JUICING: Green Smoothie's

My juicer is out from hibernation.

He's been away all winter. Now that the weather is getting warm, I'm in the mood for fresh juice. Every morning and evening the family gets a Green Smoothie. It's delicious and nutritious! It's packed with kale, collards, bananas, oranges, apples, lemons, carrots and grapes. The dark leafy greens are a good source of A, C, Beta-Carotene, Calcium, Iron and Fiber!! I adjust the amount of greens for Maelyns drink. I put a small amount of greens in and then tons of the fruit and veggies. She loves it. I will work on getting more and more into her drink over time.

I grew up juicing with my Mom. She always had carrots, apples and celery juice waiting for us. It's delicious and I never declined a glass. I'm now sharing what my Mom taught me with my family. I hope to fill the gaps in our diet with fresh raw vegetables.

I got the recipe off of Green Smoothie Girl. As with any recipe you can alter it to your liking. I'm totally addicted. And, I like the idea that my family is getting fruits and vegetables everyday in their raw natural state.

I have a juicer and a blender and together I'm able to make this drink. I juice all the watery fruits and the carrots through the juicer. In the blender I put handfuls of the dark leafy kale and collards with 1 1/2 cups of water. I blend for about 1-2 minutes. Sometimes I add frozen berries too. I also add 1-2 bananas to the green drink which helps thicken the mixture. I use a strainer when I pour the greens into my glass. This helps with any leftover leaf parts that didn't get cut-down by my blender. Then I add the fresh fruit juice and it's done. It's fast and simple.

The leftover pulp goes straight into the compost bucket for the compost tumbler outside.