Green Monster Smoothie

There are many variations of the Green Monster smoothie. You can use pretty much any fruits and juices you want (but it may be a Brown Monster if you add berries.) I suggest frozen peaches, bananas, mangoes, pineapple or any assortment of berries. You can use ice, or no ice. You can add plain or vanilla yogurt, Greek yogurt, or almond or soy milk. Basically the big change is that it has baby spinach blended into it. Everything I read said you could barely taste the leafy greens, and those people were right! It just tastes very slightly, well...green! I don't suggest using frozen spinach as it clumps and does not blend well.

I like to use frozen fruits so I don't have to add extra ice to my smoothies. And I freeze peeled bananas in baggies once they get a little past the point where you want to eat them fresh (unless I plan on baking with them.) You can use whatever you have on hand and end up with a nice tasting smoothie. Additions like ground flax seed or wheat germ could also boost the nutrient level of the smoothie.

I didn't measure exactly but I used:

5 frozen strawberries
5 frozen peach slices
1 frozen banana
A large handful of fresh baby spinach
About 1/2 c of vanilla yogurt
About 1/2 c orange juice (apple would also be good)
About 1/4 c unsweetened almond milk

No extra sugar was needed, although you could use honey if you were using plain yogurt.

Blend and enjoy!

I realize I should have put this in a clear glass to take a picture to show the color, but I didn't think about it until it was too late, and then I just wanted to drink it. :)



*The next day I made one that had pineapple in it and more spinach... and I couldn't taste the spinach at all. I've noticed a lot of the smoothie recipes use pineapple juice, so maybe that's why.

*I have been drinking a lot of these since this first one and I've discovered that I really enjoy adding a splash of lemon juice and ginger juice to my smoothies. I keep the latter on hand in the fridge because I tend to make stir-fries and such things randomly and it's easier than having fresh ginger on hand that goes bad before I can use it up. They sell it at the Co-op here in town so it's pretty easy to get!