Hot Days, Cold Drinks: Green Peach Smoothie

I love smoothies.  Around here, we have smoothies at least weekly, and sometimes (especially in the summer) daily.  Since smoothies are one of the only ways to get green vegetables into Esther, I make them even more often for her.

Green vegetables into a smoothie? Why yes.  Green smoothies are pretty trendy these days, so you may already be familiar with the concept.  The veggies we usually use are a mixture of leafy greens (kale, chard, beet greens, spinach), steamed, pureed and frozen in ice cube trays.  Each cube is the right size for a smoothie.  We also keep spirulina on hand to add to smoothies as it is very nutrient dense.

Though raw leafy greens are trendy these days, I think that there is more evidence to support the idea that it is better to cook your leafy greens in some way before eating them, because of the goitrogens that affect your thyroid (especially if you eat greens daily as we do).  Even if Esther didn't have thyroid issues, I would still probably do this, but especially because of her thyroid we make sure to cook all of our greens well.


Many types of fruit will work for this recipe.  We generally use whatever fruit we can get for the best price, and since our neighbor lets us take whatever peaches from their tree that fall onto the ground, we have been having lots of peach smoothies this summer.  Other types of fruit we use in smoothies include blueberries, pears, blackberries, strawberries and plums.


Green Peach Smoothie
(makes two servings)

1 frozen banana
1 cup cubed peaches
1 cup kefir or plain yogurt or coconut milk
1 ice cube of steamed greens (see above)
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
1 teaspoon redmond's clay (optional)
1 teaspoon spirulina

1.  Add all ingredients to a blender and blend on high until smooth.  Enjoy!