A few weeks ago, I was getting out my ingredients for a smoothie and noticed that I didn’t have a ton of fruit options. My frozen fruit stash was dwindling, and my bananas weren’t ripe yet. Familiar story. This is how I always come up with new and exciting combos. I did, however, have oranges (a staple for me in the winters) and a few ripe red anjou pears. I thought to myself, “I don’t know if I’ll like orange and pear together, but I’ll give it a go!”What an unbelievably good pairing! Once you get in the groove of making green smoothies, you have a bunch of go-to combinations and tend to stick to those. Some of my favorite wintertime pairings are cranberry and pear, banana and orange, and apple and banana (a classic). Now, I have a new favorite.

Last week, I was going through a notebook and found a sticker from a bottle of juice stuck to one of the pages. When I travel and have a really great product, I like to keep the label so I can try to recreate it at home. This particular juice was called Sweet Greens and came from Organic Avenue in New York City. I remember really loving the taste of this one, and I also remember being intrigued by a juice combination I had yet to try. What were the ingredients? Well, pear and orange along with swiss chard, cucumber, kale, lemon, and mint (all organic).Despite my forgetfulness, I stumbled upon this beautiful combination once again (only took me a year!), and I’ll not soon forget it. This smoothie isn’t exactly like the juice that I had, but it celebrates the brilliant flavor pairing of pear and orange just the same. I don’t have exact measurements as it’s slightly different every time I make it. That’s the best way to make smoothies anyway! In the summer, I’m sure I’ll be adding in fresh mint to the mix to echo the amazingness of the Sweet Greens juice.Pear Orange Smoothie

1 pear
juice of 3 oranges
1 cup Harmless Harvest Cinnamon Clove Coconut Water
~1 cup chopped cucumber
2 stalks of celery
juice of 1/2 a lemon
small handful of fresh herbs like parsley or cilantro
several large handfuls of greens of choice
1 inch piece of ginger, or to taste

Optional add-ins:
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 scoop of vitamin c powder
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 Tbsp hemp seeds
a few leaves of fresh mint

-Chop cucumber, celery, and pear. Place in blender.
-Juice the oranges and lemon straight into the blender
-Peel ginger and add to the rest.
-Lastly, add in herbs and greens and blend until smooth.