Wild Huckleberry Mango Green Smoothie

This summer, my family and I visited our cousins in Idaho and had the incredible luck to be there right when the wild huckleberries were ready for picking. If you've never had a huckleberry, they are like small, tart blueberries but they pack in even more antioxidants per serving. No one has been able to cultivate them and they only grow in a few places in the United States. 

All of the families of the valley have their "patches" and it can get pretty territorial. Luckily we were allowed to hang out even though we are from California (thank you extended Somsen family for "grandfathering" us in) ;) We spent most of two days picking huckleberries ~ it was magical. I think it is the closest I've ever come to really meditating! We brought the huckleberries back in a cooler and I froze them in mason jars as soon as we got home. I've been enjoying our bounty now for months. If you can't get your hands on huckleberries you can always substitute blueberries for a similar taste (but if you have to beg, steal, or borrow to get some of the real deal, they're worth it!).

Ingredients: 
2 handfuls spinach
1 big handful kale
1 handful parsley
1/2 cup mango
3/4 cup huckleberries
1 inch square fresh ginger
1 mandarin orange
1/2 small avocado
1 Tbs. orange flavored Calcium Magnesium Citrate (totally optional, it adds a little sweetness but I include it more for the minerals)

Blend it all together with your liquid of choice until it's smooth. I love my Vitamix but any good blender should work. This is a relatively big batch. It made enough for me to have a large smoothie and then a small one for my husband. You might want to halve the recipe if you are making one serving as a snack.

Enjoy!

This is us at the end of our first day of picking. Dirty, stained, and so happy!

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Spiced-Up Green Tea Smoothie

 

I was experimenting today (like I usually do when it comes to making smoothies) and concocted this gem of a drink. It is packed with healthy fruits, veggies, and spices. I don't know that you could create a drink with more antioxidants than this one! Green tea, berries, leafy greens, cinnamon and ginger are all high on the list of antioxidant powerhouses.

Warning: while there is fruit in this smoothie, it is NOT sweet! Prepare yourself for something more like a V8 kind of drink than a Jamba Juice style smoothie. But it is yummy and so, so healthy!

8 oz of unsweetened Green Tea (I used Lipton Superfruit today)
3/4 cup of fresh blueberries
3/4 cup of frozen raspberries
1 fresh peach
1/2 cup of fresh mint
1/2 of a fresh orange
4 cups of fresh greens (I used parsley, spinach, dandelion greens, purple kale, and fordhook chard)
2 small thumbs of ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

I put all of the ingredients in my Vitamix in the order listed. I also added quite a bit of ice toward the end since I like my smoothies cold. This filled the entire blender so it's plenty for a whole family or a couple of very hungry friends! You could take out the peach and it would probably taste the same; I happened to have one that was on the far end of ripe and didn't want to throw it away. Taking it out would cut the sugar/calories. Keep in mind that if you are following Weight Watchers, they don't count the fruit and veggies in a smoothie as zero Points Plus. I calculated 6 Points Plus for the ENTIRE recipe (which, as I said before, filled the whole blender). This is an incredibly nutritious and filling 6 points! If you had less and added a little protein either into the smoothie or on the side you'd have a snack or meal replacement that could make you happy for at least a couple of hours.

On a side note, I bought these cups at Sprouts and I love them for smoothies.They have the little wire ball inside so that you can shake up a powder smoothie without using a blender. If you don't guzzle down your green smoothies pretty quickly they can start to separate and then you have a thick frothy part that I don't find very appealing. A quick little shake in one of these bad boys and it's good as new!


I hope you enjoy the recipe! Let me know what you think!

My Favorite Green Smoothie Recipe

I splurged and bought myself a Vitamix recently and I'm soooooo happy I did. I've been experimenting with different combinations and so far, this recipe is my favorite. I made some the other morning for the kids and they not only drank it, they said it was "delicious"! Granted, I prepped them by reminding them that it wasn't going to taste like the smoothies I make them with yogurt and berries. I wanted to manage their expectations so they wouldn't immediately say they didn't like it just because it was different. I also told them (for the gazillionth time) that our bodies need a lot of different nutrients and that this smoothie provided many, many good things for them without them having to eat things like a kale salad.

I got these ingredients from Sprouts and Trader Joe's. I try to get the greens from the farmer's market, but when I can't make it, I find Sprouts has a good selection, especially in the organic section. Trader Joe's has great prices on frozen fruit.

Pineapple-Mango Green Smoothie:

1 cup of water (to start)
1/2 cup of light coconut milk (unsweetened)
3/4 cup of frozen pineapple
1 & 1/2 cup of frozen mango
1" x 3/4" thumb of fresh ginger, peeled 
1 & 1/2 cup of spinach
1/2 cup of flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup of dandelion greens
1 cup of purple kale

I like my green smoothies very liquid-y so I usually end up adding some water at the end. I also like them very cold so I usually add a little ice. This recipe made enough for me to have a HUGE cup, my husband to have a normal-sized cup, and my kids each to have a small cup. That is all I had for breakfast at about 7 a.m. and it kept me satisfied through teaching a Zumba class and a Strength and Stretch class. I didn't eat again until 11:00 a.m. and I didn't feel like I was ready to pass out or commit a homicide!

I hope you enjoy the recipe. Let me know what you think and if you tweak it at all, please share the results!