With The Green Smoothie Garden (F+W Media, 2014) you can use your own produce to create the healthiest and cheapest green smoothies around. Tracy Russell, founder of the popular green smoothie website Incredible Smoothies, and Catherine Abbott offer up delicious recipes and indispensable gardening advice to help produce these nutrient-rich treats. Green smoothies are a great way to increase daily vegetable intake, boost energy and improve general well-being. In the following excerpt, from “Brassicas and Root Vegetables,” learn why kale is one of the most nutritious greens and how to incorporate it into a green smoothie.
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Kale
Kale has high levels of vitamin C and calcium and the highest levels of beta carotene of all the green vegetables. It is a hardy vegetable. Kale will survive over the winter and the leaves are more tender and sweet once they have been touched by frost. Kale will easily go to seed and spread throughout your garden, so pull the plants out before the seeds spread if you want to contain it.
Smoothie Garden Solution
Adding dolomite lime to the garden soil when preparing the beds will help to keep the soil at a good pH for these plants. Lime will also help prevent clubroot and other fungal diseases that brassicas are prone to.
There are several different varieties of kale, which are easily distinguishable because of their color and leaf. The most common are probably the green, curly leaf varieties. Some other varieties are ‘Red Russian’, which have gray-green leaves with a purplish stem; ‘Lacinato’, which has a dark, blue-green-colored leaf; ‘Redbor’, which has dark red leaves; and ‘Improved Siberian’, which has flat green leaves.
Smoothie Garden Solution
A good garden fork is invaluable. Gently loosen the soil around the area where the plant is growing and then use your hands to pull up the root. Be careful not to pierce your beets or break the carrots when digging them. If you do, use them as soon as possible.
Imperative Iron
Leafy Green Smoothie
From Your Garden: kale, spinach
• 1 cup kale
• 1 cup spinach
• 1/2 orange, peeled
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 cup almond milk
1. Combine kale, spinach, orange, banana, and almond milk in a blender and blend until thoroughly combined. Yields: 3-4 cups
PER 1 CUP SERVING
CALORIES: 133.6
FAT: 1.1g
PROTEIN: 5.1g
SODIUM: 52.8mg
FIBER: 5.2g
CARBOHYDRATES: 30.9g
Excerpted from The Green Smoothie Garden: Grow Your Own Produce for the Most Nutritious Green Smoothie Recipes Possible! Copyright © 2013 by Tracy Russell and Catherine Abbott, published by F+W Media, Inc. Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. Purchase this book from our store:The Green Smoothie Garden.