Here is a submission from one of our FREE 3-Day Green Smoothie Mini-Course Graduates, where we feature the original green smoothie recipes from our community of slurpers! Debra opted to send us a video rather than a photo, and we hope you enjoy!
Orange Apricot Yum!
By Dr. Debra Tibbitts
(makes about 32 ounces)
Ingredients:
- 3 oranges
- 4 apricots
- 3/4 cup water
Directions:
Blend… and then add:
- 2 large leaves of kale
- 1 handful baby spinach (optional)
Blend again. This is one of my favorite green smoothies!
Hello everyone! I now have two months under my belt in my 365 days of smoothies challenge. I can not wait for spring to hit as I’m getting a little tired of frozen fruit and I’m longing for all of those luxurious greens that are so abundant at our local farmer’s market each year.
Treat yourself to a candlelit bubble bath tonight. Take a glass of sparkling water with a slice of lemon into the bath with you. Slap on a face mask. I have a friend who swears by honey. She simply rubs a spoonful of the stuff over her face, avoiding the eyes and mouth areas, leaves for a short while, and then rinses off. She has a radiant, even complexion. Add a couple of cucumber slices over your eyes, and you’ll look good enough to eat!
I gotta tell ya, I’m pretty excited. January has been such a blast so far. My Green Team has been helping me around the site, behind the scenes, and working to put together some delicious improvements for all of you who benefit from the information we share.
dandelion greens straight and I even like them that way! Don’t worry though, I still have a problem with wheat grass juice! But thankfully, my favourite green detox drinks are simple to make.
The frozen strawberries give a delicious juicy coolness; they’re packed with vitamin C and potent antioxidants such as the anthocyanins which give them their rich red colour and which help to protect cell structures and prevent oxygen damage in the body. They are also anti-inflammatory (excellent for my sugar eating folks) and protective against certain cancers.
Good old bananas provide a great source of energy which got my flagging family off the sofa and out into the countryside for a good long walk. (Not the 93-year old. My smoothies aren’t quite that magical!). They also provide the mood boosting amino acid tryptophan and have a natural antacid effect on the stomach to counteract the acidity caused by a glut of rich foods. Their high levels of potassium are beneficial for lowering raised blood-pressure, while their generous levels of B vitamins improve nerve function.
Parsley contains volatile oils which have been shown to inhibit tumour formation in animal studies and is a rich source of vitamin C and vitamin A. It is high in antioxidants and is considered an effective blood cleanser, dissolving sticky deposits in the veins and maintaining the elasticity of the blood vessels. Parsley is also excellent for cleansing the breath! (Good for my cigarette smoking brother-in-law).
Kale, a member of the brassica family, is another cancer preventative due to its sulphur-containing phyto-nutrients, such as sulforaphane, which boosts the body’s detoxification enzymes. Sulforaphane is formed when cruciferous vegetables such as kale are chopped, chewed, or blended. Kale is also well known for its carotenoids which protect the eyes from developing cataracts. In addition to its many other benefits, Kale provides a good dose of calcium.
A Thank You From Mrs. Claus 
You know those days when you wake up craving something sweet and decadent? Well, that happened to me this morning. Work has been so insanely busy over the last two days, I’d gotten home too late to get to the shops to stock up on yummy fruits and veggies. I wandered into the kitchen this morning to be greeted by a mountain of chocolate cookies and cakes my sister had brought over the night before. All that remained in ‘my’ corner of the kitchen was one solitary avocado…Was I tempted by the cooked food? No! Thanks to the lessons I’ve learned on my 
The avocado provides a good dose of lutein, which helps to maintain healthy eyesight. It’s also rich in potassium, vitamins B, E, and K and a good source of monounsaturated fat (giving the smoothie a wonderful creamy texture).
Cherries are rich in beta-carotene, vitamin C, magnesium, iron, and folate; one study (by the University of Michigan), suggests that they are good for fat loss, particularly belly-fat.
The mint aids digestion, while the cacao offers an abundance of health-giving nutrients - antioxidants, flavonoids, catechins and above all, the wonderful mood-enhancing theobromine, making you feel all loved up and happy!
Thankfully my parents now stock up more on the things they’ve seen me use in smoothies (though… I have yet to see her come home with seaweed of any kind). Still, I do tend to have less variety when I travel. My smoothies are often bananas and spinach or bananas and mixed greens. Yes, variety is better, but if finding kale is difficult or if my mother, in her sincere efforts to be helpful, is going to stress out about “having something already” for me and looking in the store for persimm-a-somethings, then I will choose to be simple for a few days. The “it’s still better than a cheeseburger” mantra gets me through any worries.
Chances are, if you keep your smoothies simple, your non-green friends and family may actually be willing to give one of your smoothies a taste test. Once they see for themselves how yummy they are, you may have opened the door a crack for them to make their own health improvements.
