I had a chat with a green smoothie-lover from Crudessence in Montreal about variations on a green theme. I’m going to say upfront that I’m not a huge fan of green smoothies. Or, I wasn’t for a long time. The idea of using a lot of high sugar fruit to mask the flavour of healthy, chlorophyll drenched greens felt a little childish – like sneaking cauliflower into mac ‘n’ cheese, or beets into chocolate cake. The greens are just there because they’re good for you, not because they actually add aything to the dish. And the truth is greens can be delicious. Steamed swiss chard leaves are sweet and juicy, the leaves wonderfully bitter. Kale blanched and sauteed with garlic and olive oil and salt is still a tough one for me, but just a little goes a long way towards feeling wonderfully Italian.
And there’s nothing like my arugula – a little peppery and drying (in Ayurvedic speak), I eat it by the handful with peaches and maple-caramelized pecans. Those things don’t mask the greens – they complement them.
And I really hate banana in smoothies because it covers everything, and it always tastes like banana. Which is fine as long as you don’t get all mucus-y from banana like I do. Too much information, I know.
The other thing that bothers me about green smoothies is that you’re hungry 20 minutes later. If you drink them as a prequel to a meal, 20 minutes in advance, then they’re fine. But often to make them more dense they’re blended with soaked cashews or macadamia nuts and awful flax seeds and chia, which do nothing but add a ton of heaviness without any flavour.
But I’ve changed my tune after so many years of smoothie-bashing. The guy from Crudessence didn’t really have much to do with that, but he did make me a banana-free smoothie in a green smoothie demo, which didn’t hurt the cause.
It all happened when I discovered spirulina. It’s a protein. It’s detoxifying. It’s incredibly green. And it has a seaweed flavour without too, too much ocean-fresh saltiness. Just enough. Maybe 1/2 – 1 tsp. The woman at the shop said 1/2 tsp but most recipes call for more, and a lot of places say you can’t overdose. The store lady disagreed wholeheartedly. With a few leaves of kale (not the stems unless you’re juicing) this thing blends up well. I use a blend of whatever fruit or juice I have on hand, whether it’s raw or not, because the greens are going to make this worth the fruit sugar. Note that you shouldn’t use juices with added sugars. That might give you a sugar high like it does to me, which is not the best way to start your day. Followed by a crash, which is not a good way to continue it.
I do sometimes soak dates in water for 30 minutes (or overnight, or a few days in the fridge), then pit them and toss some in, but I usually only do that for dessert-type smoothies with almond milk and my favourite lucuma powder. Even in that I’ll throw some spirulina for hunger-diminishing protein without tons of heavy nut-based fat, and some kale to make the sugars absorb into my bloodstream more slowly. That’s the other reason people do green juices and smoothies besides the nutrients.
So now I’m just waiting to hear how spirulina is bad. Apparently you need the non “green-blue spirulina” because that’s not raw and therefore loses a lot of its detoxifying power.
Oh! The other thing I throw in that’s weird and very not raw is cooked brown rice. It makes the whole thing really creamy and thick. It’s for dessert smoothies especially, but also works for thicker, more filling breakfasts.
Sometimes if I have leftover dates I’ll toss them in a smoothie that otherwise wouldn’t be too sweet on its own. And I’ll toss in some basil from my garden (holy, green or purple) to round it all out. Basil and my particular type of local apples somehow end up tasting like lychee. It’s pretty amazing. To enhance this I sometimes even add unsweetened lychee juice – pure bliss. Okay fine, I’m hiding the kale in there like I said you shouldn’t do above. But it least it serves a purpose. Older and wiser, I am.
Here’s what I’ve been blending lately:
Green Smoothie 1:
1 apple, quartered and cored
1 1/2 cups chopped pineapple chunks (fresh, definitely not canned)
1/2 cup unsweetened lychee juice
a few leaves of basil (holy basil is best. When I’m pinching off the suckers from my basil plants or the flowering tops I just throwing those in. They’re VERY strongly flavoured so you don’t need a lot)
1-3 strawberries, hulled (ridiculous, I know, but all I had was 1 strawberry left over from the litres that I picked by hand a few weeks ago. And it works with the basil and lychee too without overpowering. Any more than 3 is really too much, in my opinion)
1/2 cup cooked rice, optional (it makes it creamy!)
2 leaves kale, de-stemmed (dinosaur or lacinato is great, but regular, spiny edged paler kale is fine too)
1/2 tsp spirulina
Green Smoothie 2:
1 orange, peeled
1 apple, peeled
1/3 cup almond milk
3 soaked and pitted dates
1/2 tsp spirulina
1-2 leaves kale, de-stemmed
4-5 ice cubes if I want it frozen
Green Smoothie 3:
1 cup almond milk
3 tbsp lucuma powder
4-7 soaked dates, pitted, with 1/3 cup soaking liquid (use 7 if you want a really sweet treat only)
1/2 cup cooked brown rice, optional, or more almond milk to taste
1/2 tsp spirulina or 1-2 leaves kale, de-stemmed. Lets not go overboard on the greens on this one. It’s dessert, after all. And you know how I feel about beet cake…
I’ll admit I’m usually hungry again 2 hours later, so I’m not convinced green smoothies are the bees knees. But these ones are better than banana, sugar, and nut-heavy mainstays.
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