Fruit/Veggie Smoothie Outline.

Introduction:

This is simply my skeleton outline of a fruit/veggie smoothie I make almost every morning for breakfast. Let me be clear, sometimes it turns out wonderful sometimes it is not so wonderful. The success of this smoothie also depends on each individual preference and produce at hand. Sometimes mine do not turn out well because I have produce I want to use up and it is just not a good flavor combination. It happens. If you try out a bad combination put that on your mental list of 'smoothies not to make again'. Like the title says, this is an outline. You have a lot of wiggle room with this recipe; adjust it to whatever suits your taste best. I make this often for breakfast, along with toast, to ensure I get a lot of fresh fruits/veggies and variety into my diet.

Equipment:

-Blender* 

Recipe Outline:

-1 Seasonal Medium Fruit or 1/2 Cup Seasonal Berries*

-1 Banana* 

-1 Medium Leaf Chard/Kale* or 1/2 Cup Spinach

-1 Cup Liquid*

If you are making smoothies for more than one person be aware that the recipe above makes enough to fill one large glass and a little extra, but not enough extra for another person, unless you are both drinking it from coffee sized glasses. 

*Explanations*

*Blender: I have a Ninja ProSystem 1100 which I love. It is a fabulous blender. I can blend items for a matter of seconds, even on frozen items, and it always blends everything down so there are no annoying chunks left behind. 

With that being said, if you have a blender that you know does not blend food all the way you will want to blend your smoothie concoction for longer to ensure all the bits are easy to drink. If you know your blender may not be up to the job of making you a smoothie without chunks you may want to check out your local thrift stores for a better one or start saving to buy one that blends better.

*Seasonal Fruit: The smoothie consistency comes out the best when the fruit is frozen ahead of time. I prefer buying fresh fruit and freezing it myself. I have found that a lot of the pre-frozen fruit at the grocery store doesn't give the smoothie the same depth of flavor as the fresh stuff. 

*Banana: I always add a banana because I love bananas. If you don't like bananas then add more seasonal fruit.

6/19/13 Update: This morning I was perplexed that my smoothie's fruit and liquid started to separate after sitting for a few minutes. This has never happened before! Then I realized I forgot to add banana this morning. Apparently the banana is the adhesive that hold the smoothie together. If you do not like banana try adding yogurt and see if that also acts as an adhesive for the smoothie.

*Leafy Greens: Make sure you de-stem the kale. The main stem is very tough and is easy to remove so I always remove it. You don't have to worry about this with the chard or spinach. Oh and sometimes the chard and kale at the store come with HUGE leaves. If that is the case then use half of it in your smoothie and see how you like it.

If you are not a fan of greens, but know they are good for you then try adding a little at a time to your smoothies until you find the perfect medium for your taste. Sometimes you cannot taste the greens at all other times you can, it all depends on how much you add. 

*Liquid: I always add 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk and 1/2 cup 100% juice. I even add a large spoonful of plain Greek yogurt sometimes too. I most often add pineapple or apple juice. I have found these two juices go the best with any variety of stuff I add to the smoothie. Also, make sure you are reading the labels of your juices! Some juices are packed with so much sugar it is outrageous. I try to go for the 100% juice varieties to ensure I am getting as little additives as possible.

Here are some photo examples of what I have used in the past (sorry for the low quality photos, they were taken with the camera on my phone)  :

Pictured above: One apple, some blueberries, one banana and kale. I also added apple juice and almond milk. This one turned out to be really tasty.

This one has a banana, some raspberries, a white peach, and spinach in it in addition to pineapple juice and almond milk. This one turned out really tasty too.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comments :)