Small Steps Living

#5 Drinks

How to make the Perfect Green Smoothie

I’ve shared quite a few green smoothie recipes on my Facebook page but I thought it best to give you ONE post, with ONE recipe that can be adapted in many ways. This is my basic smoothie. It changes all the time but I know how hard it is to get ratios right in the beginning, so I hope this helps! This recipe makes enough smoothie for two adults and two little smoothies for kids.

Print Recipe
 How to make the Perfect Green Smoothie
lisa-corduff-green-smoothie-600x600
Servings
Ingredients
  • 50 g raw cashews or almonds
  • 10 g seeds (I usually use chia seeds but love sunflower seeds too)
  • 150 g ice cubes
  • 400 g chopped fruit always include at least one frozen banana. Today I used two and added rock melon and watermelon. Yesterday I used one and added a mango
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 1 bunch bok choy and 5 stalks kale or other greens equivalent – think spinach or silver beet
  • 1 cucumber
  • 200-300 g water depending how thick you like it
  • 10-20 g raw honey if required – see below
Servings
Ingredients
  • 50 g raw cashews or almonds
  • 10 g seeds (I usually use chia seeds but love sunflower seeds too)
  • 150 g ice cubes
  • 400 g chopped fruit always include at least one frozen banana. Today I used two and added rock melon and watermelon. Yesterday I used one and added a mango
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 1 bunch bok choy and 5 stalks kale or other greens equivalent – think spinach or silver beet
  • 1 cucumber
  • 200-300 g water depending how thick you like it
  • 10-20 g raw honey if required – see below
lisa-corduff-green-smoothie-600x600
Instructions
  1. Add nuts and seeds of choice, grind on speed 9 for 10 seconds
  2. Add ice and grind on speed 9 for 10 seconds
  3. Scrape down sides of bowl.
  4. Add fruit, leafy greens and cucumber and mix for one minute, speed 9
  5. If you don't have a Thermomix, then pop all ingredients (you may need to leave out the nuts) in your blender and blend until smooth.
  6. If it isn’t sweet enough for you, then add a dash of honey. This is the secret. Sweeten it so your taste buds ENJOY it! Perhaps the fruit didn’t have enough sweetness, so you’ll need to add a bit of honey. I find that if I add two frozen bananas (I always peel and wrap over-ripe bananas before putting them in the freezer) plus other fruit then it’s sweet enough.
  7. After adding honey (if you choose) add enough water to make it the consistency you like and blend again on speed 9 for one minute.
  8. THEN DRINK THAT BAD BOY!!
Recipe Notes

Optional extras –

Coconut water to replace water
A tablespoon coconut milk
Teaspoon of coconut oil
Experiment with different nuts and seeds. I’ve just found these ones have the mildest flavour and make for a lovely creamy smoothie. Cashews and chia are my favourite.
Don’t use avocado
Use celery instead of cucumber

Let me know your concoctions!

And good luck x

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#5 Drinks Recipes

We call it ‘Chocolate Milk’

But really, it looks a bit poo brown and has leafy greens in it. I don’t care, I’ll go by chocolate milk, because the kids LOVE IT! And so do we. For the last week this is how we’ve started off our day.

Thought I’d share the recipe because I’ve now nailed it.

Print Recipe
 We call it ‘Chocolate Milk’
Chocolate Milk
Servings
Ingredients
  • two handfuls of raw cashews
  • water (for four of us I use three large glasses of water. Add or reduce depending on how thick you like it and how many are drinking it!)
  • half an avocado
  • 5 stalks of kale
  • 1 apple or pear
  • a handful of frozen berries
  • 1 frozen banana
  • tablespoon a heapedof raw cacao
  • teaspoon half aof vanilla I use organic vanilla bean paste
  • a dash of maple syrup
  • 8 ice cubes
Servings
Ingredients
  • two handfuls of raw cashews
  • water (for four of us I use three large glasses of water. Add or reduce depending on how thick you like it and how many are drinking it!)
  • half an avocado
  • 5 stalks of kale
  • 1 apple or pear
  • a handful of frozen berries
  • 1 frozen banana
  • tablespoon a heapedof raw cacao
  • teaspoon half aof vanilla I use organic vanilla bean paste
  • a dash of maple syrup
  • 8 ice cubes
Chocolate Milk
Instructions
Here’s how you do it in a thermomix:
  1. Add your cashews and grind on speed 9 for 10 seconds. Then add water and mix on speed 9 for 30 seconds to make cashew milk.
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix on speed 9 for one and a half minutes.
Here’s how you do it in a blender:
  1. Grind your cashews and then blend up with water. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until a smooth consistency is reached.
Recipe Notes

I will experiment with getting some zucchini or cucumber in there tomorrow. But this base is gorgeous. Even my mum liked it, who has just visited, and she was practically gagging at the thought of it! For nut free you could use oats instead of cashews.

Feel free to share your favourite smoothie recipe below!

Lisa x

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#5 Drinks Recipes

Feel Like Cleansing? + A Super Healthy Smoothie Recipe

Studying Nutrition and Health Coaching opened my eyes and taught me a lot, but by far the most valuable thing about doing that course was the AMAZING people I met. One such agent of change is Anita Fredericks.

She has just launched the Vitality Cleanse, a gentle detox and cleanse program.

I asked Anita for a recipe that we’d expect to see on the cleanse – and here’s a scrumptious smoothie!

Print Recipe
 Feel Like Cleansing? + A Super Healthy Smoothie Recipe
Smoothie
Servings
Ingredients
  • 1 cup mixed frozen berries
  • 1 small frozen banana
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 1/2 lemon juiced
  • 2 large Romaine lettuce leaves
  • 2 Swiss chard or silver beet leaves
  • 2 - 3 cups filtered water
Servings
Ingredients
  • 1 cup mixed frozen berries
  • 1 small frozen banana
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 1/2 lemon juiced
  • 2 large Romaine lettuce leaves
  • 2 Swiss chard or silver beet leaves
  • 2 - 3 cups filtered water
Smoothie
Instructions
  1. Put all ingredients in a high speed blender and enjoy!
Recipe Notes

To sign up or find out more head to anitafredericks.com or you can email Anita at anita@anitafredericks.com. Let me know if you do it! I would definitely be signing up if I wasn’t pregnant!

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#5 Drinks Recipes

What the f?#k is a Green Smoothie?!

I hear you! When I started doing my course in health coaching I kept on hearing about these ‘green smoothies’ having no idea what they were or how to make one. And then the word just kind of became part of my vocabulary as I joined the throngs of self-congratulatory-green-smoothie-drinking-health-freaks.

So here’s some of the ingredients that make it into my smoothies (and sorry I don’t provide measurements – it’s really a handful o’ this, a touch o’ that etc)

Print Recipe
 What the f?#k is a Green Smoothie?!
Green Smoothies
Servings
Ingredients
  • greens spinach/kale
  • chia seeds
  • coconut water/coconut milk/coconut oil/full fat sugar free yoghurt I use five:am Natural Yoghurt
  • frozen banana
  • frozen berries
  • sometimes a little touch of honey
  • celery/cucumber
  • avocado
  • LSA/Almond meal
  • mango/watermelon/pineapple whichever fruit isseason (remember not too much fruit as your blood sugar levels will spike. On this – starting your day with an orance juice might seem like a habit you can’t break but it could also be the reason you are reaching for chocolate by mid morning – it’s a HUGE sugar spike to start your day
Servings
Ingredients
  • greens spinach/kale
  • chia seeds
  • coconut water/coconut milk/coconut oil/full fat sugar free yoghurt I use five:am Natural Yoghurt
  • frozen banana
  • frozen berries
  • sometimes a little touch of honey
  • celery/cucumber
  • avocado
  • LSA/Almond meal
  • mango/watermelon/pineapple whichever fruit isseason (remember not too much fruit as your blood sugar levels will spike. On this – starting your day with an orance juice might seem like a habit you can’t break but it could also be the reason you are reaching for chocolate by mid morning – it’s a HUGE sugar spike to start your day
Green Smoothies
Instructions
  1. Just have a go. Obviously not all are added to the one smoothie. I find I also need to add water a lot of the time to thin it down.
Recipe Notes

I thought there was something deeply mysterious about these ‘green smoothies’, but there’s not. All there needs to be is an intention to put a stack of goodness in your blender (hard core blenders work the best!) and experiment. Why not enjoy a tasty drink that is packed full of healthy food? Seriously, why not?? Add it to your day and I guarantee you’ll notice a difference to the way you feel, physically and mentally.

So have a go. Google green smoothies for great ideas. Let me know what you like – I’m always looking for inspiration. There is nothing elitist about it. If you’ve got a blender, you can do it too.

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