I feel like a total cliche sharing a green smoothie as my first post of the new year, but I don’t care. After taking my first sip of this drink, I couldn’t wait to tell you guys about it!
See here’s the thing – I’ve tried many green smoothies in the past. If you’ve never had one, the big draw is that they all promise you can’t taste the spinach (or whatever greens are used) so it’s a great way to incorporate more veggies into your diet. While I generally agreed that you couldn’t taste the spinach in any of the ones I tried, I still didn’t love them. Certainly nowhere near enough that I’d want to drink one multiple times a week.
But this strawberry, banana, and spinach smoothie? It’s a winner! I’ll be the first to admit it lacks the pretty vibrant green color of so many of the others, but what really matters to me is the taste. And seriously, this smoothie tastes like a strawberry banana milkshake – it’s so thick and creamy! It includes frozen strawberries, half a banana, an apple, baby spinach, just a little bit of nonfat honey Greek yogurt and some unsweetened coconut milk beverage. Even without any added sugar, the strawberries give this smoothie the perfect amount of sweetness.
The recipe makes two servings so I’ve been having one for breakfast and the other after my workout in the afternoon. I am seriously obsessed with it π I love that each serving comes in at only about 115 calories too. It definitely feels more indulgent than that, and keeps me full for quite a while.
My only caveat about this awesome smoothie is that a powerful blender is almost essential to getting it done. My blender couldn’t handle it so I wound up getting things started in my food processor and then transferred the mixture back to the blender to finish it off. It’s a great workaround aside from the fact that you now have to wash two appliances instead of one. Still totally worth it for a healthy, delicious, and nutrient-packed breakfast or snack, but next year I’m asking Santa for a new blender π
Strawberry, Banana, and Spinach Smoothie
adapted from Feel Good Food by Giada de Laurentiis
{Note: you could probably use a variety of apples here, but I wouldn’t go with a Granny Smith. You could also substitute water for the coconut milk beverage.}
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk beverage
1/4 cup nonfat honey Greek yogurt
1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and chopped (I used Fuji)
1 cup frozen sliced strawberries
1/2 medium ripe banana
1 cup packed baby spinach leaves
In a blender, combine all of the ingredients. Blend until smooth. Serve immediately or save the second serving to enjoy later in the day.
Serves 2
Such a fab recipe for the new year! I love these ingredients together!
Looks perfect to me!! Great way to start the New Year!
Don’t feel cliche! I love that you posted this and might need to make i today!
The real test is if Shane would drink it! π
What a great way to start the new year! I haven’t met a green smoothie I like to be honest so I am really excited to try this. Thanks!!
You and I might both be cliches today, but we are happy healthy cliches!! Love the looks of this. I totally need to turn into a smoothie-maker!
Wow, love your smoothies, have to try one more, good in different ways.
Yummy
@Yousra – Haha, not a chance! He doesn’t like a single ingredient in this smoothie. His loss π
Oh, was it cliche to post a smoothie at the beginning of the year? I think I posted one as my first post-Christmas post. People are going crazy for smoothies right now so I say more power to us. π
I rarely find raw spinach but when I do, I’m going to try this recipe! I hate veggies and would love to find a way to make them edible for me. This sounds great!
I also want to jump on the green smoothie bandwagon. Can you please tell me about the unsweetened coconut milk beverage? I have looked for coconut milk in the dairy section of our grocery store but no luck. What section of the grocery store did you find this? What brand, etc. Thx–Barbara
I just found your website and canβt wait to try a few recipes.Although, my child is now 19yrs old, I do still feed quite the crew having my own in home childcare, so I am really looking forward to reading what you feed your large family.
I loved this! I thought the spinach would make my husband nervous but he didn’t even know it was in here…what a great feel good/start the day right beverage π
@Barbara – It’s usually with the almond milk in my grocery store. It’s not in the dairy section as it doesn’t need to be refrigerated until opened. Here’s a link to the one I used. Hope this helps! http://sodeliciousdairyfree.com/products/coconut-milk-beverages/unsweetened
All that nonsense with transferring from the food processor to the blender?!?!?!…guuuuurl, get yourself a Vitamix! It is life-changing π