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| Here’s to happy mornings: All Green Veggie Smoothie |
OK. Some of you are going to think the recipe I am about to share with you is really, really strange. But I promise you, it is one of the best wake up meals a person could ask for.
I woke up to sunshine this morning – the first rays reaching the shoreline on the far side of the bay opposite our bedroom window. So the light wasn’t shining into the room, but the brightness of it greeted me as soon as I opened my eyes. For those of you living in parts of the world where Winter is already a distant memory, my exultation over each tiny step towards Spring may be surprising. For those of you still buried under inches of snow, or cheering on the progress made of green grass over dirty gray snowbank, I know you’ll understand.
We haven’t had freezing temperatures here in Helsinki for a couple of weeks. The natural world is waking up. The swans are back: I saw a faithful pair soaring through the sky yesterday, on their way to nest in the bird sanctuary just beyond my window. The first of the crocuses are poking their spiky leaves skyward, getting ready to bloom. The world is alive, again.
And all I could think this morning is “I want a salad”. Except that I didn’t really – didn’t want the chewing nor the chopping of vegetables that would proceed the chewing. So I did what any smoothie loving woman would do: I washed a pile of veggies and threw the whole lot of it into a blender.
Happy Days! The results were delicious. So before I head out into the sunshine that’s been putting a smile on my face since I woke up, here’s a green smoothie that’ll put bells on your toes. It’s bright, light, smooth, creamy, flavorful and completely satisfying – and oh-so-good for you. It’s packed with fiber, folate, a long list of micronutrients and good fats.
It’ll make two large glasses of smoothie – so you can share one with someone else, or drink them both down with a smile on your face.
The savoy and kale can be substituted for the other, as needed. And as with smoothie recipes generally, feel free to improvise based on what you have on hand. Enjoy!
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| Make it a great day. |
All Green Veggie Smoothie
1 handful of washed spinach
1 kale leave, rib removed
1 savoy cabbage leaf
1 carrot, peeled and cut or broken into pieces
1 celery stalk, broken into pieces
1/4 cup alfalfa sprouts
1 avocado, pitted and peeled
4 pitted, fresh dates
leaves from 3 mint sprigs
3 sprigs fresh parsley, stems and all
1/2 lemon, peel and pith cut off (don’t worry if there are seeds in there)
1 cup of cold water
Put all of the ingredients in a blender and process for 1 – 2 minutes. Depending on the power of your blender and the way you stacked/packed the ingredients in, you may need to stop the blender and stir or push the ingredients down. This makes a thick smoothie, so add more water if you prefer them to be more runny.
Makes 2 tall glasses of smoothie