A green and healthy homage to that fruity, sweet American confection, the Orange Julius. Kale, matcha green tea powder, optional hormone-balancing and immune-boosting maca powder, and a few other good-for-you foods are blended with the usual vanilla and orange. A 21st century interpretation of a 1920s drink easily made in your blender for a nutritious breakfast, snack or post-workout drink.
I remember as a teenager being very fond of Orange Julius. For those of you unfamiliar with this brand, the main product used to be a rather iconic milky orange drink called, wait for it, the Orange Julius. No trip to the mall was complete without a brimming cup of it – as well as a fat, soft pretzel for good measure. I was quite skinny so managed to get away with it! Back in the olden days (in the 1970s and 80s) I think it was just orange but, looking on their website, they have all kinds of new-fangled fruity flavours. But like all favourite things in youth there’s a sting in the tail. Or rather, a helluva lot of sugary calories. And egg white powder. Ugh.
The egg white in the original is to make the shake very frothy, but I use my Froothie (see what I did there?) to do the same thing and make it healthier and bang up to date with our new found love for all things brassica. If you don’t have an Optimum 9400 Froothie power blender, you can still get a good result, but just make sure everything is well-chopped first. It might not get quite as fluffy and aerated as mine, but it will taste great and fill you up nicely. If you fancy making this start with the amount of sweetness and vanilla I suggest, but you may wish to add more of both to suit your own unique and lovely tastebuds. I’m a bit of a sourpuss though.
I know smoothies are a kind of summery thing but as really good citrus is going to be coming in soon, this may just suit.
Enjoy any warm lingering sunshine with a frosty, frothy Mega-Green Julius. Sorry, but no soft pretzel for us today. xx
Mega-Green Julius Smoothie
A green and healthy homage to that fruity, sweet American confection, the Orange Julius. Kale, matcha green tea powder, optional hormone-balancing and immune-boosting maca powder, and a few other good-for-you foods are blended with the usual vanilla and orange. A 21st century interpretation of a 1920s drink easily made in your blender for a nutritious breakfast, snack or post-workout drink.
PS Maca may help with some of the the symptoms of perimenopause. It has also been used for centuries in what we now call South America for enhancing virility and fertility. You have been warned! See below the recipe for more about maca.
3 oranges or 4 clementines/tangerines, peeled
1/2 medium-sized ripe avocado (1/3 of larger ones) – frozen or not
1 cup kefir or milk/yogurt of choice – yogurt/kefir make the drink thicker
4 pitted Medjool or Deglet nour dates or 1 & 1/2 tbsp date or maple syrup – or to taste
2 tbsp maca powder – available at most health food stores
3/4 tsp matcha powder (ground Japanese green tea) – also available at most health food stores or online
40g chopped frozen kale
4 ice cubes if not using frozen kale or avocado
1 tsp pure vanilla extract OR seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod
Optional garnishes: orange slice and bee pollen (up to 1/2 tsp per serving)
Method:
Place the ingredients in your blender as recommended by your blender manufacturer and blend until smooth and lusciously creamy.
Maca Nutrition Facts:
- Over 20 amino acids, including 8 essential amino acids
- 20 free-form fatty acids (such as lauric, linolenic, palmitic acid, oleic , and steric acid) – these are good guys – fabulous for brain and heart health
- Vitamins B-1, B-2, C and E
- Calcium
- Magnesium
- Potassium
- Copper
- Zinc
- Manganese
- Phosphorus
- Selenium
- Sulphur
- Sodium
- Iron
Maca Potential Benefits and Actions:
- symptomatic relief for PMS, peri-menopause, PCOS
- female hormones, sexual health, fertility, libido (possibly due to effects on the hormone, serotonin)
- male testosterone levels and fertility (improving sperm quality and mobiity)
- mood, energy and memory
Contraindications:
- high blood pressure
- being treated for hormone related cancers – breast, endometrial, uterine, prostate as it may interfere with treatment effectiveness
- other serious illnesses, or pregnancy – check with your doctor
above adapted from draxe.com
Keep In Touch!
You can also find me on:
Instagram – behind the scenes with my recipe development (triumphs and tragedies!) and mini, Instagram-only recipes;
Twitter – tweeting on health, nutrition and global news, as well as sharing other bloggers’ content;
Facebook – posting on the latest nutrition and food stories, as well as sharing recipe links;
Pinterest – loads of boards on food, travel, food writing, blogging, health and novel ingredients;
Huffington Post – writing bespoke recipes and opinion pieces on my own Huff Post blog (sadly neglected of late, but I will post something soon)
Disclosure: I am an ambassador for Australian health product brand Froothie, and some links in this article are affiliate links. However, as always, all product reviews and mentions are based on my honest opinion. If you’d like to know more about Froothie health products, or this machine in particular, please visit the Froothie website for more details. Right now there is a 15% off sale on the machine I use. It also comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, including return postage. If you decide to buy any product, I would love it if you clicked on one of the Froothie links to the right to place your order through the Froothie site. Thanks!
Check out my other Froothie recipes – for juicer and blender – by popping “froothie recipes” in the search bar to the right.
