It’s hot in SoCal this week. I mean really hot. We call it “Vegas Hot.” People always say, “Oh, but it’s a dry heat.” To which I say, “Stick your head in the oven at around 120° F and let me know how that feels.” At least it cools down a bit at night but I’ve got the A/C on.

When I first heard about this combination, a few months ago, it didn’t really sound good. I think I was craving sweet at the time and this is not sweet. But, as I was walking from the air conditioned car to air conditioned grocery store, a whole 20 feet, I was drenched and it was only 9:30am! I passed the cucumbers and thought, “this might sound good now,” so I bought the ingredients. Don’t you love it when the sprayers go on while your picking out produce?

The ingredients are soft enough to process in a regular blender. You can use a cheap blender or ninja or margarita maker, if that’s what you have. I happened to get the world’s oldest high speed blender from a family member when they were moving. Lucky me! The Vitamix is a great investment if you are planning to eat raw vegan long term, though.

I used 3 stalks of celery and half the cucumber. I did use the whole apple. I chopped up the celery, peeled and cored the apple and cucumber to make blending quicker. Plus, the peels make it more fibrous. If you choose, you can skip chopping and peeling but I didn’t feel like blending for that long. Definitely peel and chop if you are using a regular blender. I added a cup of water but you could use ice if you like it colder.

This is a great base recipe. Have some fun with it! This combo is a really good pick me up. I was so tired, I had my head down on the desk. This smoothie really gave me a noticeable boost in energy and it’s such a pretty color! Let me know what you think.

Ingredients:

3 celery stalks, chopped

1 Granny Smith apple, cored and peeled

1/2 large cucumber

1 cup of water (or 1 1/2 cups of ice)

Instructions:

Place in blender and blend until smooth.

Enjoy!