This post is oh…..about 4 or 5 years behind the times. We took this pic when shooting the first Relish Mama cookbook back in 2014. We couldn’t get the smoothies looking ‘just right’. We shot them as raw ingredients, we shot the smoothies being sipped, we shot them as they are above but they just didn’t please us (bloody perfectionists, right?). We couldn’t get them looking as we’d hoped and yet…….I desperately wanted to include them. I know how great I feel when I am on the green smoothie train and I wanted to share that with others.

Fast forward a few years and you certainly don’t need me banging on to you about the health benefits of green smoothies (this here is a great article to get you going, however, if you are a newbie to smoothies) and nor do you likely need my trio of favourite at-home smoothie recipes. Green smoothies are everywhere these days and rightly so. Flicking through old photos on the weekend and I stumbled across this one above and I chuckled to myself as my instant reaction was ‘what a gorgeous photo’. Maybe it wasn’t ‘book worthy’ or maybe I am less about perfectionism these days. Give them a go and tell me what you think or even better, I would so love for you to reply with your favourite raw or green smoothie recipe in the comments below. Let’s share that smoothie loving all the way around.

My love for these smoothies began back in 2013. I was in the gym early one morning with my girlfriend when she saw me taking in an infomercial on the television overhead. On there was the coolest juicer I had ever seen. The American fella was so enthusiastic about this contraption (I guess that’s what they pay him the big bucks for, right) and I wanted him to give me a little “but wait….there’s more”. My friend was suddenly in hysterics and said, “oh my goodness, you ARE going to buy this, aren’t you! “As if I would buy from an infomercial! C’mon……..I am not that much of a sucker.

Well…….. I am happy, after all of these years, to now share with you a few of my simple green smoothie recipes. They can be made in your blender or food processor or whatever you ‘juice’ in at home. I, however, like to make mine in my American juicer that carries a monthly payment plan that I estimate still has only around 108 payments to go.

 

Here’s cheers everyone!

 

Nellie

x

Classic green smoothie

3 stalks of kale (discard the tough stalk and use the leaves)”
3 leaves of lettuce”
1 cup coconut water”
1 small frozen banana”**
Small handful blueberries”
A pinch of cinnamon
1-2 tablespoons natural yoghurt (optional)

Put all ingredients into your blender and blitz until smooth.

**If you ever have any bananas that are on their way out or you see them

going out for a song at the market, peel them and then place them in the freezer in zip lock bags in readiness for your next smoothie.

 

Beet detox

1 medium beetroot, scrubbed and grated or cut into small cubes (if you don’t have a high-speed blender, you can also use roasted or steamed beetroot)
2 small carrots, scrubbed and roughly cut into lengths
2 celery sticks, washed and roughly cut into lengths
2 large Granny Smith apples, washed and cut into wedges
3cm piece ginger, skin on
3cm piece turmeric, skin on
Juice of ½ lemon

Put all ingredients into your blender and blitz until smooth.

Optional; add ½ cup almond milk or natural yoghurt for a creamier beet juice.

 

Carrot and melon

½ cantaloupe, seeded and flesh scooped out and cut into wedges
1 granny smith apple, washed and cut into wedges
2 carrots, scrubbed and roughly cut into lengths
3cm piece ginger, skin on
1 lime, juiced

Put all ingredients into your blender and blitz until smooth. Add a little water only if needed for your desired consistency.