Images and recipes from Get Lean Stay Lean by Joanna McMillan (Murdoch Books RRP $35)

My go-to green smoothie

“This is the smoothie I make most often. It’s all plant food and so has a seriously low number
of kilojoules, yet delivers some serious nutrition. It has B group vitamins for energy, folate
for cell protection, vitamin C for immune function and healthy skin, antioxidants galore
for anti-ageing and it even has almost 2 mg of iron. All up it’s a fantastic addition to your
daily Get Lean, Stay Lean menu plan.” p.224

Serves 1  Time 5 minutes  DF GF NF V Ve

 

1/2 celery stalk

1/2 Lebanese (short) cucumber

20 g (3/4 oz) baby English spinach leaves

1 thin slice of lemon

6 mint leaves

Small handful flat-leaf (Italian) parley leaves

80 g (23/4 oz/1/2 cup) fresh or frozen pineapple pieces (see note)

+

A few ice cubes

 

 

Put all the ingredients into a Vitamix or high-speed blender with 250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) of water and the ice on top. Blitz for about a minute or until completely smooth.

 

 

Note You might not think of a pineapple automatically when we list superfoods, but there’s more to this tropical fruit than you might realise.
A cup of pineapple chunks provides you with over 60 per cent of your RDI for vitamin C. Since we know vitamin C aids in the absorption of plant iron, adding some pineapple to smoothies like I have done here, or to a legume or quinoa salad will boost your uptake of iron from these foods.

I always chop up my pineapple soon after purchase so they are ready to eat immediately. I keep one tub in the fridge for using fresh over the next few days and pop the rest, ready in ice cube-sized chunks, into zip-lock bags in my freezer. These are ideal for then using in your smoothie and frozen dessert recipes.