Pitaynettle Smoothie
Ohhhhhemmmmmgeeeee, this smoothie!
Isn't it gorgeous?! I'm seriously getting ready to paint a bathroom this pretty pitaya (dragon fruit) pink!
The first time I made this I whipped it up on a whim (which, if I'm honest, is how so many of my smoothie recipes come to be), but this one was truly a gift from the springtime fairies. I wanted something easy, quick, really delish, and absolutely supportive to my body during this season of extra pollen and the breezes carrying it into my house.
Seriously. There's yellow dust everywhere. We dust/vacuum daily and it's still all over the place; just the plight of spring for a little while when the flowers begin to pop. But we're all good and happy for the birds and bees to have their heyday because of herbal and whole food goodness like this smoothie!
My Pitaynettle Smoothie ticks all the boxes for flavor and health!
If you've hung out with me online at all you know that I loooove smoothies and that I don't take the typical approach to just blending some fruit or greens all willynilly.
I prefer to make my smoothies truly nutritious and supportive to overall health.
This is what I teach every year at my annual Summer Solstice Smoothie Soirée -- a 5 day long live virtual event where we gather together to make smoothies in our own homes under my guidance. It's SO fun!! I look forward to it allll year long and get such incredible feedback about how fun, easy, inspiring, informative and yummy the whole week is.
It's a GREAT way to kick off summer!
When you join me for the Soirée you also get a suuuuuper rich smoothie making recipe book in which I list out all the incredible health properties of every single ingredient used in each smoothie and how, when, why to utilize them dietarily to improve, enhance and enjoy your health more vibrantly.
Last year's edition was 68 pages long. For 5 smoothies! Because I pack A LOT of nutritional goodness into each smoothie! (You can easily skip the nutritional guide and go right to the smoothies section where you'll find beautiful full page, full color photos with each detailed recipe, but you'll be so happy to have allllll that nutritional info at your fingertips moving forward whenever you get creative with your own awesome recipes.)
The Summer Solstice Smoothie Soirée is really a blast!
Registration for 2021 (June 21-25) will open by next weekend! Be sure you're signed up for emails in order to hold your spot.
In the meantime, support (and pamper!) yourself with this incredibly tasty springtime smoothie. You'll looooove it!
Pitaynettle Smoothie
by Maggie Verderame
WHAT'S IN THIS SMOOTHIE & WHY?
Nettle (aka, Stinging Nettle) is kind of a superfood herb that is laden with minerals/important micronutrients traditionally used to ward off environmental allergies so the base of this smoothie is brewed nettle tea. Nettle is a readily available dried herb and my favorite sources to order from are Mountain Rose Herbs, Frontier Herbs and Starwest Botanicals.
Pineapple is an incredibly supportive fruit to eat during springtime/allergy time because it's a bromeliad plant and bromeliads support lung health something fierce! They help enhance and maintain general lung health, strength and function as well as helping to clear congestion from bronchial passageways.
Pitaya (aka, Dragon Fruit) is a superfood fruit that's as incredibly immune supportive as it is a gorgeous shade of pink. Full of good red fruit/vegetable stuff like antioxidants that keep the body's cells functioning at peak performance, fighting off oxidation that leads to the development of chronic and/or deadly illnesses.
Organic Amla Powder (Indian Gooseberry) is available for purchase as most well stocked natural foods stores (like Whole Foods) as well as on Amazon. Amla is a rich source of vitamin C -- in fact it's one of the highest sources of vitamin C you can get!
Good collagen is a a great smoothie add-in because it makes you generally stronger and more resilient. Collagen supports your overall health, joint and bone function, digestive assimilation, and cell regeneration. It's a building block of being human! Use hydrolyzed collagen with peptides to be able to digest, absorb and dispurse it well.
Raw, local honey has been proven to be one of the safest and most effective ways to build up tolerance to local environmental allergies. If you're getting your honey from a trusted, small, local purveyor you can inquire about their practices and make sure they're not doing anything environmentally unsound or destructive to the bees. Most small beekeepers want to support the local bee population and make sure the bees continue to have a good honey supply while collecting honey. They also try to be good stewards of the earth so they tend not to smoke out the bees or kill any of them during the collection process. There is no other source quite like honey (or other bee products like propolis and bee pollen) when it comes to increasing one's tolerance for local seasonal allergens, so even if you're vegan it's worth researching your local sources and finding one you can philosophically align with in order to benefit from this amazingly rich source of immune system support, vitamin C, and all the other incredible micronutrients honey provides at this sensitive time of year!
On top of being loaded with vitamin C, lemon is extremely cleansing, astringent, antiviral, antimicrobial, and balancing to the whole body.
TO MAKE THIS TASTY TREAT:
1 Cup Brewed Nettle Tea
1 Frozen Pitaya (dragon fruit) Pouch (3-4oz)
1 Heaping Cup Frozen Pineapple
Raw Local Honey to taste
1 tsp Amla Powder (Indian Gooseberry)
1 Serving Collagen
Juice of Half a Lemon
Steep 1 tsp dried nettle in boiling water for 30 minutes to make a potent tea. You can make this ahead of time and refrigerate so it's chilly for the smoothie.
Place all ingredients into a blender in the order they’re listed. Whizz up on high speed until fully smooth and frothy.
Enjoy at once.
NamastYAY!
Maggie
