One of my goals recently is to eat more veggies. I had heard of “Green Smoothies” in the past and I thought I would give them a try. At first, I was hesitant… Spinach or Kale in a smoothie? Could that taste good? I was surprised! They not only taste good I really love them. Green smoothies have become a daily habit for me. I’ve been having them for breakfast almost every day and they really keep me filled up.
Below is my recipe for our favorite Green Smoothies. The great thing about this recipe is that there is a lot of room for substitutions and changes (I’ve listed several after the recipe)
Green Smoothies
1 large handful for fresh (preferably organic) Kale
1/2 – 1 cup frozen berries – I used blueberries
1 whole banana fresh or frozen
1/2 – 1 cup water
*Optional:
1/2 cup keifr – It’s full of active probiotics so it’s great for your digestion. It also adds a smooth creamy texture. You could also use yogurt.
1 TBS Coconut oil – for the health benefit.
First you want to remove the tough stem of the kale – honestly I never use a knife, I just rip it off by hand after I rinse the kale in the sink.
I use a wide mouth mason jar to mix my smoothies up in. I don’t own a blender but have an immersion blender that I use daily. I usually add some liquid first, this helps everything to blend well and chunks of banana or berries don’t get suck on the bottom.
Next throw in your kale or spinach.
Next add your berries and bananas.
Next I add a spoonful of coconut oil. I’ve been recently reading how great coconut oil is for your health and that it can help in weight loss. We have been using coconut oil for most of our cooking.
Turn on your blender, or grab your immersion blender and have at it! It only takes me a minute to whip everything together! You can add water if you would like to thin out your smoothie more. I usually use water if I’m using frozen bananas because it gets quite thick,
This photo shows you one of the reasons I love using a masons jar. It fits perfectly and there is no splatter from the blender! The mason jar makes a great drinking glass when it’s all whipped up.
Grab your toddler’s twirly straw and enjoy!
Substitutions:
- Blueberries
- Strawberries
- Raspberries
- Cherries
- Blackberries
- Mixed Berries
- Mango
- Apples and pears taste great together – and your smoothie will truly be GREEN my kids love it this way.
The green stuff
The Green Stuff:
- Kale
- Spinach
- Cucumber
- Celery
Notes for Making the Perfect Green Smoothie
- Try it! even if it sounds really gross to you, give it a try. You’ll be surprised. You may even love it!
- You can cut calories by using water. Especially if you freeze your bananas you don’t need the creamy Keifer, milk, or yogurt.
- Add in’s: You can add in ground flaxseed, other oils, nuts, etc.
- The one suggestion I will give you is to try making them with kale FIRST. I tried spinach first and they were really bitter. Once I switched to using kale I could tell a big difference.
I’d love to know what you think if you try these or if you already drink green smoothies what do you put in your! Let me know, leaving a comment is easy and I love hearing from you!
Kalee
This might get me where I’m actually eating a breakfast!
And if you need any recipes on your journey to eating more veggies, let me know! I love veggies so much I will plan meals around them. The best way to do it is to eat 2-3 veggies every night for dinner (and leftovers for lunch the next day!). For instance, a dinner of roast chicken and potatoes with brussels sprout/broccoli, roasted beets, and a salad course. For lunch the next day I would do a salad with leftover roast chicken, beets, goat cheese, red onion, and tomato.
Donna
Kalee – Thanks for your tips. I love goat cheese and I’ve recently started loving beets. I miss spring and having all of these veggies right in my back yard! I really should start roasting a chicken weekly. That always gave me a number of options for meals throughout the week. In the spring we also tend to grill more which helps because I can have my hubby grill up a bunch of chicken that I would then use on salads, sandwiches and for other meals. Where is spring already? I’m over winter!
Sherrill
If you are eating spinach for iron, make sure you use water because the dairy inhibits the absorption of iron.
Donna
What a great tip! I never would have know this! Thanks for sharing!
Kendra
We add anything and everything to our smoothies around here. Avacados make them SO creamy and delish. And we love peaches. Also, don’t skip the bananas. For some reason, they bring out the flavor of the other fruit SO well and smoothies are quite bland without them. Also, I have a bag in the freezer, and whenever I have extra fresh fruit around, I throw it in the smoothie bag. Now that was a lot of rambling.
Donna
Kendra, I heard that you like avacados in your smoothies. I love… LOVE LOVE avacados but sometimes I have a little left over (cause eating an entire avacado by myself isn’t all that healthy) I’ll have to try it in my smoothie! Great suggestion about the fruit bag. I take my bananas and cut and freeze them if we have a lot of them at one time. Ps. I miss you!
Muthering Heights
This sounds tasty!
Larri @ Seams Inspired
I love these and make them almost the same way. I usually add a clementine and spinach to mine. They’re suprisingly sweet and not at all ‘green’ tasting. Thanks for sharing your recipe. Visiting from Gather Inspirit. Happy Friday! 🙂
Lynda
You are a brave soul. I have never been able to enjoy smoothies. Thank you for sharing how you are tackling this goal. Have a blessed day!
Lori
For several weeks I have seen Green Smoothie recipes floating around blogland, and they really intrigued me. Just not enough to make one. Until tonight when I read your post. I didn’t have bananas and I didn’t add enough of the frozen fruit to taste them (peaches), but I did add a dollop of greek yogurt and some skim milk. It is VERY green tasting but now that I’ve braved the green factor (!) I will definitely be making this. I will go with the water suggested by a comment here, and also add the bananas to bring out the flavor of the frozen fruit. Thanks so much for the inspiration!
Donna
I haven’t had a green smoothie in a while I should really go back to them they always gave me great energy! Glad you found the recipe! The bananas really do help!