My favorite green smoothie is one I found on Kimberly Snyder’s website. It’s her official Glowing Green Smoothie. I love to make this in the Vitamix and have it in the morning, as a side of veggies with lunch or dinner, or as an afternoon pick-me-up.

The difference between making a juice and a smoothie is that with a juice, you get more of an instant energy boost and delivery of nutrients, but it’s usually higher in sugar, so go easier on the fruit. With a smoothie (only use a heavy-duty blender for this), you get all the fiber and it’s nice to sip over a longer period of time.

This one requires quite a few ingredients but when you don’t want to use all of these, just use kale as a base and add veggies or fruit (and water) from there. Some of my other favorite combos:

– kale + grapefruit + cucumber

– kale + lemon + orange

– kale + apple + orange

– kale + cucumber + orange

Ingredients for the Glowing Green Smoothie (64 ounces / 2-4 servings)

• 1 ½- 2 cups very cold, filtered water
• 6 cups spinach, chopped
• 5 cups organic romaine lettuce, chopped
• 2 stalks of organic celery
• 1 organic apple, cored and chopped
• 1 organic pear, cored and chopped
• 1 organic banana
• 1-2 Tbs. fresh organic lemon juice

Optional Ingredients

• Ice cubes (the extra coldness can help newbies with the taste)
• 1/2 cup of organic cilantro
• 1/2 cup of organic parsley

Directions: Add water, spinach and chopped romaine to the blender. Starting the blender on a low speed; mix until smooth.

Gradually move to higher speeds and add the herbs, celery, pear, and apple. Add the banana and lemon juice last.

*For 1 serving, cut out one of the fruits and the celery.

Source: http://www.kimberlysnyder.net/blog/2009/07/11/green-smoothie-recipe/