The beauty of smoothies lies in their simplicity and speed yet their long-lasting boost for health.
Take a whole bunch of veg and fruit goodies from the market. Peel and core some, juice some (if necessary), blend all, and then pour into tall, smooth glasses for a power pack snack to set you up for the day. Here, I chose some of the freshest of the seasonal greens around in Malta right now, among which are my favourites spinach and fennel, and added a bit of green fruit, a banana to thicken and a sting of ginger to perk the flavour. I now feel righteously healthy.
As I post this up, in the last half hour of February, this smoothie is my winter’s swan song; a reminder that my juicing and lemon sipping most days all winter long have kept my chronic sniffles and sinusitis away these chill months. This is the first winter in ages I bothered to keep up the juicing, smoothie making and herb teas. It could be just a fluke of course that I’ve not succumbed to a flu or cold (fingers crossed). I’ll need to run the test next winter too.
Smoothies are of course more than merely a medicine. They’re damn tasty too. If J sipped this while eating the last of this week’s choc orange Kinnie cake, glass by plate side, then it has passed a test on the flavour gauge. A dream green goddess indeed if it can smooth kids’ way to eating their greens!
Oh, and I must say a huge thanks to fellow farmers’ market shopper Tessie Pavia for passing on her smoothie-making tips to inspire mine!
All images © Liz Ayling 2013
Smoothie Recipe Hints
My ‘Green Goddess’ smoothie is based on small handfuls of most of the greens, half an apple, one banana, one kiwi, and around 300ml orange juice, a squeeze of lime and a knob of fresh ginger.
For a primer on how to make smoothies, and what combos work best, click here.
I have two types of ‘juicers’ at home, the regular smallish smoothie maker and also a large ‘monster’ (in comparison to the smoothie machine) that I have had for many years. One throws quartered apples or chunks of carrots, chunks cabbages etc etc into the monster and the juice comes out of one funnel and the bulk residue is deposited into a container through a pipe on the other side. One can then add back some of the roughage to the drink according to preference. I haven’t used it for years as it’s been shoved into the back of a cupboard because of restricted counter working space. I might just become inspired to use it again when we reach Malta! (much larger kitchens in comparison to small London ones.)
Hi Pat,
Yes, I know the feeling of having equipment in the hell hole at the back of my cupboards and not bothering to bring them out. Luckily, last year I invested in a KitchenAid blender (not even a smoothie maker) in addition to a very old Kenwood juicer (less used as takes ages to clean). I find the workhorse KitchenAid – left on my surface at all times – is used around 3 times a day! Soups, smoothies, milkshakes, pancakes mixes. It’s in use every day for one or the other. I can see your choice of house here in Malta will be determined by that kichen! Enough surfaces are a god-send!