Recipe Blogging

So it was close, but JoAnna Colbert's Green Smoothies narrowly won the poll over Susn Weed's Cancer Prevention Cabbage. JoAnna's a wonderful artist and has one of the friendliest blogs on the internet tubes. Back in early February, when it seemed to me that Spring would NEVER come, she posted this recipe for a green smoothie. Every year along about February, I start to crave greens, longing for dandelion, baby spinach, leeks, butter lettuce, baby peas. So, odd as the recipe sounds, I tried it and have been having one or two a week ever since. A week or so ago, I tried it on the women with whom I get together once a week for exercise and a healthy dinner and they really liked it, as well. You really have to try the recipe rather than just imagining what it might taste like; it tastes lots better than it sounds. I've adjusted the recipe a bit for my taste, but the link will take you to JoAnna's blog for the original recipe

In a blender, mix the following:


1/2 ripe banana
1/2 cup frozen fruit (I use peaches or blueberries, but am thinking of trying rubarb)
LOTS of greens — salad greens, spinach, kale, etc — LOTS (I add broccoli sprouts, as well)
1/2 cucumber, peel and all (must be organic if you're eating the peel)
1 Tbsp. flaxseed oil (I buy this with lemon flavoring, but, trust me, you're not going to taste it).

Something about the banana and the cucumber make this taste fresh and springy and good.

Obviously, we're all supposed to eat lots more green vegetables than we ever manage to eat, so this is a great way to get several servings at once. Flax seed oil has been shown to have some cancer prevention properties and, depending upon which kind of fruit you choose, you're going to get phytochemicals. The banana has some potassium. Broccoli sprouts have been shown to fight breast cancer and I can't stand to eat them by themselves, but I can put quite a lot of them in this recipe and hardly taste them.

Oddly, the one time of day that I don't tolerate this very well is breakfast. It's good for lunch or dinner, though. And easy.

Update: In comments, JoAnna asks that her circle sister, Elaine Nichols, get credit for the smootie recipe. Thanks very much, Ms. Nichols for developing this recipe!