A Green Smoothie (that actually tastes good)

I should probably say that if you’re one of those hard core “I use a beet to sweeten my smoothie” kind of  people, then this might not appeal to you. I’m not that hard core with a green smoothie.

Like, not even close. I’m a fruit smoothie girl who would rather roast her vegetables than drink them.

I recognize the value in blending vegetables, though, because I doubt I’d sit and eat all of this plain. Especially for breakfast. It’s also a great meal replacer if you need to detox for a few days.

Speaking of detoxing…

Last summer after I had finished nursing my baby, I wanted to do a juice/smoothie detox. Mostly because I’d never done one and I wanted to try it.

OK, that was only a small reason. It was because I was going to be in a wedding in a little over a week, and I wanted to loose some belly pooch. Dr. Oz’s 3-day juice cleanse looked good, so I tried it.

(This is not an endorsement for Dr. Oz. He has some OK ideas sometimes, but he contradicts himself a LOT and gives horrible advice depending on who is sponsoring at the moment. Steve likes to watch it and pick all of his recommendations apart.)

So this smoothie was the “lunch” smoothie from his cleanse, and it was my favorite out of the three. I found it odd that I liked it so much considering this smoothie was the least popular, according to people online who had tried the cleanse.

I tweaked it slightly, and I make it to have for lunch every now and then. Especially if I’ve fallen off the wagon too far.

How to make a smoothie taste good

1. Putting at least one frozen element in a smoothie dramatically improves the taste. I’m not a room-temperature smoothie girl either. (See note above. I’m not hard core.)
2. Pineapple is pretty dang awesome in a smoothie. We’ve started using frozen pineapple to replace the frozen strawberries in our morning smoothies. (And replaced the carrot with more spinach and added  almond milk) It sweetens really well, and it covers up a lot of the bitterness from greens, if you happen to be using kale.
3. Adding an acidic element helps to brighten the flavors. Pineapple does a good job here, but a squirt of lime, a splash of pomegranate or orange juice would work, too!

Do the girls like it? Well… the baby does. She LOOVES smoothies and comes running whenever she hears the blender. The other two would rather have a “smoothie store” smoothie than anything we make here, but will still drink it if it isn’t green.

They also dip pieces of ham in maple-sweetened yogurt, so I wouldn’t trust their judgment.

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A Green Smoothie (that actually tastes good)

Yield: Serves 2

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

This smoothie was the first green smoothie (smoothie that is actually green and isn't 95% fruit) that I legitimately enjoyed! It's also a great place to put kale -- the pineapple hides its bitterness so well.

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Ingredients

• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 4 stalks celery, cut into thirds
• 1/2 of an English cucumber, cut into thirds
• 2 large handfuls of fresh greens (spinach, kale, or chard)
• 1/2 of an apple (preferably tart)
• 1/4 of an orange, peeled
• 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil
• 1 1/2 cups frozen pineapple chunks

Instructions

Put everything in the blender in the order listed. Blend until smooth! If you don't have a power blender (like a Blendtec/Vita-mix), then add more almond milk if it gets stuck. Taste and add a few more pineapple chunks if you'd like it sweeter.

Serves two or one as a meal.

Adaptation: Once I used half of a pear instead of apple, lime instead of orange, and added an inch of fresh grated ginger. Loved it, too!