blue sunset smoothie

April 12th, 2010

This week we wanted something a little different for breakfast, and staring at the almond milk in the fridge, I remembered that everyone loved the Blue Sunset smoothie from Raw Food/Real World: 100 Recipes to Get the Glow. We were heading off to our homeschool coop for a day filled with interesting people and classes, so we needed something quick but filling, and Blue Sunset did the trick.

Blue Sunset

  • 2 cups pineapple chunks
  • 1 small ripe banana, or 1 cup frozen banana
  • 1 cup diced mango
  • 1 1/2 cup Brazil nut milk
  • 3 Tbs agave
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • pinch sea salt
  • 1 cup blueberries
  1. In a blender, puree all ingredients except blueberries until smooth.
  2. Pour out about half of the mixture into serving glasses, filling each glass halfway. Add the blueberries to the remaining shake in the blender, and blend until smooth.
  3. Gently pour the remaining blueberry shake over pineapple mango shake. Note Pouring the mixture over the back of a spoon (a bartender’s technique) helps keep the two layers separate).

Since the nut milk was sweetened with honey and this recipe is chock full of sweet fruits, we didn’t add any sweeteners or dates. And I simplified the recipe based on what we had on hand, and what I had time for. So here’s my rush-out-the-door-don’t-have-all-ingredients version  that was absolutely delicious! We poured them into Mason jars so that we could drink them in the car on the way.

Quick n Dirty Blue Sunset

  • 3/4 pineapple, chunked
  • 1 banana, broken into a few pieces
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 1 Tbsp ground flax
  • 1 1/2 cup blueberries

Blend milk, pineapple, banana and ground flax. Pour half this mixture evenly into serving cups. Pour blueberries into blender with remaining mixture and blend. Pour this on top of the first half and serve (definitely a skill I’m acquiring, but it tastes good even if it pours into the center).  YUM!

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it’s-so-easy-being-green smoothie

February 28th, 2010

green in all its gloryKermit was wrong!  It IS easy being green!

We first tried this lovely concoction at a friend’s house. Our kids, seeing their friends slurping this green concoction down greedily, gave it a try and have never looked back. This is still one of their favorites.

It’s super sweet, and the spinach is so mild you can’t taste the “green” at all, which makes this a wonderful introduction to green smoothies! I love the color of this breakfast beverage, it’s so in your face GREEN. We put berries in most of our smoothies, which, in the presence of greens, turn the smoothie something along the spectrum from mauve to brown, depending on the ratio of red to green I suppose. So I really love it when our “green smoothie” is actually green!

smoothie ingredientsit’s-so-easy-being-green smoothie

  • 1 pineapple
  • 1 banana
  • couple handfuls of spinach
  • Tbs flax seeds, ground

Chop pineapple, break up banana, top with greens and seeds. Blend. Share with others!

I add a variety of things to our smoothies to boost the nutrition. Sometimes it’s herbal infusions, sometimes flax, chia or hemp seeds, sometimes bee pollen or spirulina, it all depends on what I have on hand and what I’m in the mood for. My kids don’t care for much pollen or spirulina, so when using those I will pour off their smoothies and blend mine a bit more to disperse the add-in of the day.  I do this with the greens too sometimes, especially if I’m using green curly kale. Those leaves have a stronger flavor than baby spinach, so I’ll just include one or two for their smoothie and return the carafe to the blender base and toss in more leaves for my smoothie.

green smoothie in the blenderLucia prefers to just eat her pineapple and spinach from separate bowls, so about 1/3 of the pineapple ends up in a dish for her. Sometimes she wraps the spinach around the pineapple slices, sometimes she just nibbles them separately.This smoothie can also make a great fruit dip or raw fondue if you want to get fancy. Just cut up your favorite fruits into bite-size cubes, and serve with toothpicks and a bowl of lovely green fruit dip. Or go the extra mile and wrap your small pieces of fruit in a collard or lettuce leaf, roll and dip into this as you would a spring roll. Yummers!

I’ve also noticed that you can add the pineapple core to the Vita-Mix, but I’m not sure I would try this with a regular blender. I think my old Oster would be up to the task, but I don’t know for sure. Maybe we’ll have to have a blender showdown!  Any excuse for a party!

Have you ever tried a green green smoothie? Were you surprised by the taste? What was in it? Do you still make a green-colored green smoothie with no red or blue ingredients to mess with the gorgeous green? What’s your favorite? Now that our Smoothie Extravaganza is coming to a close, let us know if you tried any, what modifications you made and how you liked it! Not that we won’t post any more smoothies, but as we’re doing snacks and dehydration in class this week, well, I guess that makes this the week of the Snack Attack!

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