Raw Smoothies

Raw Vegan Creamy Avocado Banana Green Smoothie Recipe!

July 10, 2012 by Veronica Grace 12 Comments

Avocado Green Smoothie Plant Based Vegan Oil Free

This heavenly avocado banana green smoothie is a real treat. I normally don’t add any nuts or seeds to my smoothies, but I was inspired from our trip to Hawaii a few months ago to make one of these.

In many tropical countries the locals use avocados in sweet drinks and desserts instead of just the standard salad topping or guacamole. Avocado is a very versatile fruit and it’s extremely creamy and satisfying to eat. Kind of like nature’s butter! On it’s own it has a very mild taste and is not very overpowering but season it right and it can be out of this world delicious!

For this recipe we’re only going to use 1/2 an avocado because they are so rich in fat and calories. Generally I don’t recommend that anyone eat a whole avocado a day, especially on top of any other nuts, seeds and oils consumed in other meals as well. For a woman 1/2 small to medium avocado is plenty, for a man up to one avocado a day can work as they generally have higher caloric needs.

This smoothie is already slightly green with the avocado, but to really make it a beautiful green colour I added some spinach to it. In a Vitamix it really turns out beautiful.

So enjoy this smoothie on a nice hot summer day with either some frozen bananas or ice to for a cool refreshing treat! (And of course you don’t have to eat the avocado pit!)

Avocado Banana Green Smoothie

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas
1/2 small-medium ripe avocado (skin will turn black and give to pressure)
1-2 cups of baby spinach
1/4-1/2 cup water
Handful of ice (or use 1 frozen banana instead of fresh)

Directions:

1. Place ingredients into Vitamix or blender in order listed and blend until well combined.

Variation:

You can use almond milk instead of water if you want the smoothie even creamier.

Have you ever used avocados in a green smoothie recipe? What’s your recipe?

80/10/10 Recipe: Mellow Yellow Summer Smoothie With Mangoes, Peaches, Oranges and Banana

June 27, 2012 by Veronica Grace 11 Comments

I don’t know about where you are, but summer is really just starting where I live outside of Vancouver, Canada. The whole Pacific Northwest area is just so darn RAINY we only get a day or two of sun or mixed sun and clouds each week! It’s crazy. May was such a beautiful month, we had almost 2 weeks of sunshine and as soon as June hit it was like June-Gloom… Now that it’s almost July I’m starting to feel that panic set in that summer is fading away before it even really started…

Do you ever get that feeling? You wait all year for summer and as soon as you’re in the midst of it, you’re already sad that it’s almost over and can’t believe you have to wait so long for it again. Maybe not if you’re in the southern states, or Australia, but it’s sure like that here for me.

On the Eastern side of Canada and the US it’s the total opposite of our weather. They’re getting beautiful warm humid weather and lots of sunshine.

My garden is getting jealous… Already some of the plants have called it quits and shrivelled up and died. First to go was the delicate Thai Basil. They REALLY hate getting too much water and want lots of full sun. They gave up… The dill I transplanted is not happy. He’s turning yellow and shrivelling up. It’s very hard for me to grow dill here it seems, it gets to a certain height and just says “No way, I can’t do it anymore”. Shame, I really really love using dill! It’s awesome in salads, raw dressings, and raw blended soups or savory stews. I have one plant that is from last year and is still alive, but after picking from it the other day I don’t know how much more it will give me before it goes to seed. My cucumber and squash plants are a little unhappy, they were flowering and reaching for the trellis but the leaves are getting that white yellow spotty look from too much rain.

The good thing is I planted a huge variety, so it will help with the disappointment if certain plants completely bite the dust this year. It’s always a challenge growing in a climate that is so rainy and cloudy and you only get patches of sun or a few hours of full sun every few days.

But something that cheers me up when it’s so gloomy is to have a delicious summer fruit smoothie for breakfast. In particular one based on mangoes. I call blended mangoes liquid sunshine because they taste amazing (when ripe of course) and you get so much energy after drinking a glass of them. Even if you were feeling down and bummed out there’s no way you wouldn’t feel at least a little better after having a mango based smoothie. They’re that amazing!

So check out my Mellow Yellow Summer Smoothie down below, I know you’re going to love it!

Fat Free Raw Vegan Mellow Yellow Summer Smoothie

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

juice from 3 navel or valencia oranges
2 ripe ataulfo/champagne or honey mangoes (flesh only)
1 ripe banana
1 ripe peach or 3/4 cup frozen peach slices

Directions:

Use a hand juicer or citrus juicer to juice the oranges. Place ingredients into blender or Vitamix and blend until smooth. Add a little bit of water if desired for a thinner consistency. Garnish with a slice of orange if desired!

What’s your favourite mango based summer smoothie? Have you ever tried ataulfo mangoes before?

80/10/10 Recipe: Raw Vegan Pineapple Mango Delight Smoothie

May 23, 2012 by Veronica Grace 12 Comments

This delicious breakfast smoothie kind of reminds me of a Pina Colada but gets it’s creaminess from bananas instead of coconut. I was going to throw some other fruit into it, but once I tasted it, it was too delicious to mess around with so I left it with just 3 simple ingredients and it’s definitely one of my favourite smoothies.

The best smoothies are made with fresh ripe produce, so I always make sure to select the best sweetest pineapples, (See my video on How To Select and Cut A Pineapple) and let my mangoes fully ripen on the counter until they are soft and wrinkly (this is when they are at their peak flavour and sweetness).

My favourite mangoes are ataulfo mangoes and right now they are in season until June or so. Generally April-June is prime ataulfo mango season so I always pop down to China Town and get a case or two as these are my favourite. They’re stringless, creamy and the best. You can see part of one in my picture above, it’s on the right. Ataulfo mangoes also have some cousins called the champagne mango, Filipino mango, Thai mango or Indian/Pakistani honey mango. So wherever you are keep an eye out for these yellow skinned (orange inside) mangoes they have a much better flavour than the red and green Tommy mangoes and frozen mango at the store.

We’re actually moving today to a new place today changing from an apartment to a bigger house (in the suburbs), so I wanted to post a recipe on the blog before I get really busy this weekend. I still have some packing to do! So I should get on that…. (who likes packing? I think it’s one of my least favourite things…)

On to the recipe!

Raw Vegan Pineapple Mango Delight Smoothie (Fat Free Pina Without The Colada!)

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 ripe ataulfo mango
1 1/2 cups fresh pineapple (or frozen if needed)
1 medium ripe banana
handful of ice cubes (or none if using frozen fruit)
1/3-1/2 cup water to blend

Directions:

Place ingredients into blender in the order listed and blend until smooth. Serve with a pineapple wedge if desired and enjoy!

Wow that was easy wasn’t it! For variations you could also scoop in some fresh young coconut meat, or add some coconut water instead of the water for a really raw Pina Colada!

Sinless Fat Free Vegan Chocolate Banana Shake Recipe

May 10, 2012 by Veronica Grace 12 Comments

I don’t usually eat a lot of chocolate or use cocoa or cacao in my smoothie recipes, but I’m sure some of you out there have cravings for a chocolate milk shake or smoothie once in a while and I thought I’d make a little treat for us!

There are few things more delicious than the combination of bananas with chocolate and even without the traditional ice-cream, this shake is still delicious. The key to making it creamy and naturally sweet is to use fully ripe (lots and lots of spots) bananas. To make this recipe truly fat free I just use a little water, but you can use some soy or almond milk if desired instead.

Although the bananas in my smoothie picture do have lots of spots on them, I still prefer mine slightly riper (by a day or two with even more spots) and no green at all on the stems of my bananas for the absolute best tasting smoothie recipes. The bananas are still firm (not mushy or over ripe) and are even sweeter this way and then you don’t need to add any additional sweetener. The best smoothies always start with quality fully ripe fruit, so it’s best to taste test things before tossing them in a smoothie if you are unsure if they are sweet or tart.

Fat Free Vegan Chocolate Banana Shake

Serves 1

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas (see my post on ripe bananas)
1/4 cup water or as needed for your type/size of blender
1 tbsp cocoa powder
Handful of ice cubes (or sub 1 fresh banana for a frozen banana)

Directions:

Place ingredients into Vitamix or Blendtec or other blender in the order listed aboove and blend until smooth. If your bananas aren’t quite sweet enough add a teaspoon or two of liquid sweetener of choice and blend again.

Serve in your favourite smoothie cup or in a glass with a glass straw!

Variations:

If you’d prefer raw cacao powder you can use that instead. I find I don’t like it as much as cocoa personally and I find it less stimulating. You can also substitute carob powder if you’re looking for a caffeine/chocolate-free option.

To get some greens in this recipe you can throw in a handful or two of fresh spinach.

What’s your favourite chocolate smoothie or shake recipe?

80/10/10 Recipe: Raw Vegan Berrylicious (Banana Mango Berry) Smoothie Recipe

May 3, 2012 by Veronica Grace 9 Comments

Happy Friday everyone!

I’m back home in Vancouver after spending 2 weeks in Oahu and Kauai. Hawaii is still one of my top favourite places in the world. Probably because as an island state it has many more amenities than most smaller tropical islands I’ve been to (and loads of fresh fruit and veggie friendly restaurant options).

It’s rather chilly and rainy here right now as we’re getting a late start on warm sunny weather, but it’s the perfect time to start eating more fresh fruits and vegetables now that summer is approaching.

Smoothies are something that there is no standard recipe for, and generally what you get when you purchase one is a lot of added sugar, processed juice or milk (for the base) an unripe banana and a little sour frozen fruit. Generally I don’t like smoothies at smoothie bars, unless they are from places that don’t use processed juice or added sugar.

I actually never have to add sugar or milks to my smoothies because I make sure my fruit has completely ripened before using it. Vegetables generally come ripe when you buy them from the store (except for tomatoes and peppers are they are fruit-vegetables and need to ripen.)

How To Make Great Vegan Smoothies Every Time

The key to making a delicious whole food and sugar free smoothie is to use fully ripe and quality ingredients. Also you don’t have to throw a lot of things into it like some witch’s brew. I prefer to use only 2-4 ingredients to make a fruit smoothie and I generally start with a base of ripe (very spotted) bananas or ataulfo/champagne (yellow skinned) mangoes and then I add other things like ripe papaya, pineapple, berries, peaches, plums, spinach, etc. Whatever is ripe and sweet tasting can go into a great tasting smoothie.

The biggest crime at smoothie bars is probably using underripe yellow bananas or even worse yellow bananas with green still on them. Bananas contain a lot of starch and the enzymes in the bananas have to process the raw starch and convert it into natural sugars for it to taste sweet instead of sticky and pasty. To compensate they put in sugar, when it’s really not necessary.

The best tip for having quality ripe produce every day for smoothies or recipes is to make sure you are buying it at least a week in advance. I always have bananas and mangoes or papayas (when in season) ripening on the counter. It generally takes 4-8 days to ripen (I’m in Canada and it’s not hot or humid right now) on the counter in cooler climates. In tropical and subtropical places fruit can ripen in 3-4 days and then be stored in the refrigerator when it’s ripe. Frozen berries or bags of pineapple or mango are great additions to a base of ripe bananas or even fresh papaya.

How To Select And Ripen Mangoes

Mangoes can be hard to understand for those new to tropical fruits. They often don’t know how to select them, when they are ripe, or know how to cut them. Generally I buy the yellow skinned ataulfo/champagne style mangoes because they don’t have a stringy flesh and are very sweet and creamy when ripe. Most people buy the Tommy green/red type mangoes. When ripe these can be good too but they are much stringier and have a larger woody core in them.

Mangoes will take 5-10 days to ripen depending on when they were picked and what kind of climate you live in. You can tell a mango is ripe when it is starting to wrinkle on the skin and get soft. (Just like an avocado gets soft to the touch when ripe.) It should not have any hard spots on it and should be slightly soft and juicy inside and not taught and rock hard. The inside colour will change from light yellow to dark yellow or orange depending on the variety. Unripe mangoes don’t make for tasty recipes, and when it doubt leave it another day or two. Even I sometimes get impatient and open a mango too early and am disappointed that it’s not at it’s peak ripeness yet.

Another tip I have to getting good mangoes is to NOT buy them at the regular grocery or mainstream grocery stores. I find that their supplies are often poor, they are picked super early and don’t always ripen properly. This is a terrible place to buy mangoes. Bananas can generally be bought anywhere and will ripen, but not mangoes or papayas. Buy your mangoes from fruit markets, farmers markets, China Town/Asian fruit markets, Indian markets, Whole Foods, health food stores or Costco. (Costco’s ataulfo mangoes are usually fine, but the red/green mangoes when bought out of season often don’t ripen so I avoid those until the spring/summer.)

If you live in tropical places or states like California, Hawaii or Florida you may be able to get mangoes at the regular grocery stores that are fine, but this is usually because they were shipped shorter distances and thus did not need to be picked so hard and unripe or gassed. If you live in the northern states, Canada or northern European countries, you’ll want to avoid the regular grocery stores for tropical fruit purchases because of their bulk suppliers and slow turn around times.

Now onto my smoothies. I make raw smoothies because they are the tastiest and are completely whole food based. I don’t like adding supplements or super foods (especially cacao and maca as they are too addicting and stimulating) so my goal is to show you how to enjoy a simple delicious whole food fruit based smoothie. Many people don’t get enough servings of fruit in their diet, including vegans who tend to eat more packaged foods. But breakfast is the perfect time for a juicy water rich easy to digest fruit meal whether it is a smoothie or a large fruit salad. Often I only feel like eating fruit in the morning because it’s so hydrating and a great choice for eating before or after a workout. My smoothies are also enough for a whole meal, so I’m not having a little glass of smoothie and a bunch of toast or heavy breakfast foods. If you’re a woman with a small stomach or not used to eating smoothies you may only use half of this recipe, but you will soon be hungry again and probably want something again, so you can take the other half with you or keep in the fridge. If your an active man you may need to add a few more bananas to this recipe to accommodate for your higher caloric needs. When I have a smoothie this size it’s all I need for breakfast and it will hold me over until lunch. So with this information you can decide how to accommodate your needs with breakfast smoothies.

Also for those new to my site I do have a print button option on the top of every post so you can decide exactly what information to print and print with or without pictures if necessary.

(80/10/10 Style) Raw Vegan Berrylicious (Banana Mango Berry) Smoothie Recipe

Makes 2 medium glasses

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas (see my post on ripe bananas)
2 ataulfo/champagne mangoes (cut around the inner woody seed and scoop out the flesh from the skin)
1 cup frozen mixed berries (I used raspberry, blackberry, blueberry and strawberry)
1/3 cup water

Directions:

Add ingredients to your Vitamix or blender starting with the mangoes and bananas at the bottom, add the water and place the frozen fruit on top. Blend until smooth.

Drink and enjoy!

Variations:

You can also use frozen cherries, just raspberries, or just blackberries instead of the mixed berries if desired.

If you don’t have bananas just add another mango, if you don’t have mangoes add another banana.

You can easily make this a green smoothie by throwing in a handful or two of baby spinach or chopped kale (remove the stems first though).

Have you ever eaten an ataulfo/champagne mango before?

80/10/10 Recipe: Beginner’s Green Smoothie Banana Blueberry Spinach

April 11, 2012 by Veronica Grace 20 Comments

For some of you green smoothies might be something new, or something you’ve heard of but never tried. Others may make green smoothies regularly and enjoy them. I wanted to share a really easy green smoothie recipe with you today. Something I would call a “basic” or “beginner’s green smoothie”.

#1. Because it’s not too frightening looking and you can tell it has berries in it (this may seem a little normal looking). This may also appeal to people who are afraid of drinking something that looks like green grass!

#2. It tastes very nice and you cannot detect any greens in it at all. Baby spinach is probably the best green to start with when dipping your toes (and taste buds) into making a green smoothie.

Green smoothies are basically just a mixture of fresh ripe fruits, some mild greens, maybe some frozen berries and a little water. They need not be complicated, and they don’t need any kind of protein powders, raw pseudo “super foods” or oils like coconut or flax oil. The goodness of a simple green smoothie comes from whole foods. Whole fruit and whole greens is all I put into my smoothies.

Green smoothies can also help get some more greens into your diet (especially since they don’t need dressing) and can be good for children or people with a compromised ability to chew their food really well.

I only blend my smoothies for about 30-45 seconds in my Vitamix. I don’t like to let it run on too long and get too thin, or warm.

Another good thing to do is to not gulp your smoothie but drink it and chew it a bit. I don’t recommend sipping on smoothies for hours at a time or all day (this can cause dental problems and weaken your enamel from feeding the carries and bacteria in your mouth sugar all day) though. Consuming a smoothie in 10-20 minutes should be fine, and then you can wait 30 minutes before brushing your teeth and rinse your mouth with water if you desire. When using berries that have little seeds I like to use a water pik as well as there can be little pieces that are hard to get out between your teeth.

To make a basic green smoothie you want to start out with a base of either ripe bananas or ripe mangoes (I like ataulfo mangoes) or even a mixture of both. Then you can use 2 cups of mild greens like baby spinach, lettuce, mache (lambs lettuce/corn salad), or 2-3 leaves of kale or Swiss chard (remove the big stems). If desired you can add another fruit like berries, pineapple, mango, papaya, grapes, even watermelon. Depending on what blender you have you may need to add a little water as well, just enough to blend or to get the consistency you like. I like really thick smoothies so I chew them. Some people like only very thin ones so it’s like fruit juice. It’s up to you. Always stack the smoothie in your blender with water at the bottom, then bananas, then greens, and then frozen fruit. Use a tamper (if you have a Vitamix) or break up the chunks of banana before blending to get everything to combine easily. If you have a basic blender you may want to blend the banana, water and greens first, and then add a little additional fresh or frozen fruit and blend again.

Ok, now that I’ve shared some tips on green smoothies, let’s go on to the recipe.

80/10/10 Recipe: Banana Blueberry Green Smoothie

Serves 1

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas (see my post on how to tell if your bananas are ripe enough)
2 cups baby spinach, packed
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4-1/2 cup water (as desired)

Directions:

Place ingredients into blender in the order above putting the bananas on the bottom. Add a little water if desired to help it liquify.
Blend for 30-45 seconds if you have a Vitamix. (If you have a regular blender you may need to break up the banana pieces into smaller chunks and blend with a little more water or a little longer depending on how strong the motor is.)

I find that having frozen fruit gets the smoothie cool enough without the need to add ice. Unless you have a Vitamix adding ice to a smoothie can make it too gritty and not very smooth to drink.

Have you ever made a green smoothie before? If so what’s your favourite?

80/10/10 Recipe: Banana Raspberry Pineapple Smoothie

March 30, 2012 by Veronica Grace 6 Comments

80/10/10 Raw Vegan Banana Raspberry Pineapple Smoothie

Raw Banana Raspberry Pineapple Smoothie

Spring is coming! I know it! We’re getting a few sunny days in between the rain here in Vancouver. So sometimes I can take my pictures outside. Yay!

I really love pineapple and raspberries in smoothies, I think they make almost as good of a combination as pineapple and black cherries.

This is a smoothie I regularly make as it has creaminess from the bananas, the tartness from raspberries, and a tropical pineapple twist to it. As long as you’re using fully ripe, spotted bananas as the base you can pretty much throw any frozen fruit into the blender with it and make a delicious smoothie.

80/10/10 Banana Raspberry Pineapple Smoothie

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

2-3 bananas (ripe with lots of brown spots)
1 cup of frozen raspberries
1 cup of frozen pineapple
a little water to blend

Directions:

Add ingredients to blender starting with the bananas at the bottom and the water and frozen fruit on top. Blend until smooth.

Drink and enjoy!

Variations:

You can easily make this a green smoothie by adding a few handfuls of spinach or kale (destemmed of course)

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What smoothie combination have you been wanting to try but have never had before? What fruits are you excited about coming into season again?

80/10/10 Recipe: Banana Cherry Pineapple Green Smoothie, Green Smoothie FAQ and How To Make Your Green Smoothie Look More Appetizing

February 28, 2012 by Veronica Grace 22 Comments

Today I thought I’d share another fat free raw vegan smoothie recipe with you (this one includes cherries and pineapples) and go over some questions some of you may have on green smoothies. If you’re looking for the recipe, you can scroll to the bottom of the post.

What is a Green Smoothie?

A green smoothie is basically just a raw fruit smoothie with some raw greens added to it for more nutrition. It can look green, red, purple or even brown coloured depending on what the ingredients are.

Why Would I Want To Add Greens To My Smoothie?

Most of us don’t eat giant raw salads or plates and plates of green vegetables every day and when we do eat greens we often don’t chew them well enough or even that long at all. A green smoothie is a great compromise for those who want to get more fresh greens in their diet with little fuss. It’s also great for those who don’t like the taste of leafy greens or want to eat all their greens raw. Eating heads and heads of leafy greens every day can be tough too.

What Kind Of Greens Should I Put In My Green Smoothie?

If you’re just starting out and not sure what would be a “safe bet” to have your first green smoothie or you’re making one for someone else who is really skeptical, you should try something mild like a cup or two of baby spinach, mâche (lambs lettuce/corn salad) or a few leaves of lettuce.

If you’re already used to green smoothies you can use the above, or also try adding celery stalks, kale, Swiss chard, dandelion greens, turnip greens, beet greens, etc.

If you’re really adventurous and can stand bitter/strong greens like mustard, baby spring mix and collards you can try a little of those to start.

How Do I Make A Green Smoothie Then?

I would recommend to start with ripe bananas, a little bit of water, your favourite frozen fruit (pineapple, mango, peaches, berries etc) and a cup or handful or two of greens. Blend it and then taste test it before deciding if it needs more fruit or greens to your liking.

BTW, these are ripe bananas. Please DO NOT use anything less ripe than these or you could end up with s starchy (dry and pasty) bland smoothie and not enjoy it. Note the one on the right is the ripest and will taste much sweeter than the two on the left.

Your first green smoothie might look like this:

2-3 ripe bananas
1-2 cups baby spinach
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup water

Green Smoothie Troubleshooting FAQ:

My Green Smoothie Tastes Awful/Bad! What Did I Do Wrong?

The first suspect is that you used unripe/sour fruit for the base of it. Unripe bananas, sour peaches, sour nectarines, sour mango etc. Your fruit should be soft and give to the touch. I made a youtube video about How To Tell If Fruit Is Ripe if you want to check it out.

If your smoothie is really bitter/smelly/awful tasting you probably used too strong of a green or too much of it. I would scale back to a handful or two and blend and then taste test before deciding if you want to add more greens to it.

If you did not add unripe fruit or too many greens, you probably added some kind of bitter powder to your smoothie and the taste is overpowering the flavour. Omit or reduce this amount.

My Green Smoothie Is All Gritty And Has A Weird Texture! What Did I Do Wrong?

If your smoothie has a weird texture like you are drinking juice with the fibre put back into it and it’s lumpy and not smooth you used fruit with mostly insoluble fibre.

Apple skins have insoluble fibre (think hard to digest and sweeps through your digestive tract) and some soluble fibre inside their flesh. Same with pears, pineapple, berries, grapes and greens. If you just make a pear/apple + greens smoothie or a berries + greens smoothie you are going to have a really BAD smoothie. It’s not going to be very nice to drink and the fibre will sink to the bottom.

Fruit that makes smoothies “stick” together (because of higher amounts of soluble fibre) and have a creamy taste are bananas, mangoes, papaya, peaches, nectarines etc. You want to make sure you add at least 1 or 2 large pieces of these fruits for the base of your smoothie to have an even texture.

What Should I Not Add To My Green Smoothie?

Most importantly, please do not add anything like oil (flax oil, olive oil, coconut oil, coconut butter, fish oil etc) to your green smoothie. These are refined products and are 100% fat at 120 calories per tablespoon. If you are trying to lose weight or eat for health you do not need to add a 100% refined product to your otherwise healthy smoothie. If you want some “good fats” you can try a tablespoon or two of ground chia, ground flax seed (linseed) or hemp seed (hearts). Getting your omega 3 essential fatty acids from a whole food and not a processed (and possibly rancid) source like oil is preferred. Also, you would probably enjoy a tablespoon of oil much more over a salad or steamed greens than hidden in a smoothie (if you chose to eat it).

I also don’t recommend adding any raw animal products (like raw eggs) to smoothies because of the potential health hazards. I don’t recommend animal products for health anyways, but it is especially hazardous to eat animal products raw mixed into something as you won’t be able to tell if it was “off” or contaminated.

Other things I find unnecessary in smoothies are: yogurt, sugar, sorbet, ice-cream, artificial sweeteners, pop/soda etc. These foods are not health foods and aren’t necessary for a healthy diet, and they just add more processed food and sugar to your smoothies anyway. In the case of yogurt, I am against dairy for health reasons. Non-dairy yogurts are more of a treat food. Often they contain a lot of sugars, fat, chemicals and preservatives so it’s not something I would recommend to eat daily for health. Probiotics can offer health benefits without excess chemicals or calories as well. If you want to make your own yogurt this is certainly much healthier than store bought too.

Green powders like wheat grass or barley grass are pretty strong. If you add them to your smoothie, it’s going to taste like grass! And Possibly make you gag… (that’s me anyway) And unless you REALLY love the taste of grass in your smoothie, I wouldn’t recommend doing it.

Raw cacao and cocoa should be avoided, or used only occasionally. They have a lot of caffeine are highly addicting. If you are doing so already you might notice that you can’t wait to have your daily chocolate hit and could eat more than just one chocolate smoothie given the chance. I also don’t like using cacao to mask bitter tasting raw powders and protein powders as it tricks you into drinking something you otherwise would not eat and can lead to overeating as well. I found banana cacao smoothies far too addicting and had to cut it out.

Raw vegetables especially ones like carrots or beets, they are really hard and gritty and will not add a nice flavour or texture to your smoothie. Celery I find works ok if it’s 2-3 stalks and you add some bananas to it. This is just personal preference. If you’re a beginner or serving someone else try a few fruit and green smoothies first before adding any veggies. Something that is a little safer would be raw cauliflower, cucumber, celery, zucchini because they are super mild tasting. I don’t recommend blending raw broccoli because it’s so strong tasting.

A smoothie should be a healthy meal, not a witchy concoction of fragmented processed food you would never eat on it’s own. In the sense where you wouldn’t open up a jar of powder or pills and eat it with your meal. A smoothie is for getting healthy food into you easier if you don’t have time to chew, not to be your own “vitamin water” to dump all kinds of junk into.

If you want to add some supplements or powders to your diet, it’s best to know if you need them or not. Get a blood test and test for any deficiencies and then if you add something use one thing at a time, and not half a dozen different things. If one is giving you benefits, another negative reactions and the rest are doing nothing, you won’t really know, you’ll just have wasted a lot of money on supplements. It’s much better to experiment with one thing at a time on your body if you are unsure if it is good or bad for you to include in your diet. (This does not pertain to fruits and vegetables, unless you suspect an allergy towards a specific one)

Other things I don’t add to smoothies are milks or ice. Milks are not really necessary in that I prefer to get most of my calories from whole foods like fruit and I use milks more in dressings or creamy soup recipes, so there’s no need to double up and add them to my smoothies and make them fattier. Ice is also unnecessary as it waters down your smoothie and if you have a cheaper blender it makes it really hard to blend and gives it a gritty texture as well. I prefer to add frozen fruit if I want to cool my smoothie down.

How Do I Make My Green Smoothie Look More Appealing/Appetizing and Not So Ugly?

This is especially important for those new to green smoothies and children and/or spouses that would probably refuse to drink a smoothie with greens or “vegetables” in it. How dare you try to sneak in healthy veggies into their breakfast right?

It’s fairly easy. Basically start with a base of something white or yellow like bananas, mangoes, peaches etc. and then add your greens and pick a purple, red, or blue fruit or berry to add to your smoothie.

This smoothie below has greens in it, but you would never know. It just looks like a red smoothie and is pretty “normal” looking.

If you add something like black kale and some berries to your smoothie it may end up looking more brown. For yourself you may not mind but for newbies to smoothies prettier always gives a more positive reaction to it.

I used to get teased constantly at my old job for bringing in “monster green concoctions” for breakfast every day and my boss would stop the meetings and ask me what I was drinking it freaked him out so much. As soon as I started putting blueberries in it, people stopped caring! lol

80/10/10: Banana Cherry Pineapple Green Smoothie

Serves 1-2

Approx: 506 calories

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas
2 cups packed baby spinach
1 cup frozen or fresh pineapple
1 cup frozen black cherries (or fresh) (or berries of choice)
1/2-1 cup filtered water (optional to thin or blend)

Directions:

Place ingredients into Vitamix in order listed and blend until smooth. If you have a cheaper blender you may want to add the water and bananas first and blend and then add the other ingredients and blend.

Additional Tips:

I get my black frozen cherries from Costco in Canada. I don’t know if they just started carrying them, but I was pleased as cherry and pineapple go together so well and is one of my favourite combos. If you’re in the USA I know that H-E-B (in Texas) and Dole have black cherries in the frozen fruit department of many grocery stores. You can also use frozen raspberries if you don’t have cherries. It just adds more seeds to the smoothie, so get out your dental floss!

What do you think of this recipe? Did you learn something about green smoothie making today?

Raw Vegan Valentines Day 80/10/10 Style: Cherry Mango Love Smoothie

February 13, 2012 by Veronica Grace 10 Comments

Whether or not you have a sweetie on Valentines Day this year, you can make your own 80/10/10 style holiday meal pretty easily. Make a beautiful breakfast smoothie for yourself or your loved one, or slice up some mangoes into heart shaped pieces. There you go, festive and edible!

It’s just starting to become mango season, you will see them available at grocery stores slowly, but they will be in full availability starting in April.

I got these mangoes from Costco and they are starting to ripen up.

How To Cut Mangos Into Heart Shape Pieces

To make heart shaped mango slices, you’re going to need a really sharp preferably thin knife. Slice off the cheeks of the mango (around the inner woody pit) and trace an outline on the skin in a heart shape, or any desired shape. Carefully cut out the mango trying to be as smooth in your cuts as possible. When you’re done you can trim any choppy bits after to make it look more streamlined.

Serve your mango pieces on top of a fresh fruit salad or smoothie. You can use any leftover scraps in a delicious smoothie as well. I saved mine for the smoothie below.

Raw Vegan Valentines Day Smoothie: Cherry Mango Love

Serves 1

Ingredients:

2-3 ripe bananas (spotted all over)
2 ripe mangoes (very soft and wrinkly all over)
1-2 cups frozen black cherries (Dole, H-E-B and Costco all have these available. Costco in Canada)

Directions:

Place mangoes in the bottom of your Vitamix or blender, then bananas and then frozen cherries on top. If you need to you can add a little water to make it blend easier, but I like my smoothies thick. Blend until smooth.

Serve and garnish if desired.

Additional Tips:

If you don’t have frozen black cherries, you can use frozen raspberries. Strawberries are a possibility, just make sure they are sweet.

You can easily make this a green smoothie by adding some spinach to it. The cherries will mask the green colour and make it look more purplish.

What do you think of this recipe? Are you doing anything special for a raw vegan Valentines Day?

Low Fat Raw Vegan Green Smoothie with Grapes, Celery and Spinach

January 22, 2012 by Veronica Grace 17 Comments

Here’s an easy and tasty fat free raw vegan (80/10/10 style) green smoothie recipe you can make for on the go or taking to work. I used to take this to the office (where I used to work) because my boss kept teasing me about my creepy alien green concoctions lol.

Check it out!

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What’s your favourite green smoothie recipe?