Sunshine in a Jar

This is a perfect recipe that you should try! It is from the Raw Food Rehab a great community site with lots of information and recipes. The best part is you can prepare the jar ahead of time and just blend in the morning as a first thing. Starting your day with a super green smoothie will brighten any day and uplift your mood. You will feel the love in the air too!!!

Ingredients:
1 cup spinach, fresh
1 cup collards, fresh (swiss chard or kale would also work)
3-4oranges, fresh squeezed (grapefruit, tangerine or mandarinas would work too)
half a sweet pineapple (about 3-4 Cups)

Wheatgrass powder* optional

Directions:
Freshly squeeze the oranges and use the juice to blend with the spinach and collard greens. Chop a fresh pineapple and add to blender. If you want this recipe cold, add 6-8 ice cubes or use frozen pineapple.

If you have wheatgrass, or the powder it blends perfect with this recipe with the additional benefits.

How do you know if a pineapple is ripe? First smell it, it has to have a sweet fragrance. Second, inspect it all around, if it is very green and hard, it is picked too early, it will take some time to ripen. If it is too soft on some spots, it might be rotten inside, so better don't get those ones.

Now if you want to get serious about picking the perfect pineapple, here is all you need to know:

http://www.wikihow.com/Tell-if-a-Pineapple-Is-Ripe