Dandy Lion: A Green Vegetable Smoothie 🦁
Tara Carpenter, NC.
Nutritional support worldwide for digestive wellness; especially yeast overgrowth and Body Ecology Diet (B.E.D.).
Originally published on April 4, 2018.
My husband nicknamed this smoothie Dandy Lion and I think appropriate given the French origin of the word dandelion is “dents-de-lion” meaning “tooth of lion”, likely due to how the leaves of this plant are sharply indented. Regardless, this fierce smoothie is packed with nutrient-dense dandelion greens and a texture smooth.
This recipe is perfect for anyone healing a digestive issue or on Body Ecology Diet (B.E.D.). Vegetable-blended smoothies are an easy way to get your daily fix and very easy to digest, which is key when healing a digestion. Whether or not you follow a gut healing protocol like B.E.D., give this smoothie a spin in the blender 🙂
The resilience of a dandelion whose bright yellow head pushes through the most neglected of soil, even concrete, year after year as a symbol of strength, determination in adversity.
Where my home resides is an Earthship greenhouse designed and constructed under the watchful eye of my husband. Now, the building stands finished and inside we are rewarded with large windows to bring in the natural sunlight to kick-start any vegetable – or in this case weed – even when the temperatures outside are still too cold to grow near anything.
As I walked through picking leafy greens for our morning smoothie, I spotted a patch of dandelion greens and thought why not add a handful! I often add in watercress, parsely, lettuce and so I thought worth a try.
Snow may still be on the ground here in Vermont, yet the season of Spring is upon us in the warm wind blowing as the sun sinks deeper in and birds sing and upbeat song on my long walks in the woods. Certainly, the bears are waking up. So, here we are in April and I figure as good a time as any to create a delicious spring beverage for us all to enjoy 💗
Baby ducks also grow in the greenhouse 🙂
Dandy Lion: A Green Smoothie
Serves: 4
Yields: 5 cups
Ingredients
1/4 cup chia seeds
3 cups water
1 large handful of lettuce leaves
4 dandelion leaves (add more for a stronger kick)
1/2 cup cranberries
1 large granny smith apple, quartered (not cored)
1/2-inch ginger root, unpeeled
1/2 tsp green stevia powder
1 pinch sea salt
Method
- Blend the water and chia seeds in high-speed blender; like Vita-Mix.
- Let mixture sit while you wash and chop the other ingredients.
- Add the other ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy.
- Taste and add more of anything your taste-buds desire 🙂
- Store in the fridge in a sealed glass jar for up to 3 days.
Tips & Tricks
- Boost the life activity with the contents of a couple probiotic capsules to replenish beneficial gut flora for strong immunity and digestion. Unsweetened probiotic-rich liquids like coconut kefir or InnergyBiotic make good health-promoting additions too.
- Thicken with young coconut pudding – green smoothie in a bowl!
- Add collagen peptides or sunflower seeds (soak first) to up protein.
- Sour green apples give a touch of sweet expansiveness to this alkaline, vegetable smoothie. Ideally, fruit is best eaten alone on an empty stomach for optimal food combining, but seems to work fine combined with raw leafy greens. If apple is too sweet for you (i.e. causes yeast flare) leave out and add more stevia.
- Replace ginger with a thick slice of turmeric root.
- If you store this smoothie longer than a day or two then add a couple teaspoons of cold-pressed flax oil as the fat helps preserve the nutrients within the smoothie.
- I especially love Donna Gates’ (founder of B.E.D.) recipe for a Market Green Smoothie found here.
- Folk medicine claims the dandelion plant a powerful healer to purify blood, clear skin, prevent herpes, lower blood sugar, calm digestion, prevent gallstones, among other maladies. Dandelion greens provide 535% of the recommended daily value of vitamin K; reputed to be an important source of plant-based food to strengthen bones and keep Alzheimer’s at bay (limits neuron damage in brain).
*I like to add a pinch of sea salt to my smoothie to boost the flavor of fruit and vegetables, stimulate lymphatic system, replenish electrolytes, and aid digestion. I do not recommend common table salt which is often heated to extreme temperatures, iodized, bleached, processed, and refined.
Chia seeds are hydrating and a great protein to get the day going.
Chia seeds grace us in most of my smoothie recipes as they contain 5x’s more calcium than milk, 7x’s more vitamin C than oranges, 3x’s more iron than spinach, 2x’s more potassium than banana, and a perfect food for healthy skin, nails, and hair along with your brain and heart! Packed with omega-3 fatty acid chia seeds to maintain healthy bones/teeth and heart.
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Cranberry Smoothie for Healthy Digestion
Young Green Coconut Kefir🙊
Therapeutic Nutritional Support with Tara Carpenter, NC.
References
https://foodfacts.mercola.com/dandelion-greens.html
https://healthyblenderrecipes.com/recipes/raw_vegan_body_ecology_cranberry_smoothie
May all bellies be happy!
