Green Smoothie with Apple, Lemon and Ginger

I first learned about green smoothies in a newsletter provided by Debbie who writes it for our CSA, Live Earth Farm:

Okay, so I've tried these now, the ones that Kimberly Potts gave me the recipe for a few weeks back -- and they are really cool! Beautiful, tasty, easy to make (and clean up after). It finally dawned on me (duh!) that you don't have to be a raw-foodist or even vegetarian to like these babies. Just because you're an omnivore like me doesn't mean that you can't include something this simple and delicious in your eating repertoire. Doesn't have to even be daily, like the proponents suggest. I'm sure daily is fine, but the point is, people should definitely try this and see for themselves, like you might any other recipe. This is what I've been trying (so far), and both my husband Ken and I have been enjoying them. I like them because they're helping me to use up the apples (of which I've acquired a backlog). So far I've made it with kale (both kinds), collards, and beet greens, and all have been great:

Green Smoothie with Apple, Lemon and Ginger
Makes one large portion of about 20 oz. (a little over 2 C)

3 small apples or 2 large, peeled, cored (you can leave the peel on if you want to; in the end I've found the texture to be a little better without the peel)

A piece of ginger root, 1/8 - 1/4" slice, peeled, chopped (and the ginger it totally optional; you can leave it out if you want)

Juice from half a lemon

1 C water

2 to 4 leaves of kale, chard, collard greens, beet greens... you could use mizuna or spinach (though if I used either of those, I'd use more than '4 leaves'), pretty much any green (radish greens? carrot tops?). Rule of thumb: if the leaves are small, use more, if they're large, like collards can be, use less. Be sure to strip off and use the leafy part only of stuff like collards, kale and chard, not the stems. A good measure would be, say, 3 medium-sized dinosaur kale leaves. When I used beet greens, I used a handful because they were small. Put everything in a blender and blend really well; work up to your highest setting so that everything is pureed really finely (I just have a two-speed Waring blender, so I start on regular speed 'til it's blended, then flip it up to high and let it run 30 seconds or so, until it is really nice and uniform).

Then pour it into a glass and... voila! Mainline that green goodness. ;-)

As Kimberly says, you can make green smoothies from most any fruit and greens, as long as you keep the proportions roughly 60% fruit 40% greens; I just started with the apple option because that's what I have lots of right now. When the pears come in, I'll try using them as the fruit. Ditto for pretty much any fruit we get (except maybe concord grapes, 'cause I don't know any easy way to get the seeds out before pureeing them. [Note from Nona, you can add grapes with the seeds because grape seeds are good for you.]

A few salient pointers to keep in mind when making green smoothies (as gleaned from the additional info Kimberly so kindly sent me in the mail). Stuff in quotes is directly from Victoria Boutenko, the woman who wrote the book on green smoothies:

Tips

1) "When blended well, most of the cells in the greens and fruits are ruptured, making the valuable nutrients easy for the body to assimilate."

2) If you're going to consume these on a regular basis, be sure to vary the greens you use. Don't make 'em with the same type of green day in and day out. It's okay to use the same fruit, but "almost all greens contain minute amounts of alkaloids. Tiny quantities of alkaloids cannot hurt you, and even strengthen the immune system. However, if ou keep consuming kale or spinach, or any other single green for many weeks without rotation, eventually the same type of alkaloids can accumulate in your body and cause unwanted symptoms of poisoning." [That last line kind of cracks me up - like there could ever be wanted symptoms of poisoning!! ;-)]

3) "Drink your smoothie by itself, not as part of a meal. Don't consume anything, even as little as a cracker or candy with it. You may eat anything you want approximately 40 minutes before or after you've finished your smoothie. Your goal is to get the most nutritional benefit out of [it]." I like to sip on mine as a sort of pre-lunch snack. Think "Elevenses", that meal 'after second breakfast but before lunch', of hobbit fame.

4) "Don't add anything to your smoothie except greens, fruit and water. I don't recommend adding nuts, seeds, oils, supplements or other ingredients ... most of these items slow down the assimilation of green smoothies in your digestive tract and may cause irritation and gas."

5) "Don't use starchy vegetables such as carrots, beets, broccoli stems, zucchini, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, eggplant, pumpkin, squash, okra, peas, corn, green beans, and others to your green smoothies. Starchy vegetables combine poorly with fruit and may produce what my children call 'gas 4 less.'" [Victoria's words, not mine; I don't have any kids.]

6) Keep it simple. "Don't add too many ingredients in one smoothie, such as nine different fruits and a dozen different greens. Try to keep your recipes simple to maximize nutritional benefits and to keep it easy on your digestive system." I think that all sounds pretty reasonable. Have fun with your green smoothies!

I use a Blendtec blender's smoothie setting (Blendtec is a high-speed blender like VitaMix) and I don't peel the apples or pears. The smoothies often have the consistency of applesauce and taste like applesauce with a little lemon and ginger flavor. I also add more gingerroot than Debbie and I peel a lemon and use the entire lemon. The white pulp on citrus contains quercitin and other goodies. I sometimes use all apples and sometimes I add a pear to the mix. Once I added frozen blueberries. Sometimes I add a few mint leaves. The end result is a nutritious and delicious smoothie. I have Victoria Boutenko's book about green smoothies and we're now enjoying green smoothies almost every day.