Many people know about the benefits of vegetable salads and freshly-squeezed vegetable juices, but there is something else that is even more helpful for our body. These are vegetable smoothies – thick drinks from all kinds of vegetables with an addition of other natural products: nuts, fruit, honey, milk, yoghurt, kefir, etc. We will explain the benefits the of cocktails with vegetables for our body, and we will share a few recipes for making them at home. This time we’d like to draw your attention to lunch smoothies with cucumber.
Smoothies are different than vegetable juices because they are denser (due to the pulp) and packed with minerals and vitamins. Also, these drinks have a few other healthy properties. Here are some of them:
- Fibre. They contain valuable fibre that sweeps all the harmful excess from the intestine. It cleanses the body of toxins and normalises the functioning of the digestive system. Also, fibre gives you a sense of being full, which is essential for those who want to lose weight.
- Compatibility with other products. You can add other ingredients to these beverages: fruits, nuts, seeds, etc. Having a neutral reaction, vegetables do not “compete” with components of a different nature, that’s why people who drink them do not feel discomfort in the stomach or gut.
If you try drinking these vegetable mixes for a while, you will improve the colour and condition of your skin, nails and hair. You will become healthier and lose weight.
You can invent your vegetable smoothie from what you already have in your fridge. They are prepared quickly and easily: the only things that you need is a powerful blender and vegetables.
Top 10 recipes for lunch smoothies with cucumber
Vegetable-kefir detox
Ingredients
- 1 cucumber;
- 1 tomato;
- 1 handful of parsley;
- 1/2 cup of kefir;
- 1 clove of garlic;
- salt to taste
- freshly-ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Peel the tomato and cucumber.
- Cut the vegetables into pieces.
- Grind the garlic clove and a handful of greens.
- Blend the crushed ingredients, adding kefir.
Tomato Vitamin Bomb
Ingredients
- 1 cup of Kefir;
- 1 tomato – 1 piece;
- 1/4 of a red onion;
- 1/2 bell pepper;
- 1 cucumber;
- 1/2 of a celery stick;
- 1/2 handful of dill;
- 2 leaves of basil;
- Salt and pepper – to taste.
Instructions
- Peel the vegetables
- Extract the seeds from the bell pepper, cut into pieces.
- Pulse all the ingredients in a blender, do not forget to add salt.
- Pour into glasses and enjoy!
Beetroot-Cucumber Guilty Pleasure
Ingredients
- 1 beetroot
- 2 celery sticks
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 cucumber
- 1 tsp of lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Peel the beetroot and cucumber
- Discard the seeds from the bell pepper
- Cut the vegetables up into chunks
- Place into the cup of a blender and blend.
- Serve and enjoy!
Light apple-cucumber drink
Ingredients
- 1 carrot
- 1 apple
- 1 handful of fresh spinach
- 1 cucumber
- 3 leaves of fresh basil
Instructions
- Peel the apple, carrot and cucumber
- Cut the vegetables into smaller pieces
- Pulse in a blender or food processor until smooth
Spicy Slurpy
Ingredients
- 125 ml of tomato juice
- 2 whole tomatoes
- 1 sour apple
- 1 cucumber
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 Chili pepper
- 1 sprig of thyme
Instructions
- Peel the tomatoes, apple and cucumber.
- Remove the seeds from within the apple.
- Cut everything into pieces.
- Blend all the ingredients until a homogeneous mass forms.
Cucumber-celery cleanser
Ingredients
- 125 ml of apple juice
- 2 tbsp of lemon juice
- 1 zucchini
- 1 cucumber
- 1 celery stick
- 1/4 tsp of curry
- 1/8 tsp of celery salt
Instructions
- Peel the zucchini, celery stick and cucumber
- Cut the vegetables into chunks
- Mix the ingredients in a cup of a blender or food processor
- Make sure it’s nice and smooth. Serve and enjoy!
Cabbage-oat flour lunch
Ingredients
- 2 cucumbers
- 1/4 of white cabbage;
- 2 tbsp of oats;
- 3 sprigs of fresh dill;
- 1 cup of kefir;
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Use a spice grinder to grind the oats into flour.
- Wash the cabbage and finely chop it.
- Peel the cucumbers and cut them into small pieces.
- Put the cucumbers and the cabbage in a blender bowl, add the oat flour, salt, a few sprigs of dill and fill it with kefir.
- Blend all the ingredients.
All-green veggie cocktail
Ingredients
- 1/2 avocado
- 1 cucumber
- 1 handful of lettuce
- 1/2 green bell pepper
- 1 tsp of lemon juice
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Wash the lettuce and dry it on a kitchen towel
- Peel the avocado, bell pepper and cucumber
- Extract the seeds from the bell pepper and pit from the avocado
- Cut everything into chunks
- Add all ingredients to a bowl of a blender
- Blend until homogeneous
- Add salt and pepper and enjoy!
Cheesy broccoli brunch
Ingredients
- 1/2 head of broccoli
- 2 cucumbers
- 2 portobello mushrooms
- 1 tsp of nutritional yeast
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Peel the cucumbers and mushrooms;
- Cut the ingredients into smaller pieces;
- Place all the ingredients into a bowl of a food processor
- Blend slowly while gradually adding the nutritional yeast.
Parsnip-cucumber booster
Instructions
- Peel the parsnip and cucumber
- Cut them up into chunks
- Place the parsnip into a blender and pulse until a puree forms
- Add the cucumber and the rest of the ingredients
- Serve and enjoy!
Conclusion: there can never be too much cucumber!
Nutritionists recommend drinking cucumber cocktails for weight loss. Thanks to these drink you can lose a couple of unnecessary pounds, feel healthy and active and remain youthful. Smoothies with cucumber in them are great for satisfying hunger because all dietary fibre and vitamins are preserved.
Cucumber smoothies are very healthy because they consist of fresh vegetables. 96% of the cucumber is water, but rich in nutrients that improve metabolism – vitamins PP, C and group B, carotene, magnesium, calcium, potassium, iron. The drink enhances the immune system and rids the body of harmful toxins.
Despite the fact that the cucumber is a vegetable, it has a fairly neutral taste. For this reason, it combines well with both vegetables, fruits and berries. Do not be afraid to cook sweet cucumber smoothies – they have a harmonious taste and are refreshing.
It is beneficial to prepare such beverages with kefir. This mixture is beneficial to health and beauty, it nourishes and moisturises the skin, the body becomes younger and healthier.