Steph's Staples: Green Drinks

Green drinks are a great way to start out the morning, or as a refreshing drink on a hot afternoon, especially after working outdoors in the sun. I make them an easy way using a blender. They are basically greens, fruit, etc blended finely with pure water and then poured through a strainer to make for a smooth drink without rough chunks or thick fibers or whatever. There are many different combinations you can create with unique nutritional profiles, but green drinks in general are a great source of vitamins and minerals and enzymes and chlorophyll; rehydrating, cleansing, and nourishing. Some of the top nutrients you could expect to find in green drinks would be Vitamin C, Vitamin K, magnesium, manganese, potassium, and antioxidants like flavonoids, carotenoids, and chlorophyll. These minerals and antioxidants are great for the immune system, support healthy blood pressure, and help protect cells from damage. Greens are also known for having a gentle cleansing effect on the liver, reducing toxicity in the body.

The idea with a green drink is to fill your blender about 1/3 full with loosely packed greens and 1/3 full with fruits and various additions, and then to fill the whole blender about half full of pure water, covering the majority of the stuff in there. This makes about 2 tall glasses full.

Some ideas of combinations include:

~ kale, 1/3 cucumber, 1 green apple, 1/2 lemon, 1/2 inch ginger

~ spinach, 1 firm apple, strawberries

~ kale, 1 pear, 1/2 inch ginger

~ tender collard greens, parsley, 1/3 cucumber, 2 sticks celery, 1 apple

~ Swiss chard, a peeled orange, 1/3 cucumber

~ something similar using clean weeds from the yard like cleavers or violet leaves or dandelions

These are just some ideas I came up with, the first being the basic recipe I use the most often using a variety of greens, but the possibilities are endless!

You may want to get started with a higher percentage of fruit to mask the flavor of the greens, especially if you have a hard time appreciating the slightly bitter taste at first. But having a little bitter taste in your diet is actually good; it surprisingly has a satisfying effect to it once you develop a taste for it.

Here's an example I put together: Ginger Pear Green Drink

The ingredients: kale, pear, and (of course only a tiny piece of) fresh ginger

In the blender with water: you could do a little more pear if you wanted.

Pouring the blend through the sieve: you can then use a big spoon or your fist to press on the pulp to get most of the juice out

The finished product: lovely green drinks packed with fresh nutrients

These are a great way to get more fresh greens and raw foods in your diet! They are quick to make and it's easy to clean up afterwards, as long as you clean up right away so the pulp bits wash right out of the sieve and blender. So give it a try, and maybe you'll start making this several times a week or even every day like I usually do!