The varieties from left to right are: red Russian kale, tree collards — which are perennial and can be grown from cuttings, regular collard greens and lacinato kale. Not that raw kale, collards and members of the cabbage family are not recommended for people with thyroid issues. Try parsley instead.
Green Smoothie
Yield: 4 servings
Time required: 10 minutes
This is my favorite pick me up if I haven’t eaten enough vegetables lately. This recipe makes a LOT of smoothie, so I will usually share it with my husband and drink the remainder the next morning. Add only 2-3 leaves of kale the first time you make it and give it a taste before deciding to add more. Note that you need a fairly powerful blender to completely blend all of the ingredients.
Ingredients
1 sweet apple — Fuji, Gala or Pink Lady apples are all good
3 or more leaves of kale
1 whole lemon, peeled and deseeded
1 large orange, peeled and deseeded
1 medium cucumber, peeled
4 ice cubes
Filtered water
Tools
Chefs knife, cutting board, blender, glass
Directions
- Prepare all the ingredients and put them in the blender.
- Fill the blender with water until the ingredients are half-submerged.
- Turn on the blender, starting at the lowest setting and slowly increase the speed. Let the blender go at the highest speed for several seconds or until the mixture is an even, light green color. Slowly decrease the speed and turn the blender off. Blending time will depending on the power of your machine.
- Pour a little bit of smoothie in a glass and taste it. If necessary, add more kale, apple or water and blend again until it is the smoothie is the bitter/sweetness/consistency you desire.
Variations
- Substitute kale leaves with collard greens. Collard greens are slightly less bitter and much larger than kale leaves.
- You can substitute kale for a handful of parsley or mint for a different flavor.
- For a sweeter smoothie, add 1 banana or 4 seedless grapes.