Green Smoothies

While recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking might not be the healthiest things to eat on a consistent basis, here's a healthy way to balance it all out.

Green Smoothies. It's the newest thing on the food scene. Just google it and you'll see what I mean.

They say we're supposed to be eating a lot more fresh fruits and veggies these days. We used to have to eat five servings per day, but that's been bumped up to seven-to-nine now. Our modern, mass-produced, hormone-inflated, genetically modified produce basically has the nutritional value of sawdust compared to fifty years ago.

So, green smoothies are a great way to get your green veggies and fruit into you. Trust me. They're great.

Start with some tart, fleshy fruit. I keep frozen mango on hand, but pineapple, oranges, peaches, bananas or a combination of them all will also do.

I don't like apples or pears in smoothies for they seem to produce mealy, pulpy smoothies.

Now add your greens. Here, we've got fresh spinach, collard greens and parsley.

I know that sounds strange, but trust me, the tart fleshy fruit takes away any "greenness" of the raw greens, even the bitter ones. No matter what greens I use, I always add fresh parsley, stems and all. They really make for a tasty smoothie. Believe it or not, cilantro & grapefruit is also one of my favorites.

I also add a knob of ginger and some lemon juice to give it a "ping".

Add some water (or fruit juice) and blend it up.

If you're blender isn't a heavy-duty, powerful monster like mine, be sure to blend it a good long time. The longer you blend it, the smoother it will be.

There you go. You'll be surprised how good it tastes.

Drink two of these a day and you'll be way ahead of the fruit and vegetable requirement. Not to mention that you'll feel a lot better and it'll curb your appetite throughout the day.

And when it comes time for Boeuf Bourguignon, you can enjoy it guilt free.