The Juice + Smoothie Rainbow

by Melissa Walker Horn | Jan 9, 2014 | Food + Drink, Smoothies + Juices

Welcome folks to a juice and smoothie extravaganza. Hubby and I have been juicing and blending all year long and have developed a number of recipes that we love and wanted to share. Given the huge amount of beautiful fruit and vegetables available I’d do a rainbow juice and smoothie post to show off something for everyone!

Fun right!?

Fun indeed. I had a lot of the basic ingredients and picked up a few extras on my way home. Now obviously depending on your fruit and vegetable requirements and budget, you’re probably not going to have them all on hand at once. Choose a favourite and start there. I’ve added some tips below each {some will keep, some won’t, blend times etc} to keep you going. But when in doubt add a little more water to thin it out or blend longer to get that smooth delicious texture.

To create this impressive rainbow of fruit and vegetable goodness I turned to my Thermomix. There are plenty of great blenders and juicing systems other there that will work for this too. I like to blend up my fruit and vegetables to keep all the good stuff in my glass. A pet hate of mine was how much pulp etc you had to throw away with juicers. No waste here if you blend. Win. Ready? Let’s do this thing.

RED

13 x strawberries
2 x cups spinach
1 x sprigs of mint {or to taste}
1 x sm red apple
1 x sm lemon
1 x cup water

This crisp and delicious juice is perfect morning, noon or night. It’s GREAT. I add spinach to pretty much everything, so you can reduce that if you’d like to keep a ruby-red colour to the drink. Maybe even add some watermelon instead of water. Whatever you do, this one will blend pretty quickly. Serve with strawberries and over ice. It’s the best. YUM. Serves 2.

YELLOW

1 x banana
1/2 cup oats
1 x tbsp honey
1/4 cup yoghurt
1 x cup water

Blend this baby together with some ice and serve immediately. If you’d rather not add more liquid {it may need it anyway, don’t stress} just freeze the banana and it’ll add a frosty deliciousness. The oats will thicken if being left overnight, so keep that in mind. I’ve done it, I don’t really recommend it. It’s almost impossible to drink unless you blend again with more water or milk. Whatever works for you. Serves 1.

PINK

1 cup raspberries
5 x strawberries
2 x sm red apples
1 x cup coconut milk
1/2 cup ice

This raspberry coconut smoothie was inspired by an ice cream recipe I found once. It’s delicious and to me, tastes pretty rich and decadent. The raspberries are a little like that too. So this is my treat smoothie. Something delicious and beautifully coloured. Best served cold and fairly quickly. Add more water if the texture is too thick. Or add a straw, bonus hipster points. It’s like a thick shake you can feel all virtuous about. Haha. Serves 2.

GREEN

4 x sm green apples
1 x mango
1 x lemon {don’t use rind or white}
3 x stalks kale {do not use stem}
3 x cups spinach
2 x cups water

The green machine. Yum. This is my go-to, everyday juice. Kale and Spinach are something we run through a fair bit of around here. I buy them both buy the box direct from the farmers. What can I say, we’re the mean green team. Usually, I use pineapple instead of mango. You can also reduce the number of apples by using celery. This one will keep for up to 5 days when refrigerated in a sealed container. Serves 2.

PURPLE

1 x cup blueberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup strawberries
1 x tbsp honey {or to taste}
1 x tbsp chia seeds
1/4 cup yoghurt
1 x cup water
1 x cup ice

Mmmm purple. One of the best colours and one of my favourite smoothie flavours. The sharpness of berries is balanced beautifully with the yoghurt and honey. I don’t add a lot of honey to things but sometimes with berries, you will need to balance out the tartness. If your yoghurt is vanilla or flavoured in any way, taste the smoothie before blending in the honey, you might not need it. If using chia seeds serve and drink immediately as it will thicken. If you’d like to be able to store, omit the chia seeds for the same reason. Serves 2.

ORANGE

2 x med oranges
3 x medium carrots
1 x lemon
1 x 10c coin size of ginger {or to taste}
1 x cup water

This one is often called upon in our house when we are feeling a little run down and generally ick. It’s our vitamin c kicker. Add ALL the citrus. Grapefruit will give it that sour, tarty flavour and mandarins offer a softer, lighter, sweeter flavour when they are in season. This drink is easy to drink, refreshing when it’s hot and amazing served over ice with your favourite spirit, just quietly. It’s a glass of sunshine. We like to claim you’ll never get a cold or flu again with this baby under your belt. Serves 1 generously.

BLUE

1 x cup blueberries
1 x banana
1/2 cup yoghurt
1/2 cup of water {coconut or regular milk}

The banana gives this blue {okay, more purple but blue’ish} smoothie a hearty, thickness that will keep you full all morning long. Freeze the banana and berries on those warm summer days for added yumminess. Depending on the consistency you may need more or less water in this one, so it’s worth pouring in half of the quantity mentioned and blending. Adding more if required.

So there you go folks. A rainbow of smoothies and juices to keep you going. With measurements and everything Rach. You’re welcome. Haha. For the sake of colours, I omitted the spinach and kale for all but two of the juices. If you’re making them at home, just for health and aren’t too worried about the colour, adding a cup or two of spinach to any of these will give you a great all-rounder in my books. That’s what we do here. Everything is green, a shade of green or brown usually.

This was fun! I’m going to go out of my way to make more colourful juices in the future. Now for goodness sake, go and make yourself an amazing smoothie or juice. Let me know how you go and if you have a favourite recipe or post you’d like to share, please do!

The end.