This truly tropical guava passionfruit green smoothie recipe is the perfect combination of sweet, sour, creamy and packed with healthy fat, fiber and vitamins. White guava and passionfruit (lilikoi) star in this smoothie – get more than half of your daily servings of fruits and veggies in this delicious smoothie.
guava passionfruit green smoothie recipe
Yield: About 6 cups
Ingredients:
1 large head of lettuce
4 stalks of celery
1 medium avocado
2 passionfruits (pulp only)
1 large white guava (peel the first 1/4 inch and include the rest of the pulp) – you can use pink guava but it will probably effect the color of your green smoothie).
2-3 medium apple bananas
1-2 cups water
5 ice cubes
Steps:
Start with lettuce in the blender, then add celery and avocado and water
Blend until incorporated.
Then add passionfruit, guava, banana and ice.
Blend for 50 seconds on high until the seeds from the passionfruit and guava are well broken up and smoothie is plenty smooth.
This simple and creamy blueberry banana smoothie is packed with antioxidants, protein, fiber and healthy fats. It is an excellent substitution for your afternoon cookie or candy bar. It is also a good mid-morning treat.
The blueberry banana smoothie recipe is great because it’s easy to keep all of the ingredients on hand. We buy buckets of Artisana raw organic coconut butter which last for 15-18 months from the date of manufacturing. Additionally, blueberries and bananas can be stored in your freezer, frozen blueberries are good for 6-8 months and bananas for 2-3 months. Dried chia seeds have a shelf life of 2-4 years.
I am featuring chia seeds in this recipe, but I actually use them almost daily in my green smoothies. We buy Nutiva organic chia seeds (120z) bags at Costco (several at a time), but you can also get very affordable ones on amazon. Mostly, I add them for extra fiber and protein. It’s ideal to soak the chia seeds in water for at least 10 minutes before blending. Soaking them helps to sprout the chia seed adding in their digestion making the nutrients more bioavailable.
Two tablespoons (or 1 ounce) of chia seeds has about 130 calories, 8 grams of fat, 11 grams of fiber (about 50% of daily recommended value for women), 5.5 grams of protein and no sugar. It also provides 18% of daily calcium, 27% of phosphorous, 30% manganese, and some potassium and copper. Chia seeds have lots omega-3 fatty acids which help to increase HDL, the good cholesterol. The aid in weight-loss, with diabetes, digestion and detox.
Recipe for blueberry banana smoothie with chia seeds
Mix all ingredients in blender on high for two, 30 second intervals until very creamy and seeds are well incorporated. This smoothie has the best texture when consumed fresh but it will store for up to 2 days in the fridge.
This cucumber cabbage juice recipe has just enough cabbage to help cleanse and enough cucumber and apple to brighten the flavor. I know it sounds kinda ehhhhh… but cabbage juice has many many health benefits and the cucumber and the apple in this juice mask any cabbage flavor. It’s best to make and drink this juice fresh as cabbage juice tends to put off a funky taste and smell if it sits around too long. Instead this juice is refreshing and feels good.
Cabbage juice has a lot of Vitamin C, E, K, folate and potassium. It also has high sulhpur and chlorine content and a lot of iodine. This combination helps to clean the stomach and the intestinal tract (only when it is raw and without salt). It is advisable to start with smaller amounts of cabbage juice and watch how you body reacts because it is such a powerful cleanser. Gas may form in intestines because the cleansing properties of the juice are acting on and dissolving waste/toxic matter. Cabbage juice has been know to relief ulcers and constipation and clear up skin. Research suggest s that the active ingredient in cabbage juice that clear up ulcers is Vitamin U. It is also thought to help: bladder, colitis, kidney disorders, thyroid, blood pressure, bronchitis, asthma, hair loss.
Just give this cucumber cabbage juice a try with small small doses of cabbage. Try increasing the amount of apples to help you adjust to the taste of the cabbages. If you like this recipe, try my other juice recipes: cucumber parsley juice, watermelon lime juice with mint, carrot apple beet ginger juice, and everything green juice.
Recipe for cucumber cabbage juice
Equipment: good juicer
Yield: 1 pint, 16 0z
Ingredients:
1 large cucumber peeled if not organic or if it is waxed
1/4 lemon, peeled but with pith
1 small apple (organic)
1/3-1/2 small green cabbage
Steps:
wash everything thoroughly and peel those that need peeling
My cucumber juice recipe with parsley, apple and lemon is so refreshing on a hot summer day. It’s perfect for incorporating into your weekly routine, and additionally great for detoxing. I know it doesn’t sound very tropical but both cucumbers and parsley grow year round here in Hawai‘i. Right now I’m on a brief juice/spring water/tea fast. I also have abundant amounts of cucumber and parsley so I decided to this juice combination a try. Below I have listed more information about the beneficial health effects of this cucumber parsley juice recipe.
Benefits of cucumber juice
The cucumber juice will re-hydrate you and is a wonderful natural diuretic. Hair and nail growth is also promoted because cucumber has a lot of silicon and sulphur and other trace elements. Cucumber juice also has a lot of potassium which helps maintain healthy skin and flexibility in the muscles. Additionally, it can promote weight loss, help with acne, arthritis, eczema, fever, kidney disorders, etc. Also, cucumber is a good source of folate, Vitamin C and K.
Benefits of parsley juice
Parsley is an herb and the juice is highly concentrated. It should not be taken in doses more than 1-2 ounces. It contains a lot of chlorophyll, (esp Vitamins A and C), calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and sulfur. Moreover, the juice of parsley is very cleansing, and it has been known to help adrenal and thyroid function, blood vessel health, the kidneys, bladder, the liver, and the eyes. Parsely helps with the female endocrine system and can help relieve cramps. It also helps with weight loss (like many juices).
It’s mountain apple season – at least for our few trees here on the farm. This pink mountain apple cocktail is a great way to celebrate.
In May or June right by the house it’s hard to ignore the mountain apples when they start dropping fruit all over the driveway. The season doesn’t last long here (maybe 3 weeks or less). Adam and I try to pick at least one big batch and juice them. Whole mountain apples don’t have a very long shelf life (2-3 days or less). Similarly, the juice doesn’t last long before it starts to turn sour. So, mountain apple binge!
This year Adam got inspired by a recent get together where our friend served Koloa Rum with fresh cane sugar juice! Omg so good. He called me on my way home from work begging me to get Koloa dark rum and limes.
This Pink Mountain Apple Rum Cocktail is so perfect on its own. It also goes great as a mojito by muddling fresh mint and adding some soda water. Definitely my favorite way to consume Mountain Apples to date. Oh the juice by itself is good too.
Mountain apple cocktail recipe with lime and dark rum
Equipment: Juicer for mountain apples
Yield: 1 cocktail (portions are approximate)
Ingredients:
6 oz Fresh mountain apple juice
1/2 oz lime juice (~1/4 lime squeezed)
1.5 oz Koloa Dark Rum
Steps:
Pour juice over ice and stir
Slowly pour rum allowing it to float on top
Garnish with mountain apple slices and a lime wedge
Yum. This healthy chocolate banana blueberry smoothie recipe is kinda like dessert in a glass, but it has amazing SUPERFOODS in it so you can’t really feel like you’re making a bad choice here. All of the ingredients here would be best organic : ) Play around making some substitutions if you don’t have all the ingredients.
Recipe for healthy chocolate banana blueberry smoothie
Yield: About 4 cups
Ingredients:
4 medium frozen or fresh bananas
1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries (frozen is better because you can add less ice)
2 heaping tablespoons coconut butter
¼ cup or less flax seed
¼ cup or less raw cacao powder
1 cup filtered water
6-10 ice cubes
Blend on high in good blender, the finer the better (especially for the flax). Don’t let the smoothie warm up in the blender, blend in increments and add a few ice cubes at a time. Share and enjoy!
If you like this smoothie recipe check out my other smoothies:
This chaga coffee recipe results in a creamy, slightly sweet morning treat. It is absolutely the best, creamiest, super-beverage coffee that I have ever come across. The use of the medicinal mushroom chaga is comparable to use of reishi mushrooms by the coffee company Organo Gold.
It is an amazing way to sneak the superfood powers of mushrooms into your daily life. No need to drink mushroom tea! The flavor of coffee completely masks the earthy mushroom flavor. The coconut butter makes the coffee velvety and creamy and the maple sweetens it just enough. This is a great way to start you’re day off with healthy fats, immune boosting properties and minerals from the maple syrup. Read more about chaga at the end of this article. Lately, we’ve been drinking our coffee black, without the coconut butter and maple syrup, this is fine and there is no weird taste from the chaga.
Equipment: French Press, cheese grater
Servings: 2
Ingredients:
high quality whole bean organic coffee
organic coconut butter (not oil)
pure organic maple syrup
wild harvested whole chaga
Steps:
Use a cheese grater to add up to 1 tablespoon of powdered chaga
Boil water first (212 F) and then reduce to simmer and add chaga and leave until water is brown. Traditional knowledge describes that chaga is best decocted in temperatures between 150F and 180F, although many people give it a boil for up to 30 minutes (including us because a slow extraction is more time consuming and because we like hot coffee, we believe that many benefits are retained).
Add to 4 tablespoons ground coffee in french press, steep for 5 minutes, and press the top down to strain.
In coffee cups add 1 heaping tablespoon coconut butter and 1 tablespoon maple syrup.
Pour less than ¼ cup hot coffee in cups and cream the coconut butter until smooth.
Add rest of coffee and enjoy!!!
Chaga
(Inonotus Obliquus) is a mushroom that grows exclusively on birch trees. It feeds off of a non-toxic parasite in infected trees in cold areas like the northern parts of US, Canada, Europe, Russia, and Korea. It has been used traditionally though out history as food and as medicine.
We use chaga primarily to boost our immune system, but it has several other health benefits due to it’s antioxidant properties (named in parentheses). It’s antioxidant properties are partially due to melanin, a natural black pigment which has many polyphenols. Chaga also protects against oxidation and free radicals (super oxide dismutase enzymes).
Chaga has the highest ORAC score of any superfood. Beyond helping with the immune system (Beta-D-Glucans), it helps to maintain healthy blood vessels, can help with ulcers and gastritis, can normalize blood pressure and cholesterol levels (betulinic acid), can help fight cancer (phytosterols), can aid in pain. It also reduces blood sugar in people who suffer abnormal blood sugar peaks. It is known for reductions in fatigue and inflammation, as well as increased mental sharpness. Traditionally, Siberians used it in their stews, soups, and teas. They extracted it with hot water. It is also important not to boil the chaga past 180 degrees, which would destroy the proteins, sterols, and enzymes.
Chaga is available whole, in chunks and in powder. Like many ingredients, the more whole the product when you receive it, the fresher, and more health benefits it will impart. I buy my chaga on Etsy. Here is a link one seller that I’ve bought from.
Contraindications:
high in oxalates, which in large doses can prevent the absorption of nutrients and may be toxic in high doses
This chocolate flax smoothie recipe is wonderful when you are craving something sweet. Good for an afternoon snack or even dessert, this recipe is so simple and flexible. You can add more super foods if you want like chia seeds, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, gogi berries, maca powder etc.
This recipe highlights flax seed. Flax seed not only has high fiber content, but it also has high omega-3 fatty acid content. It contains lignans, which have antioxidant properties, and their mucilage content (it’s gummy when ground and mixed with liquid) helps them remain in the stomach longer to absorb nutrients. Flax may also help regulate the female menstrual cycle and hormones (1). Flax is best consumed when it is ground fresh. Whole flax seeds are hard to chew and may pass through the digestive system completely. Raw cocoa powder also has many antioxidants and natural caffeine, so you can feel good about this smoothie, for breakfast, lunch or a quick snack.
Especially for blending small seeds like flax, chia etc., I highly recommend using a blender with a high horsepower. We use the Blendtech brand, which is similar to Vitamix but more afforable. There are several models. I would guess they are all similar in quality but differ in the amount of presets and speeds they have. Another note… these blenders last forever! My husband has had one for 15 years and ours is going on year #7 with no fails.
2 tablespoons whole flax seed (to make the smoothie less thick, reduce this amount)
2 tablespoons raw unsweetened chocolate powder
6 ice cubes
1/2 cup water, almond milk, coconut milk or other substitute ( you can also use coconut butter and water)
Optional sweetener like honey, maple syrup or stevia to taste
Steps:
Blend everything together on high in intervals of 30 seconds until smooth.
Add sweetener if desired.
Chill if not cool enough.
(1) Phipps, W. R., Martini, M. C., Lampe, J. W., Slavin, J. L., & Kurzer, M. S. (1993). Effect of flax seed ingestion on the menstrual cycle. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 77(5), 1215-1219. doi: 10.1210/jcem.77.5.8077314
If you are looking for other great smoothie recipes try:
Fresh coconut water with lime — Yum! The hardest part about this recipe is opening the coconut. Here are 4 easy ways and tips on how to open a green coconut for coconut water.
4 ways to open a green coconut
1. Use a coconut opener
If the coconut is young enough you can use a coconut opener tool to open green coconuts. There are a few different types. The best types I’ve found is the kind featured in this picture which I found on Amazon. There’s several similar with ranges in prices. If the coconut is young enough one about this price range should be able to do the trick.
There are other tools on the market, like the “tap punch” kind that go for half the price but they are basically useless. This also another mallet type of coconut opener tool, with a trademark version called the Coco Jack on the market that I have not tried, but is gaining popularity and getting good reviews. This one has a price of $20 – 35.
Using a stainless steel opener:
Use the pointed edge to remove the remaining part of the coconut flower from the “tree” side of the coconut (the side that was connected to the tree). This is the side that has 3 pores (little holes like a bowling ball). Then drive the opener into the middle, where you will hit one of those pores.
Treat it like a screwdriver, or a drill and scrape the sides until the hole is large enough for the water to flow freely. Then invert over a pot or bowl. If you are finding it hard to get to the water with this tool, or it is sort of stuck, you can turn the coconut over and bang it on a hard surface (floor, cutting board) etc. If it still won’t open, you may have to use a sharp knife or machete to cut the opposite side as described in #3.
2. Crack the coconut on a hard surface
To crack open green coconuts without a tool you need a hard surface, concrete ideally, or a large flat rock. It’s important to be safe when doing this. Throw with a lot of force and lift your hands away as it hits the ground. Try hitting on several sides. You will lose some of the coconut water, but it’s still worth if you have no other tools.
3. Cut the “lobe” end with a machete.
This is the side that is closest to the seed inside. Carefully, with a sharp and strong knife or machete, make firm cuts at each lobe. This will take several cuts but the results are rewarding.
4. Use a pick axe
A pick axe can be used to remove the exocarp, the coconut coir from the seed. Firmly, place the flat edge of the pick axe in the ground. Then use the sharp side to tear off the exocarp. This will take a little more time but the nut will be easier to use for
meat. After the husk/coir is removed, punch a coconut opener or tool into one of the pores to get the water. To open
completely, crack on hard surface.
Since living in Spain, I have a tendency to enjoy my wine with fruit and my fruit with wine. This simple, delicious, refreshing beverage can be made with so many types of fruit. Sangria with tropical fruit is the best. For example you can add zingy citrus fruits and pineapple. Get more creative by adding things like surinam cherries, abui, lychees, longan, starfruit. The list is endless. You can turn a regular old sangria into a fruit and wine tasting treat!
Recipe for Sangria with tropical fruit
Ingredients:
1-2 bottles red wine (Traditionally, this is done with inexpensive wines. However, I always recommend using wine made from organic grapes with out added sulfites.)
a few shots of other fruit liquors or brandy to fortify the flavor a little
2-3 tablespoons honey (local)
Fruit
Pomelo or Jabong
Oranges
Tangerines
Kumquats
Lemons
Calamansi
Pineapple
Passionfruit
Rambutan
Longan
Surinam cherries
Lychee
Starfruit
* the ratio of ingredients you choose will be learned as you make it more and more. Just strive for a good balance and adjust it to your personal tastes of sweet bitter and smooth.
Steps:
Cut fruit
Add wine
Add honey stir and let sit in the fridge until you can’t wait any longer.
