Years ago, in May of 2009 to be exact, I was living my dream life while I was able to spend 2 full weeks in the Cayman Islands with a couple of my best girlfriends. And just before traveling to one of the most beautiful vacation spots that I'd ever gone to at that point in my life, I was living on green smoothies every morning. I was in the best shape of life, the smoothies definitely helped, and my girlfriend and I had chatted back and forth many times, obsessing about all that we could do with our Vitamix Blenders. I believe that she was onto her second Vitamix when I was just buying my first (trust me, it's worth the investment) and she was already a blending queen.
I started to experiment with some of the recipes that she was doing as well but she's pretty advanced when it comes to creating masterpieces in the kitchen with her husband, from scratch I might add... and then there's me, make it as simple and as effortless as possible as I hate the kitchen 🔥 💁🏻 not to mention, I hate following recipes, probably why my cooking/baking tastes the way it does, sorry Brett.
Anyways, during the trial and error of making some of these green goddesses, I had found one that I loved. My smoothies couldn't have too much banana as I'm not a big fan of bananas unless it's either in my chocolate chip muffin or cut up on my bran flakes, I only like chia or hemp in my baking, I really don't like broccoli in a drink and I can't do chalky or chunky.
I remember that THE ONE had lime, carrots, lots of kale and or spinach, mango, and a bit of pineapple but for some reason, as time went on I changed the recipe, never wrote down my favorite find, and then lost interest in greens for quite some time... but every time that I see a green smoothie, I think of walking the beaches of the Cayman Islands and feeling my best self ever!
I know what you might be thinking, "that's a pretty powerful feeling that you get from just looking at a smoothie", but it happens every time that I see one AND I always felt so good when I would drink them. Heck, my girlfriend even brought her Vitamix with her to the Caymans so we could have green smoothies every morning in the tropics, and it was fabulous 🥂
✨ Now this one is by far my favorite recipe that I've come up with to date!! ... and it's so simple that I can't believe that it took me this long to re-create something so similar to what I started drinking years ago.
If you're like me and always searching, trialing, and experimenting for that perfect taste in a green drink then you have to at least give this a try.
Don't you always find that by adding just one too many broccoli florets, too many berries, or the wrong amount of chia seeds, the entire thing is wrecked or tastes horrible? I'm the same way, and because I really wanted to start on my green smoothies again, I had to find one that I loved as much as I did before as I love spinach, I love smoothies and I NEED to get my vitamins in without having to chew them or taking pills... so here it is and I hope that you like it as much as I do, 💋
If you want to see Brett and me in action during smoothie prep, click HERE.
Green Smoothie Recipe
~ Kale or Spinach 2 large handfuls (2 cups)
~ Apple 1 med or large with core
~ Banana 1 small or 3/4 of a large
~ Avocado 1/4 or 1/2 cup
~ Mango 1/4 cup
~ Pineapple 1/2 cup
~ Lemon 1/2 fresh squeezed
~ Cucumber 1 baby or 1/4 large
~ Water 1/2 to 3/4 cup
As always, much love,
Joelle 🥂
