The Great Green Smoothie Summer Salvation

This is not a perfume post. I’m too hot and cranky to think about perfume. (Please understand: I still wear it, I’m just not capable of thinking about it.) Fortunately, there are things I can do to change my cranky mood—and my favorite solution involves food. You see, one of the ways I make a living is as a holistic health counselor. In other words, I help people figure out what to eat to feel their best. But in this heat, it’s more a case of “Health counselor, heal thyself.” And I do so with a green smoothie.

What’s a green smoothie? To me, it’s any combination of greens (kale, spinach, chard, parsley, whatever), fruit, and water. You can also add tasty extras, like nuts, seeds, cocoa powder, oils, flax seeds, herbs, spices, or anything else that strikes your fancy. Ice is good, too! This time of year, my favorite thing about green smoothies is that they’re very cooling. In fact, I can’t drink them in winter: I get too cold. But in summer they’re perfect, and my favorite one is chock full of refreshing tropical-fruity goodness.

So here’s what you need to make it:

• A super-duper blender (I use a Vitamix)
• Water—roughly 3 cups
• Kale, washed. You don’t need to strip the leaves off the stalk. Around here, at this time of year, the bunches of kale are HUGE, so you can use just half a bunch for this smoothie. Add more if you want to!
• Pineapple—I had a bag of frozen pineapple in the freezer; I defrosted it in the microwave and it worked perfectly
• Bananas—number of bananas to your taste, but I’d start with at least 2 (because this is about YUMMY). The riper, the better. Add more if you want
• Coconut oil (raw, organic): I put in about 1.5 teaspoons but you could certainly add more, if you’re so inclined. Why coconut oil? Here’s a bit of what is being attributed to (raw organic) coconut oil these days: it increases your immunity, it helps regulate digestion, it’s great for skin and hair, it’s even useful for maintaining good cholesterol levels. Have I done studies to prove these claims? Absolutely not! But it tastes fantastic, and if it does even one of the things the world now claims it does, I’m happy
• Shredded coconut: as much as you like

Basically, now you add everything into your blender and, well, blend. I don’t put everything in at once: I add a handful or so, blend, add more. I add the water slowly, a half-cup to a cup at a time. My goal is to add only as much water as needed to get a consistency I like. Sometimes I like my green smoothie very thick and chewy; sometimes—especially in the heat—I want it thinner, so I add more water. This smoothie should stay good, refrigerated, for about two days. (Then make more!)

When it’s done, the green smoothie is sweet, refreshing, and cooling. On a sweltering day, when you’re cranky like me, it can be downright transformative. And, by the way, it smells fantastic: the greens, once blended, have a light, vibrant freshness to them; the pineapple is powerfully mood elevating; and the coconut reminds me that, hey, summer is fun. With one of these smoothies in hand, I couldn’t agree more.

And what perfume do I wear while making this? It depends. Earlier in the week, I wore FM Le Parfum de Therese as I washed my greens and cranked up the Vitamix. I don’t generally enjoy melon notes in perfume, but this baby—which wears on me like Chanel Cristalle’s (EDT) younger sister with her face buried in a wedge of cantaloupe—is done right (although I know Patty might not agree!). And the melon complements the tropical-fruitiness of the green smoothie wonderfully. Today, I decided to bump up the coconut factor by wearing Love Coco, Olivia Giacobetti’s all-natural creation for the Honore des Pres line. Its raw-green-coconut glory, which never veers into suntan-lotion territory, is the perfect partner for this particular smoothie.

Are you a green smoothie fan? If not, what do you eat or drink to survive a heat wave? Do you ever pair your fragrance with your beverage, or with a concoction you’re cooking? Do tell!

Image credit: Cafepress.co.uk