Probably the start of all of my eating more healthy, unprocessed journey was when I got interested in green smoothies.  My mom got into it first.  After seeing a Vitamix demonstration at Costco she decided to buy one and well, the rest is history.  I started reading a couple books like this one and this one and really got pumped up about green smoothies.  I saved up for my own Vitamix and purchased it right before the birth of my third child, which was a good thing because I was going to need all the help I could get!

Green smoothies are fast, easy, portable and super healthy.  I’ve been drinking them for about 2 years now for breakfast most days. I generally don’t follow a recipe.  I just know I do a couple handfuls of a green (spinach, kale, collard greens) and then a frozen banana, some more frozen fruit and water.  That’s my “recipe”.  I find that following recipes for smoothies is a pain because you have to keep so many ingredients on hand, and it takes longer to find the recipe and get out all the ingredients than if you just make it up there on the spot.  However, when I started green smoothies I felt like I had to follow a recipe, at least until I was comfortable knowing what tasted good.

The last time I was at Costco I bought a giant bag of organic baby kale, for only 4 dollars, and have been using it every morning since. If I feel like it’s starting to go bad, or better yet, before it does I just throw it in the freezer.   I was looking at the bag and on the back were a couple recipes, one was for a smoothie.  I had most of the ingredients on hand and decided to give it a whirl.

I made a couple minor adjustments because I didn’t have frozen mangoes at the time so I used cherries, I added a splash of OJ and I used kefir instead of almond milk.  I was intrigued that the recipe called for almonds.  I’ve never added nuts to my smoothies,  I’ve added seeds like chia or flax but never nuts.  I like the idea of adding more than just a green to bump up the nutrition, and this worked perfectly.  Almonds are so subtle and blend nicely.  You don’t even taste them.  So if you’re new to green smoothies and need to follow a recipe or are just in a rut and need a change try this one out, it’s yummy! Even my husband approved.

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