Green Smoothie

This smoothie came about in an unexpected way.  My husband and I were on an airplane and I was reading my Rachael Ray Every Day magazine.  Ryan happened to notice this super simple recipe for a tropical green smoothie and said we should try it out when we got home.  This was a surprise coming from my husband who is not always the biggest fan of veggies but I was on board to try something new!

Original recipe can be found HERE.

Now, to be honest, I have never been a fan of green smoothies.  I always thought they tasted like grass from the backyard and it was just not my thing.  But I decided to give this one a try, especially since Ryan was willing to try it out as well.  I figured the fruit would help balance the "green."  Well, imagine my surprise when this turned out to be DELISH!  We have made this many times over since first trying it and I've even experimented with different ingredients.  All of them are easy and taste great and the best thing is it's such a simple way to get a big serving of fruits and veggies!

You can see in the two photos above, the ingredients are slightly different.  These are just a couple of my different variations I give to the smoothie depending on what we have on hand.

PRO TIP: The blueberries are delicious but they will turn the smoothie a rather unappetizing color of brownish green.  I usually leave those out now just because I love the clean green color so much.

Ingredients:
These can vary based on my mood and what's in the kitchen.  You can use these but it's also delicious with even less ingredients.  The original recipe linked above is pretty simple and a good place to start.  This morning I used the following combo:

• OJ, about 1 cup
• Pineapple (instead of fresh I use a canned version that's more affordable, depending on time of year, and that's packed in it's own juices...no added sugar!)
• Chia seeds, about a Tbsp.
• Mint leaves
• Ginger (the dried stuff from the spice aisle is fine but if you have fresh feel free to use it!)
• Red gala apple, chopped
• Carrots, chopped
• Walnuts, small handful
• Avocado, half or whole depending on size and how big of a smoothie I'm making
• Frozen banana slices, roughly 1 banana
• Spinach, as much as I can pack in at the top of the blender
• Ice
• Blend!

* I like mine a bit thicker consistency and I drink it with a straw.  If you want yours less thick, add more liquid like OJ or pineapple juice or even water.

* I've also used baby kale as my "greens" and it's equally delicious.

PRO TIP: We used to have a cheap blender and about a year ago I finally invested in a Vitamix.  Life. Changer.  I bought ours from QVC during the holidays and they sold me with the 6 monthly "easy payments."  It was much more doable to charge $60 to my credit card each month rather than the full $400.00.  I know, I know.  $400 for a blender?! Insane but so worth it if you use it often.  This baby is used all the time in our house and it makes super quick work of everything I stuff in there.

This smoothie doesn't need to be expensive.  I stock up on organic greens when they're on sale but otherwise I'll buy the non-organic stuff, no biggie.  I also have tried it with frozen chopped spinach when the fresh is not on sale.  A big savings there!  Canned pineapple when fresh is not on sale, mint from a more affordable produce store, etc.

I hope you'll be adventurous and try this out for yourself!  I was not a believer of any green drink, except for my green tea, and now I drink this at least 3 times a week.  I make it any time of day...it actually makes for a nutritious and filling dinner if you don't feel like cooking. The best part is it's very easy to customize to your taste...you can tinker with the ingredients until you find a combo you enjoy!