Bananas are probably my favourite base fruit for a smoothie for several reasons - they're readily available, reasonably priced, tasty, a great source of energy (and more calorie dense than more watery fruits so you don't have to eat quite as much to get your get up and go).

Generally I mix them with other fruits - a cup of berries, a mango, a pair of pears or couple of oranges and then the greens. 

Banana and romaine lettuce is good! I tend to use 4-5 bananas depending on size/how hungry I am/how active I've been/about to be and a head of romaine lettuce but iceberg is great too - as is spinach.  Once you're used to adding greens then kale is a great source of nutrients to add to your smoothie.

It's as simple as 1,2,3 (and 4 and 5)

1 Peel 4-5 bananas, add to blender
2 Add other fruits if desired
3 Add 1/2 pint+ of water and blend
4 Add greens (I tend to go with two generous handfuls)
5 Blend again until smooth

And enjoy!

Green smoothies are simply awesome IMHO.  However for those people who dislike bananas you do tend to find that most of them use it or at least often find so.  So I thought it was time to share some banana free smoothies for people wanting to get started.

Smoothies are often mentioned as a weight loss tool and whilst I agree to some extent the can be used to this end, it isn't what I would consider their main potential by any means.  I feel they can be a great weight regulator.  They provide a brilliant way of getting vitamins and minerals into the body without having to sit and chomp through a lb of spinach, a pineapple, 3 bananas.  I think they're as valuable for anyone whether they be under or over weight, or at their ideal place to be.  And whilst we're on the weight thing - I think partly because you're satisfied with genuinely good food you're less likely to snack on 'bad' stuff.  Winning all round really.

Without further ado - a couple of smoothies I've loved for all the banana less than lovers out there:

2 cups pineapple, (about half a medium pineapple) cubed
2 mangoes peeled and pitted
1/2 avocado
4 cups baby leaf spinach
1 cup water

Put everything in the blender except for the spinach and blend until mostly blended, then add the baby leaf spinach and blend until smooth.

3 peaches
1 mango
4 cups baby leaf/spinach
3/4 to 1 cup water

Blend the peaches and mango with the water til nearly smooth then add the spinach and blend until smooth.

1 apple, cored
2 cups pineapple
2 cups kale or spinach
3/4 to a cup of water

Blend the apple, pineapple and water until nearly smooth - add the kale or the spinach (newbies I'd advise to start off with spinach and move onto kale once you're more used to green smoothies) and blend.

1 cup strawberries
1 mango
1 peach
1 orange
2 cups spinach
1 cup water

As before, blend everything except for the spinach until nearly smooth then add in the spinach and blend until deliciously smooth and yummy!

Enjoy!  My last tip - unlike juicing there's so little to wash up but I do always try to wash the blender first then I can really relax and enjoy my smoothie with nothing (haha) left to do!!

Banana and Mango Sundae with Toffee Sauce

To make: (serves 2-3)

Toffee sauce:

12 medjool dates, pitted
Add to blender with a little water and blend on low until smooth. You may need to scrape down the sides of the blender a few times. You can vary how runny you want the toffee sauce to be depending on how much water you use. Add small quantities (of water) at a time until you reach desired consistency.

Banana ice cream:

6 bananas, chopped then frozen for at least 5-6 hours
Add to blender and blend until smooth.

Mango ice cream:

2 mangoes, chopped then frozen for 5-6 hours
Add to blender and blend until smooth.

Sundae:

Put a dessert-tablespoon measure of toffee sauce at the bottom of the serving glass/bowl and top with banana ice cream.  Add the mango ice cream next and top this with a layer of toffee sauce.  Lastly another layer of banana ice cream and to garnish use a swirl of your toffee sauce and fruit of choice for decoration.

  My own journey into Homeopathy began in 1995 when my horse was diagnosed with an 'incurable' recurrent eye disease resulting from, we think, an injury.  Conventional treatment consisting of injections into her eyelid every 6 weeks meant she had to be sedated to do this wasn't a lot of fun for anyone involved. 

We began, or rather, at the time my mum, began to look at alternative options available to us - at this time conventional options were limited to the injections, and we'd also sourced a 'pirate hood' (adapted racing hood to have a full blinker on one side) which meant she could still go and play out instead of having to stay indoors until the atropine wore off if she was having an attack.

Several to many enquiries later we happened upon Towerwood Vets who are alternative practitioners - conventional vets who've then added Homeopathic training, Acupuncture etc to their work.  David Saxton one of their Homeopathic vets visited us and then sent remedies which Kara was to take for a week.

Conventionally we were told that she's 'in remission' however to date having had no attacks of uveitis for the next 17 years until her death - I was happy with the remission status.