Last week I talked about green smoothies in general. But this week let's discuss kale smoothies specifically.
First of all, why put kale in a smoothie in the first place? Because kale is A) ridiculously nutritious and B) very bad to eat. Now a lot of people will advise you to route around these two issues by making kale chips. More power to them. I tried kale chips and I thought they were a lot of baking time, and not very good.
Here is what I have learned from two weeks of kale smoothies:
1. Always rinse
Ruffled forms of kale are particularly likely to be harboring little bits of grit in the leaves. Plus, rinsing the leaves first adds some moisture (in the form of leftover water) to your smoothie.
2. Tear it up
The smaller you tear up the kale, the easier and faster your blender will blend them. I don't have one of those fancy $500 smoothie blenders, I just have a regular old $30 model from Target. Without some help, that thing is powerless against kale. Speaking of which…
3. Pack it in there
The leaves tend to magically hover right above the blender blade. Resist the urge to poke them down with a spoon. It will not end well. Instead, pack the leaves down against the blade, pulse, and repeat as needed. Usually after 2-3 rounds, the leaves will catch and start blending.
4. Take it easy
Go slow, especially at first. Start with just 1-2 kale leaves. Even just half a leaf, if you have a particularly large bunch of kale. For my first kale smoothie I crammed in 4-5 leaves, and I regretted it later, if you know what I mean, and I think you do.
5. Take it easy, part 2
To start with, just do 1-2 kale smoothies a week. Don't start off having one every day. Your system probably isn't ready for it. (See above.)
Image courtesy Flickr/ancient history
0 comments