Green Smoothie

Only a couple of days before St. Patrick’s Day and we’re kind of sticking to our holiday theme and we’re going to look at healthy green smoothie recipes for this week’s post. As you remember, we did a heart healthy food list for Valentine’s Day.

Green smoothies are an ever popular trend. Some are very simple and some have lots of ingredients in them but they all are super healthy. Take a look and see our green smoothie guide that can help you create a drink to feel healthy and to help celebrate St. Patrick’s Day!

Simple Green Smoothie:

So a green smoothie has a basic outline. You want to add milk/liquid, greens, fruit, protein, and seeds. If you’re making a big batch of green smoothie, follow this rule, 2 cups of greens, 2 cups of liquids, 3 cups of fruit plus whatever add ons you want.

First of all, a green smoothie wouldn’t be green without the greens so some possible greens that you can use are...spinach, kale, lettuce, Swiss chard, bok choy, collards, dandelion, carrot top, celery, or beet greens. Feel free to use just one kind of green or mix it up and use a couple different types.

Next you’ll need to choose a liquid to add to the smoothie. You can use water, but for an extra bit of flavour try... dairy milk (1%, 2%, skim), soy milk, almond milk, coconut water, cashew milk, rice milk, oat milk, coconut milk, or cold brewed green tea.

Now add some fruit. Frozen bananas are always good to use but also try adding in some other fruit as well. Good fruit to add to your smoothie are mangos, pineapple, berries, peaches avocados, oranges, grapefruits, pears, apples, and grapes.

Finally add in some extras if you want. Some examples of extras are... your favourite protein powder, matcha green tea powder, flax, quinoa, chia seeds, honey, and other seeds.

Here is a recipe for a small batch of green smoothie...

1 ½ cups of milk (you choose what kind)

2 cups of frozen spinach

1 frozen banana

1 cup of fruit, your choice (good ideas are...mango, pineapple, berries, peaches, citrus fruit, green apple)

A scoop of your favourite protein powder

Blend all the ingredients together and drink. You can freeze this smoothie in individual containers so if you’re in a hurry you can pull it out and let it defrost in the morning.

Mimosa Sunrise

A few weeks back we glass etched some champagne glasses and this week we are going to make something that can go in them...Mimosas. Our colour is called “Mimosa Sunrise” and it’s in one of the Fenty palettes and is described as a “tangerine metallic.”

Mimosas are great for so many occasions. You don’t just have to have them for breakfast! Plus there are so many varieties so you can experiment and try something a little different from your typical orange juice and champagne mix, you can add some other additions too.

Original Mimosa – Basically you need two ingredients...orange juice and champagne. Fill half your glasses with orange juice and the other half with champagne and you’re set! Here's ours in our etched glasses.

Pomegranate Mimosas – Fill your champagne flute ¼ of the way full of pomegranate juice and top it off with champagne. Then add some pomegranate seeds for a garnish on top.

Pineapple Mimosa Slushies – This one serves four but you can add more if you have more people to serve. In a blender, add 3 cups of Prosecco, 1 cup of frozen mango, 1 cup of pineapple, juice of half of a lemon, and 2 cups of ice. Then blend it all together. Fill your flutes and garnish with fresh pineapple.

Strawberry Mango Mimosa – You’ll need 1 diced mango, 1 cup of diced strawberries, 1 cup of orange juice, and 1 bottle of champagne. Blend the fruit together then add the fruit mix to each flute, fill them half way. Then add in the champagne and enjoy.

Sparkling Raspberry Lemon Mimosa – Pour chilled champagne into your flute (2/3s full is good). Then add some raspberry lemonade in so that it’s filled to the top. Top with fresh raspberries.

Cinnamon Pear Mimosa – Heat 2 cups of pear juice up on the stove. Add in 2 cinnamon sticks after the juice has boiled and cover with the heat turned off.  Let it steep in the pan for 30 minutes first then put into a sealed container and refrigerate overnight. Fill your flute half full of the pear juice and fill up the rest with champagne and top it off with a slice of fresh pear.

Sherbet Mimosa – Add four small scoops of your favourite sherbet to a champagne glass. Add a tablespoon of clementine vodka and top with champagne. Add some fresh fruit on top if you like.

Summer Slushie Drinks

Ok so as promised...here is our finished DIY Mod Podge tray. It’s all dry and we added on a black decorative ribbon around the edges.

Now for the drinks...

We tried one called Summer Slush. It ended up being quite sweet so I would cut back on the sugar by at least half, maybe even more. Both of the juices are sweet along with the 7 Up that we used.

For the Summer Slush you will need 46 oz. can (4 ½ cups) of pineapple juice, 12 oz. can (1 ¼ cups) of frozen orange juice , 3 cups of sugar (this made it super sweet so try cutting it down to 1 ½ cups), 46 oz. (4 ½ cups) of water.

Combine all of the ingredients together in a saucepan and boil until the sugar dissolves. Pour into a 13x9 inch pan and a loaf pan. We used some recycled containers along with a reusable container. Freeze overnight. We let it sit for a couple of days. 

When you are ready to drink, chisel some of the frozen slush out into glasses and pour 7 Up over it. You can also pour Ginger Ale, Club Soda, or even some of Vodka, Tequila, or Wine!

Some other drinks that we thought sounded interesting are...

Mango Pineapple Frozen Sangria – Combine in a blender, 1 bottle of sparkling wine (half frozen), 1 ½ cups of frozen apple juice, 1 cup of frozen mango, 1 cup of frozen pineapple, and a 1/3 cup of triple sec. Blend it until fully mixed and serve with a garnish of fresh pineapple.

Watermelon Frosty – Combine in a blender, 2 cups of frozen watermelon cubes, ½ frozen banana, juice of half a lime, ½  tbsp. of honey, 2-3 mint leaves. Blend until incorporated but still thick. Garnish with mint and lime.

Pina Colada Smoothie – Combine in a blender 1 cup of pineapple, 1 cup of frozen mango chunks, ½ banana, and 1 cup of coconut milk.  Blend until smooth.

Maybe we’ll give some a try in the warm weather ahead. Enjoy!