Green Smoothies

Green smoothies are to New Years what mistletoe and twinkle lights are to Christmas. It's the essence of the holiday. Everyone is detoxing and increasing their intake of green vegetables, and smoothies are a popular choice. I like green smoothies as much as the next vegan.

Here is my take on this year's green smoothie.

Oh wait... It's not green!
Tricky tricky.

This was my "All American" dinner the other night. Burger, Fries, Shake. My burger was the ever delicious Joe's Quinoa Patties in Power Protein flavor (Gluten-Free). My shake is a smoothie with TONS of spinach in it. Wanna Make One? ...


First, Take some soy/almond/non-dairy milk and blend it with your spinach. You could use Kale too. This first blend makes a bright green liquid that is super condensed. If you don't have a high speed blender like my newly acquired Vita-Mix then I would stress that this first blend is super important. You don't want bits of leaf in your smoothie. Blend Blend Blend until this non-dairy milk and leafy green mixture is nice and smooth.

Then you can add your flavorings and sweetener. I added some agave nectar but you can add maple syrup, sugar, or sugar substitute if you're into that. Plus a tiny drop of vanilla extract. and the best part, heaping spoonfuls of unsweetened cocoa powder. The chocolate will cover up the green color, making it look more like a chocolate shake than a green smoothie. I blend again at this point to combine. We will add a banana in the next step and it will sweeten the smoothie/shake so don't add too much sugar now.

Lastly, you've probably noticed your shake is not frozen, or really even cold. Toss in a frozen banana and a good handful of ice. I like to add my frozen items last because if you try to add the spinach and ice at the same time you'll melt your ice before your spinach gets totally ground up. I think adding the frozen bits at the end helps the texture. Add more sweetener/chocolate to taste at this point but be careful not to over-blend.

Then you can serve to your unsuspecting husband (although at this point mine is always suspecting of chocolate shakes) and breathe easy knowing that all that protein, vitamin A, vitamin K, calcium, zinc and iron are going right up that straw disguised at a treat!

Side Note: I don't really think hiding vegetables from children is a good idea. I think it can run a high risk of confirming to a child that vegetables aren't yummy and should be avoided. It's a popular thing to do right now and, obviously, I am a huge fan of humans in general eating more veggies but do be careful if you're serving this to kids. Maybe take this opportunity to show them how you make the smoothie and how fun it can be to make food with vegetables.

Happy Eating!