Blueberry Sweet Potato Smoothie

I have a couple of friends who frequently put sweet potatoes and yams in smoothies. These are not things I like to eat, let alone want to drink them.  

I've been playing around with this smoothie recipe for a couple of weeks but couldn't make it taste good.  I couldn't seem to pick out any other flavor except the yams. Lucky for me my coach didn't mind being a guinea pig today. He liked it and said I should publish it so if you don't like it, I guess we can blame him. 😁

1 cup of unsweetened almond milk

1 banana

1 apple with skin

1/2 of a yam w/ skin 

4 medjool dates

3 tablespoons of hemp powder

1 scoop of your fav protein powder 

1/2 cup of blueberries (or more if you like)

1/4 cup of raw walnuts

ice

Cube and microwave the yam until it's soft then let it cool. Then just throw everything into a high powered blender until it's blended.  Maybe add the ice last a cube at a time.  I doubled this and used 12 ice cubes.

Cheers!

Angie

Mackenzie's Fruit Parade

Every morning I come downstairs to find that my daughter has left a line-up of fruit by the juicer. This recipe is her favorite combination.


1 apple
1 orange-peel the zest but leave the white pith
1-2 inches of ginger

Put them all in the juicer!

FRED & GINGER Fresh Juice

2 large, whole carrots
1 large apple quartered
1 roma tomato or 12 cherry/grape tomatoes
1" knob of ginger (2" if you like it strong)

Put everything in the juicer.  Put the tomatoes in between the apple quartered.

PINKALICIOUS Succo-Frullato

 SUCCO-FRULLATO.  It is the combination of succo which means juice in Italian and frullato which means smoothie in Italian.  It will encompass anything I make that uses both the juicer and blender.  Yes, I can buy bottled juice but I don't because I have no idea where it's coming from.  I'd rather take the extra few minutes and use both machines.  And lets be honest....I just rinse everythig in scalding hot water right away.  I throw stuff in the dishwasher maybe once every other week.

1 apple
2 blood oragnges, zest removed
3 stalks of celery

Juice all of these in your juicer then pour into the blender.  Add to it 1 banana and 6 strawberries.  Blend well!

Fruit Prep

People ask me how I prep my fruit for smoothies.  I try to do as much prep as possible when I get my fruit so when it's time to make a smoothie, its quick and easy.  I shop at our local public market every Saturday.  I buy as much of my produce there as I can.  It's cheaper and most of it is local to the area and/or state.  I freeze most of it, much to my husband's dismay.  My freezer is jam packed! 

Below is listed how I prep my fruit for smoothies.  Some of it, like citrus, I leave on the counter.  Any fruit I use for the juicer, I keep fresh on my counter.  I usually go through it pretty quick but if something starts to get soft, then into the freezer it will go. 

Make sure you wash all of your produce well.  There are several products you can buy such as Veggie Wash, Vermont Soap Organics, Biokleen or you can make your own.  I typically use Veggie Wash but if I don't have any then I use fresh lemons.  I just throw one in my juicer and them pour the juice into a sink filled with cold water.  You can also use distilled or apple cider vinegar.  Use about 1/4 of a cup in a sinkful of cold water.  I soak my produce for about 10 minutes then rinse and dry.  The only produce I don't soak are berries.  They are too delicate.  I just rinse them briefly.

BERRIES
This includes blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, boysenberries, cranberries, and grapes.

Gently rinse your berries.  Use the pointed end of a veggie peeler to pluck out the green part of the strawberries and cut them in half.  All others, including grapes you can leave whole. Lay your berries flat on a cookie sheet and freeze.  Once they are frozen, put them in bags quickly and refreeze util needed.  Grapes, cranberries and gooseberries can be put directly into a bag and frozen. 

You can store your berries by kind or you can make a mix of several kinds.

POMAGRANATES
Remove the seeds from the fruit and store them in the freezer.  These will not work in your juicer so save them for the blender.

CHERRIES
De-stone them and bag them and freeze them.  If you don't have a cherry stoner, invest in one.

APPLES & PEARS, PEACHES & NECTARINES
Leave the skins on your apples, pears, peaches, & nectarines!  There is a lot of nutrients in those thin skins!  Chop them into 1" cubes and take the seeds out.  Lay on a cookie sheet in a single layer and freeze.  Store in freezer bags and store in the freezer.

BANANAS
Peel bananas and cut into 1" chunks.  Place on a cookie sheet in a single layer and freeze.  Store in freezer bags.

MANGOS, PAPAYA, PINEAPPLE, MELONS
Peel skins off, cut into 1" chunks, layer on cookie sheets and freeze.  Store in freezer bags.  A note on the papayas, you can eat the seeds!  Store them separately in the freezer.  Add some to your smoothies for a burst of protien.

CITRUS
I keep all my citrus on the counter.  Use a carrot peeler to gently peel the zest off of your citrus.  The white pithy part has a lot of vitamins in it so leave it on.  (Juicer note....you don't have to peel the zest off of lemons and limes when you juice them.)

SHAWN'S SAVIOR Smoothie

This smoothie recipe was shared by my friend Shawn who is a stay-at-home-dad.  With 2 little ones and a couple of dogs in the mix he needs all the energy he can get!  Thanks Shawn!

1 orange, zest removed
1 handful of grapes
1small apple cored but unpeeled
3-5 small carrots chopped
1handful of spinach
4 or 5 strawberries
3 peach slices (or use the whole thing if you like)
1handful blueberries
2 handfuls of ice
a little water

If you have a Vitamix or similar, you can put everything in at once, in the order listed.

SALAD BOWL Fresh Juice

This recipe makes enough for 2 pints of juice. 

1 apple
1/2 head of romaine
1 large cucumber
2 stalks of celery
1-2 carrots
3 radishes (optional)
2 wheatgrass cubes (if you split the juice, put one wheatgrass cube in each glass)

Juice everything one item at a time.  You can drink it all at once or split it half.  Make sure to keep it in the fridge.

MY BLOODY VALENTINE Fresh Juice

2 apples
1 pear
1 whole beet, greens included

Process through your juicer. For best juicing of the beet greens, send them through in between the apples.

BLOOD LUST Fresh Juice

1 blood orange
1 pear
1 apple
1 red plum
1 lime
1/4 to 1/2 cup of blackberries

Use a carrot peeler to get the zest off of the blood orange. Keep the white pith on. You don't have to peel the apple or pear. If you have a juicer that has a chute big enough for the whole fruit, just juice everything one by one except the berries. Process the berries in the blender with the juice.

APPLE BROWN BETTY Smoothie**Green Monster**

1 cup of almond or hemp milk
2 cored apples with the skin on
1/2 an avacado
1 banana
1/4 cup walnuts
2 tablespoons of chia seeds
1 big handful of fresh baby spinach
2-4 tablespoons of raw honey or agave nectar
ice
Blend all ingredients well. Add ice cubes one at a time.


**The term Green Monster was created by Oh She Glows

FALL FANTASY Smoothie

1 cup of hemp milk
1 banana
1/2 of an avacado
1 apple chopped and cored
1 pear chopped and cored
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

Put the milk in the blender and get it spinnng. Add the apple and pear first then the banana and avacado last. You may have to add some water. Ice works well also.

SUNSHINE IN A GLASS Smoothie **Green Monster**

1 cup of almond milk or hemp milk
1 apple
1 banana
1/4 of a pineapple
3 or 4 kale leaves

(I also added in my vit B complex and calcium)

Put everything in the blender and let 'er rip!

**The term Green Monster was created by Oh She Glows