This 4th of July Drink is actually a Green Thickie. Don’t believe me?
Where do you think I hid the spinach, oats and nuts?
Can a red, white and blue smoothie still be a green smoothie?
Absolutely!
Today I also let you take a peek at the contents of my organic vegetable farm boxes that I’ve just signed up for, and just wait and see how my baby reacts to them.
** Please note that this post may contain affiliate links which means that I can receive a small payment if you make a purchase through my links.
4th July Drink: Layered Green Thickie for a special occasion
Are you bored of always having a green drink, are in the mood for something that has a bit more of a wow factor that you could serve to friends and family to impress them? Do you still want to serve up an amazingly healthy drink that still contains greens and is a complete meal replacement drink?
This 4th of July will be hard to resist but yet is still as healthy as you’ve come to expect from Green Thickies.
This smoothie is also seasonal, and is still very economical so it will save you money. However I couldn’t add it as part of my ‘Simple, Seasonal, Save’ series as it’s definitely not quite as simple as my other green thickie recipes.
The red layer is made up of raspberries or strawberries. The white layer contains the oats and almonds hidden amongst the banana. And finally the blue layer (OK more like purple) is made up of blueberries (of course) and this is also where the spinach is hiding. I included just as many greens as I normally do so you won’t miss out on any healthy ingredients by making this smoothie.
You will need to make each layer separately and store it in the freezer until you’ve blended all 3 layers so they don’t melt. It doesn’t take too long but if you don’t have a powerful blender you may struggle with this recipe. You can always add more water but it will be harder to stop the layers running into each other, but not impossible. If you eat this 4th July drink straight away you may actually need to eat it with a spoon as thick is the right word! However if you let it melt for a while it will be much easier to drink. You are also welcome to make the white layer a bit thinner. I wanted it to stay thick so it literally is porridge, which I love anyway so I don’t mind at all.
Organic Vegetable boxes
You might remember me telling you that I’ve signed up for an organic vegetable box a couple of weeks ago and I’ve since had 2 boxes delivered.
It’s been so exciting receiving these and while I grabbed my camera to take some photos of my boxes, something had caught my baby’s eye.
My baby woke up hungry from her nap and something caught her eye.
She decided that was the most perfect tomato she’d ever seen and demolished it.
Yum yum yum, all gone. That was the nicest tomato she’d ever tasted!
I’ve really enjoyed receiving these boxes as it’s a total surprise what I’m going to get each week. On the whole it’s been extremely positive. Here are my pros and cons so far:
Pros
- I love the fact I’m eating locally and seasonally
- I get to support a local business
- I don’t give so much power to large supermarkets
- My food hasn’t travelled very far which is better for the environment
- Everything is organic
- I get a nice variety of veg that I might not have chosen myself
- It’s a surprise what I’m going to get each week
- It tastes amazing. I couldn’t believe how good the greens tasted compared to my usual supermarket bland salad greens.
- I get to try foods I can’t get hold of in the supermarket like chard (in the UK)
- It costs me less than buying all organic veg in the supermarket
- I get to deal with nice business owners who care about good customer service
- I feel closer to nature.
- I know what grows locally so I can more easily grow the same vegetables myself, and am now very inspired to do so.
- I am becoming better at ‘whipping’ up meals with any type of vegetables.
- I get to meet some interesting like minded people.
Cons
- I used to like planning all my meals in advance which is hard to do when you don’t know what you’re getting.
- I may start to get bored of so many carrots and onions at some point.
- I’ve been a bit squeamish washing all the bugs off the salad greens which also takes ages.
So as you can see there are definitely more pros than cons. I am still cooking with my slow cooker and find it easy just to substitute vegetables for my evening meals. The weather has been so cold and wet all year that I’ve actually gone back to making soups again which is another good way to use up leftover veg at the end of the week.
I hope you enjoy your 4th of July whatever you’re doing and thanks for reading about my 4th of July drink and a day in the life of vegetable box surprises.
4th of July Drink: Red, White and blue, and still Green? (Green Smoothie/Green Thickie)
Ingredients
For the White Layer
- • 1 Cup Oats I used Oatmeal soaked in the milk for 30 minutes. It turned into a porridge consistency.
- • 2 Tablespoons of ground almonds. I also soaked these in the milk. Any type of almonds may do if you have a powerful blender.
- • 1 Cup Non Dairy Milk oat, rice, soya, almond, hemp, coconut drink or raw nut or seed milk
- • 1 Frozen banana You could try it with a fresh banana as it would still be thick enough
For the Red Layer
- • 1/2 Cup Water
- • 2 Cups Raspberries
- • 1 Tablespoon Agave Nectar or other healthy sweetener
For the Blue Layer
- • 1/2 Cup Water
- • 1 packed cup of Spinach or other mild greens
- • 2 Cups Blueberries
- • 1 teaspoon Vanilla I used ground vanilla
Instructions
- Start by soaking the oatmeal and ground almonds in the milk while you make the other 2 layers. Take your frozen banana out of the freezer if you are using a frozen one rather than a fresh one.
- Blend all the ingredients for the red layer. This doesn’t have much water so add the water first and the raspberries a few at a time to see how much your blender can cope with. I used my vitamix and I still had to take it really slowly until it was all blended as this was very thick. Feel free to add more water but you want it to be as thick as possible or you might not be able to create layers. You might have to keep stopping and scraping down the sides.
- Pour the red layer into a glass or bowl and store it in the freezer while you finish the other 2 layers.
- Now do the same for the blue layer blending the spinach first then adding the vanilla and blueberries and blending very slowly a few at a time until it’s all as smooth as it will go.
- Pour the blue layer into a glass or bowl and store that in the freezer too.
- Now blend all the ingredients for the white layer, also very slowly. It should be nice and thick.
- Now get the red and blue layers out of the freezer and use a spoon to slowly add the red layer, followed by the white layer then the blue layer on top. If your smoothie is very thin you can try pouring the smoothie slowly from the spoon on to the side of the glass or over another upturned spoon so it stays on the top of the other layer rather than hitting it with such force that it goes too far below the existing liquid.
- It can be quite tricky but with practice you’ll get the hang of layered smoothies. This 4th July drink is a great place to start.
Notes
Gluten free*, raw*, vegetarian, vegan, dairy free, egg free, sugar free, wheat free*, soya free*, salt free, nut free*
* If you want to check if you can drink green thickies on your special diet please read this first. This will suggest some substitutions so you can still enjoy Green Thickies with ingredients you can tolerate.
Do you plan your meals each week or are you more inclined to whip something up at the last minute?
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Hi, I’m Katherine. I lost 56 pounds and recovered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by replacing meals with Green Thickies – my original smoothie concept.
RecipeNewZ says
Wonderful smoothie … Thickie :-). Thank you for sharing and Happy 4th of July!
Katherine Natalia says
Thank you! Happy 4th of July to you too.
Gabby @ the veggie nook says
What an adorable idea for a 4th of July recipe :) Sounds tasty too, like 3 smoothies in one! I would totally eat that with a spoon and maybe layer some granola or fresh fruit in between like a parfait!
Katherine Natalia says
Thank you Gabby. It’s funny you should say that, I did end up adding some chopped strawberries to mine and eating it with a spoon and it was gorgeous. My husband shook his up which mixed it all together and still managed to drink it. If I had some granola that would have also been a perfect addition. I think I’ll make this one again!
shannonmarie (rawdorable) says
That smoothie is gorgeous, and so is your little one. So sweet. They grow up so fast. Can’t believe my daughter will be 3 in August and my son is turning 10 in December. Enjoy every moment :-)
Katherine Natalia says
Thank you. Yes you’re so right, I can’t believe almost a year has passed already. I am enjoying every moment but it’s still going far too fast!
Chaya says
I love how you got the spinach into the red, white and blue. It is a stunning thickie. Thanks for stopping by blog and for your kind words. I am glad, I found your site.
If you have a moment, would you link this to my other blog to the Recipe Box. I think, this is something that would be new to many visitors and they would enjoy it.
http://bizzybakesb.blogspot.com/2012/07/recipe-box-4-creamy-pasta-with-tomatoes.html
Katherine Natalia says
Thank you. I love pasta, your recipe looks nice. I would use vegan cream cheese for this recipe as a treat. Many thanks.
Charissa says
Looks yummy!
Katherine Natalia says
Thank you, and thank you so much for the inspiration for these layered smoothies. Yours looks gorgeous too.
Sam says
I’m loving reading about your journey with your veg box. I agree–the pros outweigh the cons. And honestly, once I got used to starting my meal planning at a different point in the week, it became the same routine.
Also–picture of the little one demolishing the tomato is probably the cutest thing I’ve seen in a while. Thanks so much for sharing with Fresh Foods Wednesday!
Katherine Natalia says
Thank you for your lovely comment. Yes I’m getting more used to it as time goes on, although the recent bad weather in the UK has meant lots of mouldy veg which isn’t so good but I don’t think it’s always like that. Yes my baby loves the veg box delivery. She loves to explore the new food and gets very excited.
kristy @ gastronomical sovereignty says
yup – i find as long as you change your meal planning days it works out okay. and there are certainly times when i think “OMG – if I have to eat another turnip I’m gonna shank someone with it!”… but it forces us to get creative in what we’re making. and if all else fails = soup or a simple vegetable bake. Then it’s like they’re not even there. The best part is the shift in seasons when you suddenly get new vegetables in the box that haven’t been there before!
P.s. as someone reminded me the other day – after i poo-poo’d all over the slugs in our salad greens… slugs and bugs = fresh, organic produce. it’s a good thing. it also means it just came out of the ground = most nutritional content possible.
thank you for visiting and sharing your seasonal post with us at The Fresh Foods Blog Hop – I hope you’ll stop by again this Wednesday!
Katherine Natalia says
Thanks Kirsty. Yes the cabbages are putting me off so much that I am going to ask them not to put them in and if they can’t substitute them I am going to think twice about my box. I can’t think of anything I would enjoy them in. I never usually buy them as I don’t like cabbage soup or stew. I don’t mind coleslaw but I’d never eat enough to get through a whole cabbage! I was also given globe artichoke last week which I love in a jar but I’ve never had them fresh. Even though I slow cooked them all day then steamed on another occassion they were inedible and they take a lot of work for not much rewards, so I’m not really loving those either. On the plus side the taste of the salad greens is out of this world, I didn’t think lettuce could have so much flavour! And thanks that helps me see the slugs in a different light too!
Melanie says
Hi – It’s 4th of July today so I attempted this smoothie. The only layer that was thick and able to withstand layering was the white layer (and it was yummy! my favorite layer!). The other 2 layers were watery thin! I used strawberries for the red layer (which was important to be dense since the other 2 layers sit on it) was way too thin as listed (for me). I even started with 1 cup fresh and 1 cup frozen strawberries. the white layer just sank right through it even with very gentle scooping onto it. I ended up throwing another cup of strawberries, yogurt, ice and a bit of oatmeal in that layer to thicken it up. That worked but was still not as thick as the white layer (which was almost a paste). It held up for a picture at least :-). And the blue layer was just straight liquid. I used freshed blueberries. It wasn’t as important since it goes on top though. How did you get your color layers so thick? Anyway, it was still a very yummy smoothie and my hubby loved it. thank you for the idea of layering! And I LOVE green thickies! Thank you for sharing your recipes.
Katherine Natalia @ Green Thickies says
Hi there, did you freeze the layers before you added them to the glass? Not sure if you saw that in the instructions. Sorry you couldn’t get this working for you and thank you for getting in touch. Glad you enjoyed it anyway.
Melanie says
Yes, I did put it in the freezer as I was making it (followed the recipe exactly the first time around) but it wasn’t freezing fast enough. It took me about an hour to make this smoothie including the rework. I don’t know how long I was supposed to freeze it but I think it would take a couple hrs at least to freeze up enough to thicken. If I attempt this again, I will use less liquid in the red layer (maybe 1/4 cup) with frozen berries OR maybe yogurt in lieu of water with fresh berries.
Katherine Natalia @ Green Thickies says
Thank you for letting me know. Very strange. It was a long time ago that I made this now so I can’t remember exactly what I did but I’ll have to try it again to see. I wonder if it would work better by blending frozen berries. Sorry you had so much hassle with this.