I was inspired to try this after repeatedly seeing spicy green drinks with cayenne on the menu at places that serve fresh juice. Here’s a Vitamix version. I decided to make it thinner than my typical smoothies by adding a little extra water and skipping the seeds/nuts. The heat from the cayenne is invigorating and is a nice variation from my usual blends.
(Vitamix used to call this type of drink a “Total Juice” because it’s a juice with nothing removed, and now they call it Whole-Food Juice.)
A combination of cayenne, ginger, and lemon give this drink a kick so that, even with the extra water, it does not taste watered-down.
For each serving:
½ cup water
1 large handful of greens (pictured is spinach)
Juice of 1 medium-small lemon (or lime)
1 apple, quartered, seeds removed
2 tsp fresh ginger
⅛ tsp cayenne powder
6 ice cubes
If you want to try this, but do not like too much heat, you can start with a single shake of cayenne, and, conversely, if you like things really spicy, you can easy add more cayenne. Similarly with the ginger—you might want to err on the side of less at first, and then add more to taste. (I find measuring ginger to be a bit tricky, and sometimes it’s stronger than other times.)
Blend on high until smooth, serve, and enjoy! I hope it gives a nice boost to your day.
This recipe is frothier than my usual smoothies, but I think that’s fine. In this case I actually enjoyed the froth—aren’t the patterns in the glass pretty? The bubble removal trick can get rid of some froth, but not all. If you are strongly averse to froth, you can skim it off. Or, if you want to completely avoid froth, I think your best bet would be to add a fat of some sort. (Chia seeds are my go-to, but any kind of nut could work.)
