Today on EY MAG we have a guest post by Janine from @thetinyhomegym discussing her daily green smoothie routine. I love how she keeps it flexible day-to-day and includes wild greens into her smoothie! Not only are wild greens readily available and free they are also incredibly nutritious and highly concentrated with important vitamins and minerals! They can, however, be a bit bitter if you are new to eating a lot of greens. My advice is to start small – add a little bit here and there and see how you get on over time. The younger plants are less bitter so smaller dandelion greens etc. should taste better than the more mature plants. Good Luck! -B xx
Greens keep your body clean and smoothies are a great way to introduce a substantial amount of them into your diet and daily routine. No matter where you are on your dietary journey, making a green smoothie is quick and easy and adding just one smoothie to your day will make you crave unhealthy foods less and nutritious whole foods more!
If you don’t have a blender yet I would recommend you buy one – either from a second-hand shop if you are on a tight budget otherwise purchasing a basic model doesn’t cost you much either.
Where you get your greens from varies depending on where you live. If you have a garden – perfect! You most likely have edible greens like clover, nettle or dandelion growing in your backyard already. If you live near a park or a forest and you can find a remote spot where you think edible greens are untouched/unsprayed – great! Harvest them from there. Otherwise, your local supermarket or farmers market will have greens like fresh spinach or kale or check out the frozen section and you might find frozen cubes of spinach there. It is also handy to have powders like wheatgrass, barley grass, spirulina or a mixed greens powder in your cupboard too and add them to your smoothies on those days when you don’t have leafy greens available.
Here is a GREEN SMOOTHIE recipe that I have daily:
I have at least three of the following in my morning smoothie: A couple of leaves of kale, spinach or silverbeet. I then add at least two wild edible weed varieties that grow in my garden like dandelion, fathen, nasturtium, nettle or lamb’s quarters. Greens make up around 1/3 of my smoothie jug, however, if you are in a rush or don’t have greens in your house, simply add the powders I talked about before for a boost of nutritional goodness to your smoothie!
I then add powders like mesquite for a caramelly taste, cacao for a chocolatey taste or cinnamon. I add a tablespoon of molasses for extra iron, maca powder for hormonal balance, hemp seed powder for B12 and omega-3, and chia seeds as a source of important minerals like selenium, iron, magnesium and calcium. Most of the time I add all of these to my smoothie but you can add just 1 or 2 powders/extras and then rotate them as you like.
Lastly, I add fresh or frozen fruit. Out of convenience, I always have organic frozen blueberries in my freezer and add a handful to my smoothie. For greater variety, you can add frozen strawberries, mixed berries, mangos or tropical fruit.
I then add a whole bunch of bananas which add creamy substance and whatever fresh fruit I have in the house – I love the taste of kiwifruit, apple or pear!
If I add a whole bunch of bananas I find that I don’t need to add nut milk and adding just water tastes perfectly fine. Sometimes, however, I like adding coconut water or plant-based milk like almond, oat, rice or coconut milk.
I love my green smoothie for breakfast and I find that it sustains me throughout the morning!
Don’t forget that your green smoothie is all about you – regularly mix it up and make it a fun and easy daily routine.
Enjoy it as a healthy snack or even a nutritious, fibrous meal replacement like I do!! ♥
Links:
Check out The Tiny Home Gym for loads of at-home gym gear and small space workout inspo!
This is a great New Zealand site that has instructions and pictures for sourcing edible weeds. Some weeds are toxic so make sure you properly identify them before you eat them!!
Interested in purchasing the powders/seeds Janine mentioned?
Cinnamon powder and chia seeds should easily be found at your local supermarket! For the other powders, you might need to visit your local health food shop. Here are our online picks:
