The Live Green Smoothie Diet

The blood oranges are abundant in the grocery store lately, and they just beckoned for some cocktail action. This recipe is a twist on the classic Screwdriver, with a custom juice blend to provide the right amount of sweetness and lemony “zing”.

What is a Blood Orange?

As the name suggests (the photos here demonstrate), blood oranges are red on the inside. The pigment in the red color comes from anthocyanin, a powerful antioxidant that appears as either red or blue in fruits and vegetables such as cherries, blueberries, eggplant, or red cabbage.

The blood orange is less sweet, but with a mellow flavor not unlike what one finds in cherries. High in Vitamin C (apparently up to 130% of the recommended daily allowance), it’s not a bad way to get a boost for your immune system and skin health.

Well, anyway… sounds like a good enough excuse as any for a zingy, brilliantly colored cocktail.

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If you’re like me, you frequently pass by the Exotic Fruits section at the grocery store and survey with wonder at some of the cool stuff lining the bins… but then keep on walking, because what does one actually do with these things, other than slice them up and use them as garnish?

It’s not like you’re likely to bite into a juicy Star Fuit to sate your hunger, or throw a Prickly Pear into your bag so you have something to munch when you’re on the go!

But turns out… these two exotic fruits made wonderful Mono-Smoothies! Both are quite delicate, not acidic at all (my youngest son: “Hey, this is really good, even after brushing my teeth!”). They each have a slightly exotic flavor, but it’s highly nuanced.

And that Prickly Pear… I did not know that the flesh of the this fruit was fuschia… one of my very favorite food colors!

So, the next time you’re passing by that Exotic Fruits aisle… pick a few Star Fuits and Prickly Pears up and whip up a few Mono-Smoothies when you get home. These are two smoothies that pretty much anyone will enjoy, kids and non-smoothie-drinkers alike.

The Lovely Star Fruit

The Star Fruit is loaded with Vitamins A and C, as well as antioxidants, amino acids, and a host of healthy minerals. And it’s apparently been used as a home remedy for treating fevers, headaches, and even hangovers!

You can read more about the health benefits of the Star Fruit here.

The Prickly Pear

Cutting into a Prickly Pear (the fruit of a particular cactus plant) is a delight, because the flesh is a vibrant shade of bloody-fuschia, and very tender, like a melon.

And turns out the fruit is rich in magnesium… a wonderful piece of information to know! Instantly makes me wonder how this would fare combined in a dessert with raw chocolate, because cacao is the most potent food source of magnesium, so good for the heart, for hormonal regulation, for metabolism, for soothing tight muscles, relaxing a stubborn colon… and for just general well-being!

The Prickly Pear Mono-Smoothie is so dang gorgeous, who wouldn’t feel better walking around sipping from a bottle of this stuff!

I can guarantee that these fruits are going to become regulars in my kitchen from now on. What an under-appreciated fruit!

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You’ll be so surprised how this tastes… no one would ever suspect that there’s fresh, raw zucchini in it! Talk about a reason to over-plant your garden with squash this year!

You can even make this rich, creamy smoothie utterly non-fat… or luscious-it-up with a bit of raw cacao butter, which really makes a fabulous difference in taste.

What a great, healthy way to get your chocolate fix!

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Alas, I could hardly get a taste of this yummy smoothie, as the Marginally Raw Twenty-Somethings in my home absconded with the majority of it. I always take that as a very good sign.

Luscious, creamy, and a bit tart… and would do well with the addition of some fresh parsley or spinach to make a Live Green Smoothie! Definitely give this one a try.

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What a lovely way to wake up!

This beautifully sunny glass is full of Vitamin C, whole-food fiber, and the alkalizing, energizing, soothing power of fresh aloe vera gel! Add a bit of rose water (or orange blossom water… your pick), and you’ve got a light, refreshing day-starter with a wee bit of exotic appeal.

And for those of you watching your sugar intake, this smoothie is not as sweet as straight orange juice, so you can drink more without getting a sugar rush.

I’m in love with the color of this one. The smoothie has that lovely froth typical to all fresh-aloe smoothies, but in the cheeriest of sunshine yellows. How can this not make you smile…

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What a wonderfully luscious breakfast smoothie! Ridiculously creamy, extremely mild, low in sugar (you might want to add some additional sweet fruit or raw honey if you’re craving some sweet)… and slightly exotic due to the bit of Orange Blossom Water that finishes it off.

What, you say… you still haven’t picked yourself up a bottle of Orange Blossom Water? Get thee to a Greek or Middle Eastern market pronto! Orange Blossom Water and Rose Water are two just wonderful additions to so many raw smoothie and Live Green Smoothie recipes, it’s not even funny.

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You can use this one recipe to make any kind of fruited “soda” out of Kombucha. Use mango, berries, pear, persimmon… anything you can think of, to flavor either your homemade or store-bought kombucha.

You can learn more about Kombucha (a low-sugar sparkling beverage made from sweetened sweet tea) and how to make it here. You can also pick up Kombucha in bottles in the refrigerated section of your local health food store. It comes in all sorts of flavors.

Kombucha makes a great soda-like beverage when blended with fresh fruit, and you can also make tasty raw cocktails if you blend in your favorite alcoholic libation.

Makes a great nightcap even without the alcohol!

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This extremely mild, sunny-flavored smoothie is in response to two requests this week for various ways to increase Vitamin C. So add this to your list of rejuvenating, immune system- boosting, beta carotene rich raw smoothies. And just add some fresh greens to make it a Live Green Smoothie!

Papaya is just tops for enhancing digestion and a beautiful complexion. Add a bit of fresh orange juice and a whole orange (sans peel, or course), and you’ve got a great dose of Vitamin C and fiber as well!

This would be a great smoothie to add a bit of Orange Blossom Water to, but… it’s so refreshing on its own, I quite enjoy its simplicity as well. And if you want to *really * jack up the Vitamin C, antioxidants, and beta carotene… toss in some goji berries!

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This is one of those smoothies that makes me wonder why in the world, when beverages like this are so easy to whip up, do most people spend their days drinking diet sodas and other drinks filled with chemicals, sugar, and high fructose corn syrup. People soooo need to learn how to whip drinks up like this. Who could want to keep drinking Diet Coke and SunnyD when they could be guzzling stuff like this instead???

Giant red papaya with fresh mango and a big of Orange Blossom Water results in an extremely mild, fragrant, wonderfully refreshing smoothie that takes just a few minutes to  put together.

And it’s just *gorgeous* in a glass. Gorgeous!

Dang… my blender’s empty already. Wish I had a double-sized container. One is just not enough when you got three hungry adults in the house.

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A raw smoothie with a bit of red wine, this is festive little drink that takes just a couple minutes to whip up. Got some leftover wine from a party, or a bottle of less-than-stellar plonk you don’t know what to do with? This is a great way to dress it up.

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