– by Stacey Terry
Continuing on from yesterday’s announcement of our green smoothie smiles winner, I’m going to jump ahead to the recipe contest and serve you up with some free yummy nutritious green smoothie recipe entries!
In honour of Believe in Green, for this contest we asked for recipes that were a little different. We invited our green smoothie enthusiasts to make the most local and seasonal green smoothie they could depending on where they lived.
We wanted our recipes to be green in more than just the nutritious way. By using ingredients that were local, this pollution-busting lawnmower pulp would also have a smaller carbon footprint with saved transportation and storage energy.
I kicked things off with the photo you see above, and here’s what I made:
Mantario Morning
Stacey Terry
(makes about 32 ounces)
Ingredients:
- 2 Ontario grown, in-season peaches
- 1 small apple picked from my parents’ tree in Douglas, Manitoba
- 2 handfuls of grape leaves picked from my brother’s property in Oak Lake, Manitoba
- water as needed to blend
Directions:
Blend the fruit and water together and taste test. I’d originally started out with 1 peach and 1 apple, but those apples from my parents’ tree are TART. So I threw in another peach and it was perfect. I added a handful of grape leaves and blended between each handful. I did a final longer blend and voila!
NOTE: I set my Manitoba/Ontario smoothie on the window ledge to take a picture and managed to attract a furry grape leaf thief in the process! 
My explanation for how this is local and/or seasonal:
Right now finding a sweet enough base fruit would be tricky in Manitoba, but Manitoba’s neighbouring province of Ontario is full of fruit from the Niagra Valley at this time of year, so there’s a fantastic selection (still much closer for me than bananas and mangos!). I was home in Douglas, Manitoba to go to my brother’s wedding, so I took advantage of my parents’ fruit trees (and the garden…woohoo) and also of my brother’s new place out in Oak Lake, Manitoba. They have an amazing little spot where the previous owner planted grapes. The grapes are just tiny right now, but they look soooo fresh and my mother makes a fantastic tangy juice out of them! It was one of our GSQ article contributors that taught me you could eat grape leaves… and they’re very good… especially the small ones… very sweet! This smoothie has sooooo much taste. It really does make a difference to use local and in-season ingredients!
And THAT inspired THESE carbon-conscious creations:
Sweet Georgia Green
Felicia James
(makes about 24 ounces)
Ingredients:
- 1 banana (the local/seasonal exception)
- 1 cup frozen watermelon, seeds removed
- 1/2 cup red grapes
- 1 to 1-1/2 cups dark green lettuce leaves (see additional comment in “directions” below)
- 3 fresh and sweet mint leaves, or to taste
- 5 ice cubes
- cold water (see additional comment in “directions” below)
- 1/4 cup raw rolled oats – optional
Directions:
Place banana, watermelon and grapes in the blender in the order listed above. Tear the lettuce leaves into pieces and add them on top until the blender appears to be half filled with the fruit and half filled with the greens. Add the mint and ice on top. If desired, or if newly transitioning toward a raw food diet and feel like you need a little more fill to your smoothie, sprinkle in the oats. Lastly, pour in cold water until it reaches at least to the 2 cup mark.
Blend on high, adding more water if needed to keep the contents blending smoothly.
Pour into your favorite Green Smoothie Jug and enjoy a sweet Georgia memory!
My explanation for how this is local and/or seasonal:
This recipe was made using mint from my garden and watermelon from the local Farmer’s market. The grapes are also in season and the lettuce is from a neighboring state (nearly local).
The name is in honor of our family dinner-table stories as told by Grandma of her childhood memories spending summers on our family’s watermelon farm. For added Georgia flare, consider substituting the banana with peaches, which for our Maryland area, are also in season. This would make the smoothie even more local and seasonal!
These were slurped up so fast, there was no time to get a photo!
Perfect Passion
Sanoma Kellogg
Ingredients:
- 1 small head greenleaf lettuce
- 1 head butter lettuce
- 1 frozen banana
- 1/2 cucumber
- 4 passion fruits (pulp and seeds, discard the rind)
- 1/2 cup ice cubes
- water
Directions:
Peel and chop the cucumber and banana and put in the blender, scoop the pulp and seeds out of the passion fruits and add to the blender, wash and roughly chop the lettuce and add to the blender. This should mostly fill the blender up. Fill the blender with water until the water level is about 1/2 as high as your ingredients. Add 1/3 – 1/2 cup ice cubes.
Blend.
My explanation for how this is local and/or seasonal:
Bananas and cucumbers grow in Thailand year round, so they are always in season here, and the lettuce is grown on a hydroponic farm in Bangkok, so it’s local to me. Passion fruits (also grown in Thailand) just started showing up for purchase a couple of weeks ago in the stores, as they’ve just come into season. Yum!
(no photo)
Peanutty Pick-Me-Up
Kim Williamson
(makes about 64 ounces)
Ingredients:
- 3 very ripe pears
- 3 cups frozen watermelon
- 12 frozen figs
- 12 raw peanuts
- 2 large handfuls baby spinach
- 1 cup filtered water
- ice cubes
Directions:
Blend raw peanuts well. Then add half the cup of water with remaining ingredients. Blend well, then add more water and/or ice to desired consistency.
NOTE: Shoppers beware! If you buy raw peanuts, they must be kept refrigerated.
My explanation for how this is local and/or seasonal:
Putting together a local/seasonal smoothie required more thought and was a good lesson for me. Fortunately, I had recently purchased some delicious figs from a neighbor that had posted a sign at the end of the street. So these were in my freezer (my first figgy smoothie). I found local organic pears at my health food store (saved the seeds!). My final ingredients came from my local farmers market. They had fresh baby spinach, huge sweet watermelons and raw green peanuts that were just brought in from the field that day! This makes for an all in season and all local ingredients green smoothie.
(isn’t that just a gorgeous photo!!! Looks sooooo good!)
Our Green Smoothie Recipe Contest Winner!
August’s End at the GSM
Andrea Sinclair
(makes about 64 ounces)
Ingredients:
- 1 half of a cantaloupe, washed peeled and seeded
- 4 ripe peaches, (they don’t even have to be pretty!) washed and pit removed
- 1 bunch fresh crisp kale, washed and ribs removed
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup ice, as desired
Directions:
Cut the cantaloupe and peaches into manageable chunks and cover with enough water to let the blender work. Blend until smooth. Add the kale a handful at a time and blend until more or less smooth. Keep blending until as smooth as you like and then add the ice as desired, and usually at the end of August ice is a great idea! Serve with a great big green smoothie smile.
NOTE: I use a pitcher and a stick blender for the ultimate in portability – make your smoothie right at the market! If you’re using a regular blender follow the same ingredients order, you’ll just have your blender’s blades upside down!
My explanation for how this is local and/or seasonal:
Thursdays are market days downtown now – the Gray Street Farmer’s Market (GSM) is held right in the heart of the hospital district in downtown Louisville. Sponsored by the School of Public Health and Information Sciences and the Health Department the entire goal of the market it to bring everything that is fresh, seasonal and local right here where we all work and play. The vendors all come from less than an hour away and always have an abundance of great produce. I bought everything for this smoothie at the market right before I made it, trying to capture all the freshness, the amazing smell and color that is the end of August in my lush little corner of the land. Kentucky has a great growing season and an embarrassment of wonderful things to eat right now so I made sure to make enough to share!
***
Well… it doesn’t get any more fresher or local than making your green smoothie right at the market to share, so we thought Andrea totally captured the spirit of this challenge! So with green gratitude to our BiG partners, we’re sending her Victoria Boutenko‘s Green Smoothie book, Green Smoothie Revolution and DaNae Johnson‘s Smoothie Handbook.
Thank you to everyone who made an effort to make your lawnmower pulp local and make your green smoothies greener! Tomorrow we’ll share the the entries and winner from our stories and testimonial contest.
And yup
The Blendtec Blender Green Ripple-Maker award is coming!
And yes… I figured out how to post my before pictures in The Emerald Lounge for the 21-Day detox, so if you’re a member of that program, you’ll be able to click this link (once you’re logged in) and see how I had to get a little brave in front of the camera:
Wishing you cilantro and smiles!
xox
Stacey