Green Monster Smoothie

  


My sister Kat turned me on to the idea of sneaking spinach into my kids smoothies.  I used to always do it in blueberry-banana smoothies because the purple would mask the green.  Then she sent me a recipe for a drink called the "Green Monster" where the spinach is front and center.  The creative marketing name appealed to my son, and since he was game, of course his little sister was in.  Now Christopher is always trying to get Jason to try this, saying "you can't even taste the spinach!" ;-) Which is just about true.  These are yummy and healthy and a good way to get a lot of veggies in with minimal effort, and the kids fight over who gets to help make them.  I love seeing them so excited to eat spinach!

Green Monster Smoothie
1 frozen banana
1/2 C. vanilla greek yogurt
1 C. milk, roughly
1-2 Tbsp. peanut butter
2-4 C. fresh spinach
ice

Put bananas, yogurt, milk and peanut butter in the blender and mix it up until smooth.  Fill the rest of the blender with spinach (no joke, it is probably 2-4 cups really) and then blend it again.  You might have to help poke the spinach down but it will pulverize it pretty quickly.  I usually add some crushed ice at this point for texture, blend again until desired consistency, and serve!  This one drink I split three ways and it is a fair amount for each of us.  You can also freeze it to have the next day (takes about an hour to thaw) but it isn't as good as on Day 1.

I definitely recommend freezing the bananas ahead of time, preferably in bite size chunks.  Vanilla yogurt is FAR superior to plain, found that out the hard way.  A little honey will help if all you have is plain.  Regular (non-Greek) yogurt works too but I figure the extra protein helps.  The original recipe calls for Almond Milk and I've made it with that before, and its delicious, but we don't always have it so I just use regular milk now.  The peanut butter is really what gets you on the calories, but it is really good so I just go for it.