie so much tastier
• use organic fruit and vegetables, just because!
• a Vitamix blender is a great investment, if you can afford one, if not, go for a high speed blender preferably with an ice crushing setting and add a bit more water, you want to puree your greens as fine as possible

  

Here is a pic from my latest batch – dandelion, parsley, pineapple, honey dates, banana and apple, I make a bunch at a time and freeze them in glass mason jars for convenience.

The benefits of green smoothies are endless, they are loaded with vitamins, antioxidants, great for digestion, regularity, and a super easy way to get in your 7-8 daily servings of fruits and veggies, to name a few. As Martha would say "it's a good thing" enjoy!