Berry Green Smoothie

2 cups organic beetroot greens, stalks removed
1 large frozen banana
1 cup frozen blueberries
2 oranges peeled
1/2 cup ice
2 cups water

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend, adding water gradually until smooth and desired consistency is reached. Serve.

Springtime Green Smoothie

Whilst staying on a friends property in the hinterland of the mid-north coast, NSW this spring, I went green smoothie crazy using all sorts of organic homegrown greens harvested from their fabulous veggie garden. The silverbeet was an amazingly lucid, bright, wasabi green after being blended and quite different to the deep, dark green silverbeet I am accustomed to.

2 cups of organic silverbeet, stalks removed
Flesh from 1 very ripe mango
1 large frozen banana
2 oranges peeled
1/2 cup ice
2 cups water

Place all in a blender and blend adding the water gradually until smooth and the desired consistency is reached. Serve.
 

Mango Macadamia Smoothie

Flesh from 2 large mango cheeks ( Kensington Pride mangoes are my favourite is)
1/2 banana
1/2 cup of milk (soy, nut, cow, rice
1 heaped tablespoon of raw macadamia butter
Tsp of maple syrup/honey/agave
Cup of ice

Blend until smooth, pour into glass and dollop with a tablespoon of natural yoghurt and serve with a spoon :)

Beginner Green Smoothie

This is a great green smoothie for beginners as the 'green' cholophyll taste isn't quite so obvious. As you start to get used to them you can mix it up a lot and become very experimental and creative with flavours, using different greens and fruit combinations. Try and keep in simple only using fruit, greens and water and for optimal digestion save your smoothie supplements like nuts and superfood additions for other smoothies :)

It is very important to mix up your greens and be sure not to have the same greens everyday - as always variety is best. To begin I suggest trying silverbeet and spinach as these greens don't have an intensely strong flavour.

Always try and use organic greens in these smoothies, and if you are buying organic produce it is best not to wash the greens under chlorinated water as this will kill a lot of the nutrients. Just brush off the dirt with a cloth :)

For more info on green smoothies check out the green smoothie pioneer and her family. They have lots of recipes and I love their 15 green smoothies in 3 minutes clip - Great for some ideas :)

Ingredients
2 cups of firmly packed greens (silverbeet, english spinach, kale, purple kale, curly kale, Asian greens)
1 banana peeled
1 cups of frozen berries of choice
1 orange peeled
approx. 1 cup of chopped watermelon
2 cups of water

Method
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Makes approx. 4 cups of smoothie.

This one in the picture doesn't look very 'green' as I used purple curly kale. Was delicious though! :)

Raw Cacao Power Smoothie

Want to fulfill that chocolate craving for breakfast but feel energised with no regrets? Try this smoothie... Raw cacao is full of goodness... I have a few variations of this chocolate smoothie combo. I love banana and chocolate together, the banana adds flavour, sweetness and to sweeten and makes it thick... I made this for breakfast this morning - I feel like another - yum!

Ingredients

1 heaped tbs of raw cacao powder

1/2 tsp maca powder

2 tbs hemp protein meal

1 large banana (frozen is best)

250 mls hazelnut milk

1 heaped tbs of hazelnut meal (left over from the hazelnut milk). OR you could use LSA.

1-2 tbs of bonvit date spread OR 8 dates soaked for 30 minutes

pinch of celtic sea salt

1 tbs black tahini

Handful of ice

Method

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Serve and enjoy immediately.

* If you prefer it sweeter you can always add a few more dates or try adding a pinch of stevia or a drizzle of raw honey or maple syrup.

Nut Mylk

Brazil nuts, almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, pepitas. Which ever is your favourite - make a fresh and healthy nutritious alternative to cow's milk, soy milk and rice milk. Try nut milk.

Ingredients
1 cups of raw nuts or seeds (or you can mix - ABC nut mix is great; almonds, brazil nuts and cashews)
Muslin Cloth

Method
1) Place nuts in a bowl, cover with water and soak overnight
2) Rinse nuts and discard water
3) Place nuts in a blender with 4 cups of water and blend at high speed until smooth
4) Drape muslin cloth over a large bowl and pour nut milk slowly into the centre. Gather the edges of the cloth together and squeeze out all the moisture from the the nut pulp
5) Place nut milk in a jar or jug and store in the fridge. Use on muesli, porridge, make smoothies or chia pudding!

Tips
Keep the nut pulp in a contain in the fridge and use over the next few days. You can sprinkle it over fruit with yoghurt or replace it in recipes instead of flour or almond meal.