THE GLITTERING GREEN SMOOTHIE

There are many versions of this floating on the web: green smoothie, green monster, glowing green smoothie and so on. However they all require a really really great blender (such as the Vitamix, which costs err over $500) without which they don't taste so good (I have tried) because the fruits and veggies don't blend very well when the blender lacks the power.

This is my take on it and it can be made with any blender you already have in your kitchen.  Named the glittering green smoothie by my husband, it's a (mostly) daily occurrence. Spinach is an amazing leafy vegetable and rightly labelled as a "superfood". It's high in Vitamin K, A, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, Vitamin C, and calcium. 

*edit* You can't really taste the spinach as the orange juice masks the leafy taste, so great for those of you who hate green veggies! 

We all know we should be eating more fruits and vegetables and the World Health Organisation recommends we consume a minimum of 400 g of fruits and veggies daily to help protect from non communicable diseases (cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes etc). In the U.K. it is known as the 5 a day; a minimum of 5 fruits and veggies a day. This smoothie counts as 2 of the 5 day and is a great way to get some veggies in you. Plus it is much easier to drink 100g of raw spinach than to eat 100g of raw spinach. 

It's also great for those of you looking to "eat clean" and on detoxes. It tastes great, and is filling. I personally prefer these on empty stomachs for breakfast. Lemon and ginger is detoxifying and has anti-bacterial properties. They are thought to stimulate the liver (the main fat burning organ in the body) and aid in the process of weight loss when combined healthier eating habits.

This drink can help your skin/nails and hair so much with regular drinking. It can cause *slightly* dry skin for the first week you start drinking it but that's just temporary.

I use my hand blender (which is amazing, and it's my most used appliance ever, like everyday), but it works equally as well in any blender (I have used other people's blenders when staying over, just make sure it's not one they grind masala/spices in otherwise the taste gets into the smoothie, not nice at all).

Ingredients: 

100 g baby spinach

(for me that's half a bag as the bags here typically contain 200g so no need for weighing)

(normal spinach tastes of dirt in my opinion so stick to baby and or organic)

200 ml of orange juice

(I use unpasteurised when available otherwise I use standard Tropicana)

a 1 inch piece of ginger

the juice of half of lemon 

Method: 

Place all ingredients in the blender and blend 

Add a straw and drink up. I drink it straight up from the jug but you can serve it in a pretty glass (like in the first picture, which I poured it in just for photographic purposes)

It's also pretty great to drink on the go and I am often walking to university with my green smoothie (in a plastic cup which i just throw away after am done drinking it). 

Hope you try it and enjoy the benefits! 

Let me know if you do.