I was delighted this week to find a good local source of giant aloe vera leaves! It’s been a few months since I enjoyed a smoothie made with fresh aloe vera gel, and the fresh gel is el primo for alkalizing your body and helping to get rid of inflammation and stiffness, not to mention a whole host of other great health benefits.

I wanted to make an alkalizing smoothie especially for my mom, who — for health reasons — prefers her smoothies to be on the low-sugar, low-glycemic side. She found this plenty sweet, but you will see how surprising mild in sweetness it is. Most people mistakenly think of mangoes as being a very sweet fruit and, after having made smoothies using mangoes almost every way imagineable, I can vouch for it being a refreshingly mild in sweetness.

Is Aloe Vera Gel Bitter?

Now, as for the gel… I always use the monster-sized leaves I find in the grocery store, but I know that many people have smaller plants growing at home and are itching to use those. I have heard numerous complaints about aloe vera gel being bitter, which I have never, ever experienced. The aloe juice, yes… but the gel. And I have a sneaking suspicion that the bitter gel may be found in whatever variety these smaller home-grown plants may be.

Coincidentally, my parents just picked up & planted an aloe plant over the weekend, so I will be trying it out to see if it tastes any different.

From my experience, when I cut open a fresh aloe very leaf, the gel always smells like chicken soup, not the real kind but the sort they used to make when I was in grade school. I have no idea why this is the case, but, there it is. However, when I cut out the gel and use it in a smoothie (and I use ALL the gel in a giant leaf when I make a smoothie), the flavor is utterly, completely neutral. I can even make deliciously mild vanilla smoothies with it and it doesn’t interfere with the delicate flavor.

So. That’s my spiel on gel from the sacred aloe plant (which, by the way, comes to us via the health wisdom of Egypt, how nice).

Picking up a few leaves every time you go to the grocery store is a good practice. They run about $1.99 in my area. A fair price, I think, for the kind of rejuvenating, rejuicifying effect they can have on connective tissue in your body!

To cut the aloe vera gel out of a fresh aloe vera leaf:

1. First, slice down along each side of the leaf to cut off the spiky edges.

2. Next, cut the leaf in half crosswise (just to make it easier to handle), and then cut the top layer of green skin off each piece.

3. And finally, run your knife underneath the layer of gel, just above the bottom layer of green. As you release the gel from the bottom, cut it out in blocks or panels, and when you’ve finished, scrape or cut out any extra little bits.

And take care — the gel is slippery! Rinse your hands while you’re working, so you can maintain control without losing a finger.

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Anyone who is familiar with my site knows I am not a proponent of adding protein powders and other heavily processed ingredients to Live Green Smoothies, unless they are of a very high quality, low-temp-processed, and genuinely “superfood” in nature, such as hemp seeds, marine phytoplankton, and quality super-green powders.

In fact, the massive array of plastic-bottled industrial proteins that assaults the eyes at most health food stores quite boggles my mind when there are so many non-industrialized whole-food ways to power-up with a richly mineralized, respectably protein-laden Live Green Smoothie from fresh ingredients.

To wit… this uber-simple meal-replacement-power-shake. A bit of quality raw cacao powder, some bananas, raw sunflower seeds, and Utterly Pedestrian fresh parsley combine, with some good vanilla and quality “himmy” salt, to make a rich dairy-tasting shake to satisfy your

A Few Variations For The Energy-Deprived…

Need more energy than even this smoothie can satisfy? Got a wild-n-crazy workout up ahead, or a day-long power-meeting at work? Then add the flesh and water from one whole young coconut to the mix, plus a heaping spoonful of goji berries and a large spoonful of raw honey. That will see you through pretty much anything!

And you can always add some metabolism-stimulating cold-pressed coconut oil for some natural heat and instantly-useable fuel-to-burn!

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Cucumbers are just so great for hydrating, and so great for your skin, and connective tissue, and, well, every aspect of staying fresh & looking young (hah… there’s a commercial in there, somewhere!), and they pair wonderfully with mango here to make a Live Green Smoothie that is only mildly sweet.

Add fresh lime juice and you’ve got a super-refresher alkalizing drink with rejuvenating Vitamin C. And if you want it sweeter… just add a banana! (Or go the raw-honey-or-cane-sugar route…)

But for Weight Watchers aficionados who have become readers of my site… sans the banana and you’ll have a nice low-point drink, here. And it’s filling!

I did indeed take mine to the gym with me. And as there was still a bit leftover from the two bottles when I returned, I blended the rest up with from powdered super-greens and super-herbs, and a bit of powdered cordyceps and other medicinal mushrooms, for a serious energy & immune system booster.

Twas wonderful.

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This is definitely one of the most gorgeously spring-green Live Green Smoothies… a spectacular shade of vitality!

And did you know that people in hot climates tend to eat spicy foods because it makes them sweat and helps keep them cool? What a great drink for the summer months… or even for the cold months, when you want something to heat you up!

It’s also not overwhelmingly spicy, and is actually quite mellow. But… there is enough heat in the recipe that as you drink it, your lips get a nice tingle. If you want to clear your sinuses, you’re going to have to double the jalapeno (or other chiles used).

I made this with parsley, which is my favorite green to pair with mango because they complement each other so nicely! And one of the fun things about parsley is that, when juiced or smoothified and left to sit, it gels up, so this will turn into a nice thick shake-texture after a short while.

This is such a great smoothie. Will be LGsing with this one lots over the summer!

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I must be doing something right in the kitchen, because here’s another recipe I just wasn’t fast enough to grab my portion! Sure, as the chef de cuisine, I get my taste, but so often everything disappears before I can settle down for a good munch!

In this case, my son scurried away with two bowl-fuls, only to return later in the day to have off with the last bit I’d wrapped and stuck in the fridge! No complaints, tho… I think it’s just good evidence that this is a keeper.

Using raw almond butter with garlic, green onions, and fresh lime to give that “caesar salad” effect, this filling main dish also includes half of a giant papaya for some mellow-sweet juiciness! The papaya offsets the “caesariness” of the salad so nicely. I’ve actually often thought of papaya as having a strangely “cheesy” quality to it. Nicely mellow.

One wonders why this hasn’t been done before. It’s so gorgeous!

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Yah, I know… who thinks about Broccoli and Vanilla in the same breath?

Hah, well… clearly I do!

This is a great combination, and there’s a sizeable amount of raw broccoli in this! But when broccoli is raw in a smoothie, it doesn’t have the rather potent sulphuric taste not uncommon when it’s cooked. And because it’s naturally high in protein (calorie for calorie, zips in a bit higher than sirloin steak!), it lends a creaminess to smoothies.

Paired with some avocado, then, and this really takes on a nice creamy texture. Tastes not unlike a light vanilla cake batter. You will not find the broccoli off-putting.

Then again, if you don’t buy organic broccoli, I’m makin’ no guarantees because organic broccoli tends to be significantly sweeter and more delicate in flavor!

Enjoy. And feed to your kids… and spousal units who refuse to eat their vedge.

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I want to continue adding some “zero-point” Live Green Smoothie recipes (pretty much “blended salads” without fruit or fat) as an option for my readers who are partial to Weight Watchers.

These smoothies are of course all going to taste a bit better with some sweetness and/or some fat, so customize however you’d like. But I wanted to give you some good base recipes to start with.

Anyone can use these, and certainly most of all anyone interested in non-fat, low-cal, high-water content LGSs.

This one gets its sweetness from grape or cherry tomatoes, and has a sizeable amount of fresh ginger root to fire up your metabolism and digestion… and to make it all taste great, like an un-fizzy dry ginger ale (well… if you really stretch your imagination, hah).

Broccoli is also high-protein, which gives a naturally creamy texture to Live Green Smoothies, which is a nice quality here. This LGS has a bit of substance to it, rather than a watery texture. You will find it surprisingly filling!

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This very light-tasting, utterly non-fat “blended salad” Live Green Smoothie recipe is an excellent template to use as a base for… whatever variations you can cook up in your own kitchen.

The only fruits in the smoothie are tomatoes and cucumber, which of course we tend to classify as vedge in our cuisine. These are paired with fresh parsley, a bit of green onion… and some high-quality salt.

You can add a bit of cold-pressed olive oil or coconut oil, if you’d like, but as-is, this is a zero-point Weight Watcher’s recipe!

Wanna spice it up? Add some garlic, a bit of freshly shaved horseradish, a few grindings of black pepper, and a radish or two. Want more protein? Throw in a few tablespoons hemp seeds, a handful of raw pumpkin seeds, or some goji berries.

Actually, this recipe would be excellent with goji berries… with all the spicy ingredients added in! And if you want a bit of sweetness, just throw in a few grapes. (Personally, I would like it better with the sweetness that some grapes would contribute. But then, of course… it wouldn’t be zero points.)

But if you make the recipe straight, it’s super-mild, very light, not sweet at all, and just a wee bit salty… great for after an intense workout. What a nice way to grab a salad when you’re on-the-go!

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Serious beta-carotene blast here, with fresh strawberries and rose water adding fragrance, and a bit of banana added for creaminess

Use yellow, orange, or red sweet peppers, and substitute raspberries if you’d like. Imagine this with red sweet pepper and raspberry with rose water… mmmmm.

Add greens to this one… I left them out just for the photos, cuz we all know what happens when we mix green, red, and orange!

Another lovely summery treat!

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Now here’s a hot-weather beverage that could really take off. It has the light, truly refreshing quality of iced tea, with the fresh basil having an almost minty accent. Fresh, raw zucchini provides a light, tasteless backdrop for the basil and red grapes for sweetness.

(If you have organic zucchini, make with the skins on and jack up the “green” aspect of your Live Green Smoothie).

I gave a glass of this to my non-raw father to enjoy whilst watching the latest World Cup game. A great refresher after having worked outdoors all morning in the Florida sun.

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