Green Smoothie Soapbox

I've posted something like this before, but I want to occasionally recap on green smoothies, my favorite food, especially in the wake of recording so many cooked meals in recent weeks.

I'm not a hardcore raw food person, but I do think it's important to eat a lot of raw fresh fruits and veggies. Emphatic raw food advocates talk a lot about enzymes in raw plant food as beneficial to human health; I'm not yet sold on the enzyme argument, but I won't discount it either. I'm kind of an enzyme agnostic.  

Regardless of the science or lack thereof in the enzyme department, food researchers generally agree that dark greens are among the most nutritious foods on earth.  And, cooking does damage an appreciable amount of vitamins and minerals.  So raw is still good, and green smoothies are easy, and they taste more like dessert than vegetables.  

Most days of the week I drink a quart of this stuff for breakfast.  It probably averages out to about 75% organic-- the one pictured used conventionally grown strawberries and mango, only. Organic greens happen to be totally affordable, by the way.  Here in CA I can get a bunch for a buck fifty.  I guess I'm probably spoiled...

I don't measure anything on a regular basis, but when I've sought to define the amounts, I have found that I use

2 cups cold water

2.5 whole fruits

1 cup packed parsley

2 cups packed spinach

1 cup packed kale OR collard greens OR chard

I wish I varied the greens more than I do, but I haven't found ones that I really like aside from the five listed.  As for the fruits, everything tastes good.  Apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, mangos, bananas, pineapples, oranges, peaches, grapes, melons and on and on.  Sometimes I throw in a carrot, some cucumber, celery, broccoli, asparagus or ginger.  My blender has a motor as powerful as a lawnmower so it chews up anything without a hitch. 

Any blender, however, can manage the basic fruit/greens combination.  Which means that you should try it.  Yes you. You'll get more greens in your body in one hour than many people get in a week.  Tastily.

The soapbox is now vacant!