My birthday was last week and for most of my life, I would have a big fast food meal and a lot of cake. Now that I have adopted this new healthy lifestyle, I needed something to replace the chicken nuggets, fries and cake.
I walked around the Whole Foods fruit section and it appears grapes are in season. I can’t say that I was a big grape guy growing up but every now and then I would eat some grapes. So grapes it was – I created a “cake” of grapes and a satsuma orange (see right).
I really enjoyed the grapes and the time thinking about this past year. My sister sent me a card that said that I have come a long way in the past year. I think it has been the most interesting year of my life – culminating in my first ever 5k run last weekend. The good part is that now the train is moving on the express tracks so this next year should be even better and more exciting. I look forward to sharing the journey with ya’all here on LTF.
Since I enjoyed the grapes, I thought this week’s green smoothie recipe would features grapes as the main fruit. This was my first grape green smoothie – I enjoyed it although it came out a bit different than the other smoothies I’ve enjoyed. I use a Blendtec blender and even with 2 “smoothie” cycles, there were still some bits of the grapes left in the liquid. This made the smoothie a bit interesting as I am used to completely smooth smoothies but it was a nice change. This smoothie also separated quicker than the berry smoothies so I would suggest drinking it within an hour after blending.
- 18-20 grapes – whatever variety you like – I used a mix of green, red and black
- 4 ounces orange juice – fresh squeezed is best
- 6 ounces water – can use coconut water for extra nutrition
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 2 large lacinato kale stalks with the center rib removed
- Blend and enjoy!
Alternatively you could replace 10 grapes with 1 cup of strawberries. Note: the photo above was taken before the greens were added.
If you are new to green smoothies, check out my green smoothie starter guide and signup for the Smoothie a Day newsletter where I share a healthy smoothie each weekday.
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Completely unrelated, but… I have those glasses! I wish I had the beer!
LOL! It’s funny – I’ve used the glass twice now in smoothie photos and people go crazy for it. I think my sister got it for me a few years ago on a trip to the Caribbean… thanks for stopping by!
Should have gotten a vitamix!
anyway, try it with frozen grapes!! I like to use frozen grapes as one of my sweeteners in smoothies.
HAHAHAHAH LOL – good one
I love my blendtec and know there are camps on both sides separated by a huge DMZ lol. Both blenders totally rock. I will have to try your frozen grapes thing very soon – thanks for the awesome suggestion Lien.