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Green smoothies have certainly become popular in the last couple of years and they are perfect for sneaking in healthy ingredients to a picky eaters diet. If you have not tried a green smoothie yet, this would be a great one to try for the whole family! We start almost everyday with a smoothie full of fruits and veggies, and I think after you give them a try you will too. If you missed my first smoothie post you can read more about green smoothies here.
This picture sums it up. Which would you rather, eat raw spinach and fruit or have it all blended together into a sweet delicious drink? I have a feeling I know the answer. I could go on-and-on about how much I love my vitamix blender but if you do not have you should still give this a try. Most blenders will be powerful enough to break down the spinach.
Happy Smoothie Saturday!
I hope you enjoy this one as much as I do! That is, if I can get it back from her…
| Beginner Green Smoothie |
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Recipe: Smoothie
Author:
Prep time: 1 min
Cook time: 1 min
Total time: 2 mins
Serves: 1
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup strawberry yogurt (use coconut yogurt for vegan and GFCF)
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 banana
- 1 cup frozen mango
- 1 cup spinach
- a couple ice cubes
- makes one large smoothie, or 2 kids sized smoothies
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients into a blender
- Start on a low speed and slowly raise to high
- Blend until smooth, about 1 min
27 comments… read them below or add one
great stuff Vic!
Thank you Jocelyn!
We just made a smoothie and added spinach and the kids have no idea!!!! We are so excited to be able to get them to eat healthy things and they think it is a treat!!! Can’t wait to try more of the recipes!!! Thanks a million for the inspiration!
Love you,
Jessica
YAY! Success! So happy this has been helpful.
I have to try this. I am always trying to sneak some more spinach into my OWN diet, let alone my family’s! Great recipe – found your blog when you followed me on twitter!
Thank you! This is my girls favorite and a super easy way to sneak in the greens! Thank you for the follow. I look forward to sharing more ideas and learning from you too! You have a great site!
I made this smoothie for my son after hearing about it from my sister. My son does not eat any green veggies, so you can imagine how excited I was when I watched him enjoy this smoothie. Looking forward to so many more of your recipes… Trying the peanut butter and jelly muffins this weekend. Thank you!
Hi Melissa, that is great news! I’m so happy this was helpful for you and him. Have a great day! Victoria.
I have been avoiding any of the flavored yogurts due to the chemicals and/or added sugar in most of them and have been using plain Greek yogurt in most of my smoothies. If I were to use plaint yogurt and strawberries, how would you suggest I adjust the recipe? Would adding 1/2 cup of frozen strawberries change the consistency too much?
Hi Jann,
It shouldn’t change the consistency, just the color. Using a frozen banana will really help give it a thick, creamy smoothie texture. If you use 1/2 frozen banana, and a couple frozen strawberries, you will not need any ice added. Also, you could replace that 1/4 cup yogurt with 1/4 milk. In most of my smoothies, I do not use yogurt and they are great. Let me know how this works for you!! Have a great day. Victoria.
this looks great! I made one for my daughter recently that called for apple juice (which she has never had before), and I don’t think it agreed with her. So I think this version will work better.
Can I use raw kale instead of spinach?
Of course! I actually prefer kale in my smoothies but most people get a little nervous when they see kale. So for the “beginner” smoothie I stuck with spinach.
Enjoy! It’s yummy! Have a great day.
I have been wanting to try green smoothies for a while now – they look so refreshing – and super-healthy, too! My one holdout is the banana. Bananas are the one food that will consistently make me gag…so do you have a recommendation for a banana substitute in smoothies? I imagine it lends creaminess, so I am hesitant to just sub any old fruit. Thanks in advance!
Hi Kara. I’m excited for you to try a green smoothie for the first time! You can leave bananas out all together, but the smoothies will not have a smooth texture. To substitute the bananas, add 1/4 – 1/2 an avocado to the smoothies. It will not change the flavor, but will help make it extra thick and creamy. You will likely want to add a little sweetener (a date, 1 tsp honey or agave, or a couple drops of liquid stevia) to help replace the sweetness lost from the banana. Another option is to add 1/4 – 1/3 cup yogurt. It will help the texture but not like avocado does and again, you will still likely need a little extra sweetener. Hope this helps! Look forward to hearing what works for you and what you think of green smoothies!
I made this smoothie yesterday morning for breakfast and it was delicious! I have been wanting to try green smoothies for a while but the idea of spinach in a drink had me procrastinating. This was the perfect beginner smoothie! My husband was skeptical at first but loved it and said it tasted like an ice cream shake. I can’t wait to try more.
YAY!! I love hearing success stories!
Thank you so much for taking the time to send the message! Have a great day.
Yay! Thank you for this recipe. I made it for my kids who DETEST anything green. I snuck it in the blender while they weren’t looking, and they gobbled it down in no time and have already asked me to make it again tomorrow! I am so thankful! You rock!
Go mama!! I love hearing this!
Have a great day.
My favorite came from my son in law..
1 banana
1 cup apple juice
big hand full of fresh spinach
Blend together and enjoy.. Absolutely delicious!
Hi Victoria ~ just happened upon your site from the black bean brownie recipe on Pintrest and I’m loving the information! I dont’ have an actual blender, but I do have an immersion blender ~ do you suppose that would work for the smoothie? Also, think this is freezeable to have one for now, one for later?
Hi Rebecca! Glad you found the site and are enjoying so far. I’m really not sure how an immersion blender would work for smoothies. Someone else asked the other day about using a food processor. I have not tried either, but I guess it doesn’t hurt to try! Will you let me know how it works out? And yes, they will freeze!
Have a great day!
About how many calories is in this smoothie? And do you drink this as a snack or actually substitute it for breakfast?
Hi Christina, I haven’t figured out nutritional information, but if I guessed it would be about 200 calories for the whole thing. I will occasionally have smoothies for a meal but I always add chia seeds or protein powder if I plan to do so. I do not use them as meal replacement for my girls. Hope that helps! Have a great day!
I too, like so many others, like that I am getting more greens in my diet! Something I have needed to do for awhile. They are very tastey and I love that my girls both enjoy them too! They even know that there is spinach in them and they still love them! My oldest did not like the one I made that had a banana in it(she does not like bananas), but I have been experimenting and finding other combinations she does like. Yeah!
The recipe does make 2 smoothies or 1 very large one. I have been making them at night and then taking 1 to work in the morning, and they are still very good! Thanks for the recipes!!
Hi Victoria,
I was wondering if you could freeze this mixture and pop it into the blender when ready. I know you can freeze berries but I have no idea how fresh spinach with yogurt would freeze. Have you tried this before?
Thanks,
Kelly
Hi Kelly ~ I have not frozen everything beforehand but it should work okay. Yogurt is fine to be frozen, as is spinach. You might need to set it out at room temperature for 10 minutes to let everything thaw out a bit before putting it in the blender. Hope it works for you!
When my spinach is getting tired in the “fridge(kind of wilted on its last days); I stick it in the freezers and add it to a similar version of this recipe..the more frozen ingredients you use the less ice that is needed. Frozen bananas are.the key to a creamy smoothie!