My Morning Smoothie Habit

Hello there,

Since the intention of this site is to share raw recipes with each other, I thought it was fitting that the first recipe I share is one that I use almost every day – my morning smoothie.

My morning smoothie

I *adore* smoothies in the morning. It’s a great way to wake up my system, and start the day full of nutrients and energy. My ultimate go-to is a greens based smoothie. I know some people are big on fruit smoothies, but that’s just not me. I like them and all, but find that it’s a bit too much sweetness first thing in the morning. I also find that I personally function better when I start my day with greens, as opposed to straight fruit.

Green smoothies are very easy to make, and once you get a basic recipe down, it’s easy to mix it up depending on whatever you have on hand. The proportions are always the same, and I am big on experimenting with, and rotating, my greens. I am, however, NOT big on accurate measuring. I tend to estimate and eyeball almost everything. It has been my experience that the only type of food preparation that realllllllly requires accurate measuring is baking. Everything else is pretty amenable to winging it within the general boundaries of a recipe.

I will mention that I always make enough smoothie for me and my husband, so my basic recipe makes about 32-40 ounces, depending on the day.

One for me and one for him. There is actually another glass worth of smoothie leftover for me in the carafe, which you can see in another picture below.

If you are just making a smoothie for one person, you can either cut this whole recipe in half, or pour the remaining portion into a mason jar or some other airtight container and save it in the fridge for later. I have saved smoothies for up to 24 hours with no problems. Anything longer than that gets a bit questionable, in my experience.

PLEASE NOTE: I own and use a Blendtec, and I specifically lean towards using the “Wild Side” Jar and the “smoothie” setting. This is about 40 seconds, and I will usually run a few pulses after the cycle finishes if I feel like some of the hard stuff needs an extra go. 

My beloved Blendtec. You can see that’s it’s been well used and well loved. It’s actually possibly time for a new carafe…

You may have to adjust these proportions and timings based on the size of your own blender’s carafe, and the intensity at which it blends.

My basic recipe goes like this:

Green smoothie ingredient round-up. Today’s smoothie features: coconut water, my typical seed selection, apple cider vinegar, kiwis, a blend of baby greens (kale, spinach and chard), the typical “hard stuff”, and a frozen banana.

Step 1 : Pour 12 ounces of coconut water into the carafe

Coconut water, seeds, and cider

Step 2 : Add 1 (table)spoon each of

• hemp seeds
• freshly ground flax meal (I grind enough for a week’s worth of smoothies and store the rest in the fridge in a mason jar)
• soaked chia seeds (I always have a jar going in the fridge)
• organic apple cider vinegar

My typical “seed selection”: hemp, soaked chia, and ground flax meal

Step 3 : Throw in 2 handfuls of whatever greens you have on hand

Here you can see the amount of greens that I consider to be “two handfuls” a little bit stuffed down in there

Step 4 : Add your hard elements

Carrot, ginger, turmeric and lime

Added the kiwi and frozen banana. I usually have celery too, but I ran out today.

Dump all the hard stuff on top of the greens

Step 5 :  Add enough filtered water to just level off with the whole mix. For those using a Blendtec, I fill up to the 36 ounce marker on the carafe

Step 6 : Blend, baby, blend!

Here’s the final yield

Now here are the specific details for the basic steps:

Step 1 :

You could use any filtered water or juice instead of coconut water here. This step helps with the sweetness level of the whole smoothie.

Step 2 :

Soaked Chia Seeds – I like to scoop about 2 tablespoons of dry chia seeds into a 12 ounce mason jar, then fill it up to the top with distilled water. I shake it up so all the seeds get distributed throughout the water, and I put it in the fridge. If you don’t do the shake-shake bit, then the seeds will separate and half will fall to the bottom and get nicely soaked, and the rest will float on the top and not plump up at all. Once the seeds have plumped up though, they are ready to use. This jar will usually last me for a week’s worth of smoothies.

Apple Cider Vinegar – DO NOT use more than 1 tablespoon. I’ve done it. Learn from my mistake. It just makes the whole thing *too* sour and kills the flavour of the entire smoothie.

Step 3 :

Greens – I usually lean towards mostly kale, a bit of collards, some swiss chard, watercress, pea shoots, and a healthy dose of parsley and cilantro. I also like mustard greens, arugula, dandelion greens, and beet greens (use all of these sparingly, though, as they have a very strong bitter flavour).

Step 4 :

Hard Elements – I like to use 1 carrot, 1 celery stalk, a small chunk of cucumber, 1 piece of peeled ginger, 1 piece of peeled turmeric, 1 peeled lime, and 1 frozen banana. The frozen banana adds sweetness and helps to achieve that typical smoothie texture. It also keeps the whole thing nice and cold. Warm smoothies are not the most appetizing things to consume….I also like to use things like a peeled kiwi, or half a pear sometimes. Nothing with a hugely overwhelming flavour though.

Step 5 :

There needs to be room for the smoothie to swirl up and slosh around. As I mentioned above, I add water up to the 36 ounce line. It’s probably about halfway up the carafe. This is what works for me and my Blendtec. Any more liquid and/or ingredients than that, and this thing tends to explode all over the kitchen. It has happened to me twice. I realize that every blender is different, so whatever you have, please avoid overstuffing the carafe. Smoothies are sloppy, staining messes to clean up…

And that’s it! My go-to smoothie recipe, step by step.

One for now and one for later! Enjoy!

I hope you find this helpful, and please comment below on your own morning smoothie habits!