Drink Your Greens: Spring Smoothies to Make Now

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The spring sun and warmth calls for smoothies as well as greens.

We tumble frozen berries into our relic of a blender, given to us when my parents upgraded to a Vitamix.  And I’m here to tell you: you don’t need the latest and greatest blender to make great smoothies!

Seriously, this pea-green solid state blender from the 80’s is going strong, despite it’s missing top (just pop a plate in it’s place!) and the slightly ridiculous amount of noise it makes.

As the motor churns I remember the hot June day last summer when I had two hours to sneak away by myself and pick strawberries at a u-pick farm.  40 pounds later, the cashier looked at me and said, “wow, you’re efficient.”

“I run a farm,” I said, and she understood.

Fresh berries are made for summer,  but frozen ones are made for spring.

After spending whole days seeding in the greenhouse we crave fresh; we crave cold; we crave sweet.  Berry smoothies are the perfect mid-afternoon snack.

In the mornings we start off with green smoothies, packing over-wintered spinach or fresh pea shoots into the blender and mixing with fruit.

Here are some of my favorite spring smoothies that we’re drinking now:

Morning Green

• 1 cup of packed spinach or pea shoots
• 1 apple (I love gala and ambrosia)
• 1 banana
• 1-2 dates
• 1 1/2 cups almond milk
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• pinch of cinnamon

Berry Boost

• 1 cup of packed spinach or pea shoots
• 1 1/2 cups of mixed berries: blueberries, strawberries, raspberries
• 1 banana
• 1 1/2 cups almond milk
• 1 tbs maple syrup or 2 dates

Berry-Dairy Smoothie

• 2 cups of mixed berries
• 1 banana
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tbs maple syrup
• milk (to adjust thickness as desired)

instructions for all smoothies:

Wash greens, add all ingredients into blender, and blend until smooth.  Drink immediately.  Left-overs can be stored in the fridge, but these are so delicious that you won’t leave them storing for long!

Enjoy!