Green smoothie recipe + Blender Rec

[southernmama47]

Hi all...I really want to try green smoothies, but I don't own a blender   I keep reading about the Vita-mix and Blendtec blenders, but it seems unreal to me to shell out that kind of money for a blender, at least until I know that I even like green smoothies. Does anyone have a mid-priced blender recommendation? I could also use smoothie recipes! Thanks!

[Annie Mac]

The vitamix is pretty amazing, but like you, I can't justify that amount of money on one appliance. I have a cuisinart blender, and it deals with everything I throw at it. It will mix frozen things quite well (I haven't tried ice, but frozen blueberries, raspberries, bananas & mangoes are no problem). Just use the "ice" setting on pulse, otherwise you get an alarming burning smell. I do green smoothies (or did, anyway, I haven't done that in while) in that blender with no problems. I have the recipe book Green for Life which has a lot of recipes in it, but basically it comes down to this: mix green things of your choice (kale, spinach, whatever) with fruit things of your choice. Put more fruit things than green things, unless you really like blended spinach in a glass. One of my favourites is sunflower sprouts with an orange and water. Sounds kinda gross, but it's really good. 

[marimara]

I bought the Oster all metal beehive one from walmart for about 40 bucks and it works fine for green smoothies.

[oiseau]

I got an Oster one at Sears with a giftcard and it's done great with smoothies. It has a red base and a glass jar and came with an additional food processor attachment (nothing fancy though..it's mostly just a mini food processor with only 1 blade type). I sometimes have to stir/shake the jar to really get it blending well, though adding extra liquid helps too.

As for recipes, here's my standard smoothie recipe: 2 ice cubes, a splash of juice (peach is my favorite), frozen fruit (usually mango & blueberries), a few leaves of kale or chard, de-stemed, and 1/2c. yogurt. I sometimes add flax, coconut oil, cinnamon or honey.

I have my smoothie for breakfast in the car on the drive to work and I'm just waiting for it to warm up a bit because it's been too cold for a frozen drink in my freezing car! Good luck! I had a blast making up smoothie combos when I first got my blender!

[MissSJ]

One of my favorites green smoothies is romaine lettuce, pear and blueberries.

I find that romaine lettuce with either a fresh pear, apple or banana (to add sweetness) added to some type of frozen fruit (berry, peach, cherry, tropical medley) and water tastes best to me and my boys.

Experiment and I am sure you will find recipes you like!  A friend of mine advised starting with 25% greens and gradually increasing to 75% greens.  My family can probably handle 50/50.

[MamitaM]

My friend bought me a Black and Decker blender and food processor in one and I love it! It's very simple but make s a nice smoothie.

I don't have any recipe, but I add whatever I have on hand.

I like about a cup of juice and a couple handfuls of spinach and a handful of frozen fruit or a banana or both. Then I blend it!

I also make a milky/yogurt one with a little milk and either a few spoonfuls of yogurt, a little honey, spinach and some frozen fruit OR since I had some yogurt that was about to go bad I froze it and I use that to make a nice frozen smoothie!

[inkslinger]

I just got a reasonably priced Black and Decker blender for Christmas and it works very well...it blends ice and any frozen fruit/greens that I throw in it.  I love making new green smoothie concoctions. I usually use a frozen fruit blend and mix it with a handful of spinach, a bit of juice, and some yogurt.  I was at a festival today and had a yummy green smoothie that contained pineapple, cucumber, parsley, ginger, and honey. It was so good!

[GoGoGirl]

Our blender broke, so I've been making do by using the immersion blender in a pitcher.  I like about a cup of frozen spinach, a cup of pineapple or mango, and enough orange juice to blend it.  I've found that any blender works pretty well as long as you blend it long enough.