Whenever Scott and I have access to a blender (which is only when we’re renting an apartment or housesitting) we like to make our own smoothies every day.
Mainly because, when you’re travelling long term and on a bit of a budget, your diet can become somewhat limited and sometimes unhealthy.
Let’s face it – who can resist trying all of the chocolate in Belgium? Or all of the pizza in Italy? Not us.
So to try and combat all of the unhealthiness, we try and make ourselves feel better by drinking some fruit and veggies every now and then.
Green smoothies are a great way to do this, they don’t take too long to prepare and the ingredients, once bought, can stretch for at least three days. I’ve adapted my own recipe based on others I’ve found on the internet but because Scott doesn’t like them to taste too “veggie” I have recently been incorporating some store-bought ready-made smoothies, to give them a more liquid consistency and slightly sweeter flavour.
Although I don’t mind the veggie taste (it makes me feel healthier) I do enjoy the addition of these smoothies.
I used to drink Innocent smoothies quite a lot at work because they contain only natural ingredients and are pretty damn tasty. The apple/kiwi/limes one works great in this green smoothie, so I recommend giving it a try. You can, however, omit the store-bought smoothie element and simply add filtered water and extra lemon juice.
The basic ingredients include green apple, spinach, celery, lemon and ginger (plus the carton of smoothie), however you can mix up these ingredients or substitute them for similar ones.
On this occasion I omitted the ginger and added some cucumber which gave it an even more refreshing taste. You could also substitute spinach for kale.
Simply chop your green apple and two stalks of celery and drop them into a blender. Add a generous handful of spinach, the juice of half a lemon, several slices of cucumber and around 1/3 of the carton of smoothie (plus a touch of water) and whizz them all together.
It really is that simple.
Notice that I’ve been quite vague about the actual measurements as the taste of these smoothies is quite a personal choice – some, like Scott, may want less spinach or celery and more juice or apples. Others may want to remove the apples and add more veggies. I’d suggest making a few and seeing what works for you.
This recipe makes around two large glasses. If you omit the carton smoothie you may want to chill the liquid for half an hour or so, otherwise it will only be room temperature. OR you could add a few ice cubes when blending. Again, this is dependent on personal taste.
[yumprint-recipe id=’62’]
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