Green Smoothie Recipes

Spinach
Carrots
Strawberries
Blueberries
Pineapple (optional)
Frozen banana
Almond milk (regular or vanilla)
Juice

Directions: Pack the blender to the top with spinach. Add one or two regular carrots or 5-6 baby carrots. Pour in about 3/4-1 cup of almond milk (feel free to use whatever kind of milk you prefer) and 1/2-1 cup of juice (we usually use grape). Press pulse a few times to puree the spinach and carrots (the blender will go from being full to about half full when the spinach is ground up). Add about 1 cup of strawberries and 1 or 1 1/2 cups of blueberries (fresh or frozen) and a little fresh pineapple if you have some on hand. Blend some more. At the very end, add 1/2 of a frozen banana and blend until smooth. You may need to add more liquid to get it to your desired consistency. We usually add more milk or juice, but, you can also add water. The kids prefer it to be more runny rather than thick like a shake (frozen fruits will make it thicker).

This is a recipe we really like. We've also thrown in pears, apples, grapes, mangoes, or raspberries. If you aren't avoiding dairy, you can add 1/2 - 3/4 cup of vanilla yogurt and it makes it even more smooth and delicious (as Brian says, "More like a dessert smoothie"). I've also thrown in flax seeds, chia seeds, flax oil or protein powder. And, speaking of "dessert smoothies," here is my favorite one of those:

Spinach
Unsweetened cocoa
Peanut butter
Vanilla almond milk
Vanilla or chocolate protein powder (or, honey)
Ice

This is what I make when I have a sweet tooth craving that I just can't shake but I'm trying to be good. I fill the blender halfway with spinach, add 2 Tablespoons cocoa, 1 Tablespoon peanut butter (or, 2 if I want to make it really sweet and peanut buttery), 1/2 scoop of vanilla protein powder (right now I have the whey variety from Costco - if you don't have protein powder, add a squirt of honey or Hershey's syrup to sweeten it), 3/4 - 1 cup almond milk and a 1 1/2 cups of ice. Throw it all in and blend until smooth. It's also yummy if you leave the peanut butter out. Or, leave the peanut butter out and add frozen cherries.

The other great thing about smoothies is that it makes it easier to use up all the leftover produce that's about to go bad. I would love to hear your recipes too!