My delicious citrus kale smoothie

I thought berries and pecans went the best with kale in a smoothie. I was deeply wrong. Tart, citrus flavors are absolutely perfect with kale. It took me a while of playing around with the blender and kale to come to this delicious result. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but it's kind of the best smoothie I've ever had, anywhere, ever. It's probably one of the healthiest smoothies too.

Kale does have a strong flavor, but when combined with citrus, the citrus flavor overpowers the kale and all you taste is citrusy-goodness. 

  Not to mention, all the vitamin C in the fruit helps your body to absorb the iron in the kale. Win-win! 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups green grapes
• 1 large orange
• 1 lemon
• 1 granny smith apple 
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen pineapple (it is fine without this, but it is incredible with it)
• bunch of kale (I never measure kale, I just try to stuff as much as possible in the blender)
• 1/2 cup ice cubes (especially needed if not using frozen pineapple)

I like to just slice off the orange and lemon skin with a big knife instead of pealing the orange. Lemons are excellent at bringing out the flavor of other foods and contain flavonoids that are known to stop cell division in many cancer cell lines. Studies also show that vitamin C-rich foods can protect against arthritis.

The grapes add a yummy sweet flavor to the smoothie. It wouldn't be the same without the green grapes at all. Plus grapes are chocked full of manganese and phytonutrients. The list is never ending of how many different nutrients they contain. They also have antioxidants that have anti-bacterial properties. Grapes have cardiovascular benefits, blood sugar benefits, anti-aging benefits, cognitive benefits, and anti-cancer benefits as well.

The more kale, the better. You can never have too much dark leafy green vegetables in your diet. They are full of the most important nutrients for our bodies.

I love adding the juice from the pineapple to the smoothie for extra flavor. Pineapple is also an anti-inflammatory and provides immune support. A few very good reasons to add the pineapple.

Whenever you're looking for a new blender, always go with Vitamix. It is the king of blenders. This one chops, churns, mixes, whips, juices, powders, it even makes soup. I find it to be a must-have for people following a strict vegan diet or even if you're just trying to add a lot of super-foods to your diet. My family uses it like 10 times a day. I also love that it has a self-cleaning option. :-)

Most importantly, it is Grace-approoved.