Ingredients
- 1 cup purified water
- 2 cups baby spinach, packed
- 2 medium Granny Smith apples, cored, cut into small chunks
- 2 cups green grapes, with or without seeds
- 1 tbsp flaxseed oil, unfiltered preferred
- Pinch of sea salt
Directions
- Put the water, spinach, apples, grapes, flaxseed oil, and salt in a blender and blend on high until the fruits and spinach are pureed and smooth, but still a hint on the fibrous side, about 30 seconds. Expect tiny specks of green apple skins in the finished drink.
- Serve immediately and feel incredibly energized. This blend has a moderate amount of sugar, but a lot of fiber, so sip slowly — no gulping. Please “chew” each sip, mixing well with your saliva so that it digests with ease and you get the most of your green smoothie benefits.
Blend up this tasty green smoothie recipe to get all the best green smoothie benefits of nutrients and filling fiber without sacrificing flavor.
Green smoothies or green drinks are a wonderful way to get your kids or other finicky family members to down their daily greens with joy! “Yeah right,” I hear you say. “Nobody in my family will ever drink anything that’s green other than green beer on St. Patrick’s Day or an artificially dyed, mint ice cream shake from the local Dairy Freeze.”
I understand your sentiment, indeed I do. Over the years, I’ve had my share of vile-tasting, raw, cabbage-like kale smoothies and vowed I’d never have another. That was before I learned how to camouflage the green flavor with other ingredients that are sweet and creamy or tart and tangy to make a tasty green smoothie.
Green Smoothie Benefits
In addition to the plethora of restorative, revitalizing, immune-boosting, and energizing nutrients contained within green superfoods, such as kale, spinach, arugula, spirulina, chlorella, lettuce, parsley and alfalfa grass, consuming greens in your smoothie is a great way to prevent blood-sugar swings and keep things in balance (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine).
Greens add more fiber to the blend than results by simply using whole fruit as the star player, and furthermore, the moderate protein content of greens helps slow carbohydrate digestion, resulting in a steadier, more stable blood-sugar level. As a bonus, this effect makes you feel fuller longer — more satisfied and less likely to snack between meals or overeat at mealtime.
Below is one of my favorite summertime tart and tangy, refreshing green drinks. It fills me up, cools me down, is relatively low in calories, tastes fabulous, and packs a powerful punch of dynamic nutrition and fiber in every sip. It’s quick to make and clean-up is a snap! Give it a try, won’t you? I’m sure you and your family members will love it. Enjoy!
Tasty Green Smoothie: Sour Apple-Grape Crush
Recommended Kitchen Equipment: You will need a high-speed, powerful blender such as a NutriBullet, Nutri Ninja, Blendtec, Vitamix, or KitchenAid in order to make this recipe and ensure that the finished drink is ultra-smooth and silky.
You may find this combo of sweet and sour fruits to be one of the best green drinks ever — I certainly do — plus you’ll never know there’s any spinach in it at all. The tanginess brings to mind the sour apple flavor of the Jolly Rancher brand of hard candies, but it’s immensely better for you.
This pale green, frothy, energetically cooling, ultra-filling beverage delivers a dynamic blend of nutrients that will supercharge and strengthen your body, fend off illness, promote regularity, and beautify from within.
This tatsty green smoothie is good source of: blood-building iron and chlorophyll, potent antioxidants, vitamins B, C, E, and K, boron, silicon, other trace minerals, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, protein, omega-3 fatty acids, natural sugars, and fiber.
Find this and more recipes for smoothies, green drinks, frappes, shakes, nut milks, and other luscious, health-boosting, raw food beverages in Stephanie’s latest book, Raw Energy In A Glass: 126 Nutrition-Packed Smoothies, Green Drinks, and Other Satisfying Raw Beverages to Boost Your Well-Being (Storey Publishing, c2014).
Stephanie Tourles is a licensed holistic aesthetician, certified aromatherapist, and gardener with training in Western and Ayurvedic herbalism. She is the author of ten books — which are available at MOTHER EARTH NEWS Shopping — including Raw Energy in a Glass, Hands-On Healing Remedies, Organic Body Care Recipes, Raw Energy, Naturally Healthy Skin, 365 Ways to Energize Mind, Body & Soul, and Natural Foot Care. She lives in Orland, Maine.
All MOTHER EARTH NEWS community bloggers have agreed to follow our Blogging Best Practices, and they are responsible for the accuracy of their posts. To learn more about the author of this post, click on the byline link at the top of the page.
