One of the great things I learned about when I tried eating Raw Vegan were green smoothies. The premise is that dark leafy greens are really dense in nutrients and we should eat a lot of them (something we can all agree with), however it takes a lot of time to eat really big quantities of greens. Unlike the apes, most modern humans don’t have the freedom to spend all day sitting and chewing through pounds of spinach. As well, lots of people find dark leafy greens unpalatable without fatty dressings or lots of salt, etc. Green smoothies to the rescue!

A green smoothie is a smoothie-consistency drink make from about 60% fruit and 40% green matter by volume. The fruit gives the drink a nice sweetness and takes the edge off the green grassy taste, while blending helps to pre-process the greens into a more digestible form and compacts them so they can be eaten quickly.

My preferred green smoothie is Mango-Parsley, here’s the how-to:
Peel and slice 2 fresh mangoes. Place the mango in a blender with one whole bunch of parsley, with most of the stem removed (I think it would make about 1 cup of parsley if you compacted it all). Add a cup of water and blend, adding more water until it is a consistency you like.

And here I am with my green smoothie, trying to imitate the very buff Marge Simpson:

From my calculations, my green smoothie makes up eight Zone “blocks”, so technically I should divide it in half and split it over two meals. Using FitDay, I calculate that my smoothie is about 290 calories, 2g fat, 74g carb, and 4g protein. It provides more than 100% of the vitamin A, K, and C than I need as part of my RDA – plus it provides a pretty good concentration of other vitamins and minerals. I think that’s pretty durn healthy!

You can read all about green smoothies in the book “Green for Life”, available at rawfamily.com. The Marge picture is from one of my favorite episodes – “Strong Arms of the Ma”.

This is an excellent milk replacement for people moving away from dairy or soy milk. Nut milk is dead easy to make, and cheaper than anything store-bought. Almond milk recipes are common, but I find a small amount of cashews add a rich creamy texture. Look for nuts that are labeled “raw”, or at least avoid ones that are labeled as roasted or seasoned.

3/4 c almonds
1/4 c cashews
2 Tbsp agave
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 pinch salt

Place the almonds and cashews in a bowl and cover with water. Soak for several hours or overnight.

Drain the nuts and place in a blender. Add about 1L, or 4 cups, of clean water. I use water from our water-cooler instead of tap water.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender and blend on high for about one minute.

Strain the milk into a container using a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth. I use a clean cotton napkin inside a sieve; once most of the milk drains away I pick up the napkin edges and squeeze out the rest. The “nut pulp” can be used in other recipes, if you are so inclined.

I keep nut milk for about 3-5 days in the fridge. It will separate, so give it a good shake before each use.

1/2 cn Orange juice concentrate
1/2 t Vanilla
1/2 c Milk
6 Ice cubes
1/2 c Water
1/4 c Powdered sugar

Combine all in blender and blend well. Serve immediately.