Green Smoothie for Beginners!

 

I’m sure that this delicious combination of fruit will hide the fact that you are drinking spinach!

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Green smoothies and juices are one of the hottest health trends right now…and have been for quite a while actually. But I know for some the idea of putting Kale into a smoothie seems disgusting and buying a juicer seems expensive and unnecessary. Although I’m all for both of these things (I love kale smoothies and juice!!!), I too don’t have a juice (but I’m looking for one) and kale is not easily accessible for me. Although Kale can be found in damn near all grocery stores in the United States, I have seen it only one time and in only one store in the town I live in. Keep in mind that I live in Norway but am from the United States. When I was living back home I often would buy my green juices and make all varieties of green smoothies. So I was very disappointed to find that juicing isn’t as popular and kale isn’t accessible where I live now. BUT I CAN’T LET IT STOP ME. Instead of groaning about how much I miss kale I decided to switch back to spinach. Spinach is a great…actually the BEST green to add to your smoothies if you, like me, can’t find kale easily or are just scared of the taste. This particular smoothie isn’t the most vibrant green smoothie out there but that is because it has strawberries added. The combination of the red berry and spinach make the color a little dingy but there are lots of other fruits you can substitute for strawberries and I will recommend some of my favorites.

Lets get to the recipe!!!

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Ingredients:

Half an orange – I cut the rind off mine but you could also peel it off.

2 Large handfuls of spinach – or as much as you want. I added about 4 cups (not packed down) or 2 cups packed down. Obviously if/once you pack it down you will fit much more. The more the better.

5 or 6 frozen strawberries – you can use fresh but then I would add ice to the smoothie after you blend it, just so it’s colder.

1 banana – break it into a couple of pieces to make the blending easier

1/2 cups to 1 cups of water – I add about half a cup but if you need your smoothies to be a bit runnier, just add more.

 

Direction:

But it all in a blender and blend!!! I don’t have a high-speed blender and all my smoothie blended up perfectly in about 1-3 minutes. All blenders are different though. So yours could take longer or be done even faster!! =)

You do not need a high-speed blender for this. Mine isn’t and all the spinach blends up fine on the highest setting. I think the order I have the ingredients in, gives the smoothest blend. The orange will make a juice that will give it a nice liquidy base, the spinach is weighed down by the fruit on top so you shouldn’t have to stop the blender to push everything down. If you do find that it isn’t blending well, you make need to add a bit more water or just push everything into the orange water base that you have already created.

 

Suggestions!

If you don’t have frozen strawberries or want your smoothies to be a little less swampy looking, here are some fruits I would use instead of strawberries.

1/2 cup – 1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries – this gives the smoothies a really beautiful purple color that will hide the fact that you are even drinking spinach.

or

1/2 cup – 1 cup frozen or fresh pineapple – this makes the smoothies a gorgeous green that will make you excited about drinking spinach! You could also used canned pineapple for this but I would recommend that you check the ingredients. Some canned fruits have added sugar or are preserved in sugary syrups and that will not provide you with the good natural energy you are looking for.

You could also try adding a scoop of your favorite protein powder if you are looking for some after exercise power!!!

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Okay, I think I’ve babbled about this smoothie enough. Let me know if you make it yourself or if you have any suggestions to make it even better. Did you change anything, is there something you didn’t like, etc.? Let me know in the comments =)

Enjoy!

-Steph

 

 

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