Today my good friend Gail and I served green smoothies as part of the weekly Cook’s Corner feature at the Bayou City Farmers’ Market here in Houston.

As obsessed as I have been over green smoothies in the past months, I must admit that I was not convinced the rest of the world would love them as much as I do. And it’s true—we did get our share of funny faces today! But it was great fun, and plenty of people were thrilled to see us and excited to taste the green goodness. Many were surprised to learn about this quick and easy way to get your dark, leafy greens in nutritionally-satisfying quantities! Mixed with various fruits like banana, mango, blueberries, and strawberries (the latter two were fresh and local from the market today!), the greens are palatable and delicious—betcha can’t drink just one! Some of the flavors we featured today were blueberry, tomato & basil, strawberry-banana, and raspberry, mixed with various combinations of avocado, celery, and lemon juice, plus kale, swiss chard, basil and spearmint straight from the market. An especially delicious concoction that Gail threw together near the end of the morning tasted almost like a green lemonade!

My personal obsession with green smoothies began its slow evolution last year when I had the wonderful opportunity to work briefly for Patricia Greer, raw food queen of Houston and a mainstay at the Bayou City Farmers’ Market, to mention only two of the many contributions she is locally famous for. How much that experience opened my eyes, and how grateful I am—I had had friends who were vegan before, but the whole raw thing was completely new at the time.

More recently, I attended a talk given by Dr Gabriel Cousens in which he aired a trailer of the documentary, Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days. The implications of what I had witnessed in Pat Greer’s Kitchen began to sink in. When I couldn’t find Dr Cousens’ books at the local bookstore, I picked up The China Study instead—another jaw-dropper. Finally I was compelled to ask the obvious: “OK, what can I do to implement all of this new information into my own life?” It’s a big challenge to drop old habits and suddenly go 100% raw—was there a simple, manageable starting point that would still reap benefits?

Enter Victoria Boutenko, raw-foodist and author of Green for Life, the introduction to green smoothies. If you’re wondering, “What’s so special about green?” (as opposed to fruit-only smoothies), she is the woman to answer that for you. I did not even attempt to best her explanations at the market today—simply printed up one of her seminal articles, with her recipes, website address and all, and distributed it to those who were eager to learn more. No need to reinvent the wheel—she has done her research and articulated it wonderfully.

But the green smoothie itself is an invitation to reinvent, every time you make one. For starters, Boutenko recommends rotating your greens for the fullest nutritional benefit and gustatory delight. And of course, the accompanying fruits and vegetables are always up to you! In my own green smoothie-making experience I have developed a fairly standard base that I like to work from:

• 1/2 bunch greens (kale, romaine, swiss chard, spinach, or etc.)
• 1/2 bunch parsley or cilantro
• 2 stalks celery
• 1/2 avocado (some may prefer 1/4 avocado instead)
• 1 banana
• juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)
• basil or mint to taste (optional)
• 1 mango (optional)
• 2 cups water

This is delicious as-is or with anything else you can think to add, and will yield 4-6 cups depending on how many extras you’ve thrown in. Boutenko recommends drinking 1 quart of green smoothie per day, so one batch of this and you’re set for the day. I usually make my green smoothie in the morning: first fill a pint-sized Mason jar and save it in the fridge for an afternoon snack, then drink what’s left for breakfast.

That said, at the market today we made many different smoothies and I think only one of them really followed the recipe outlined above. But they were all refreshing and yum! Some savory, some sweet, there’s a taste for everyone if you free yourself up to play with the possibilities. An easy way to do this is to get over to the Bayou City Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings and see what the local, seasonal produce offerings are—you can’t go wrong!

Boutenko challenges her readers to try a quart-a-day for 30 days and see how different you feel! I’ll pass that challenge along to my readers as well: let elixir & tonic know what you think or what kind of results you’ve experienced by sharing your comments at the end of this article. Special thanks to Jacquie Miller, Pat Greer, Paule Johnston and Gail Blossom for inspiring and/or facilitating today’s production!