Green Smoothie Deliciousness

In a previous post, I discussed my excitement to try green smoothies. Well, I finally got all my ingredients together and made my first smoothie on the weekend! I gotta say…I was pleasantly surprised!

First of all, I’m not the biggest fan of bananas. Next, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about almond milk. I’ve seen mixed reviews online.  Also…let’s be honest here. The idea of me drinking kale and spinach…err? But I gotta say..I’m an impulsive person. When I was online and came across that hair website that discussed the health benefits of green smoothies, I thought that it was just a great idea. Not only would it be great for my skin and hair, but for my health overall.  And, if I did not like the green smoothies…I figured I could throw some frozen fruit in there and make a fruit smoothie! Nothing wrong with that!

So I went out, got my ingredients, and made the smoothie on Saturday.  I followed the recipe given, and I have to say, especially for a green smoothie newbie, it was a little bit too much for me volume wise.  The recipe is as follows:

1 cup of almond milk (Provides Protein, Potassium & Zinc minerals)
1 Organic Banana (Provides Vitamin A, B, C, E & Iron minerals)
1 Handful of Spinach (Provides Fiber, Protein and Cancer-fighting Antioxidants)
1 Handful of Kale (Provides Vitamin A, C, K, & Sulfur for Detoxification)
1 Tablespoon of Flax Seeds or Chia Seeds (Provides Omega-3 Fatty Acids)
1 Organic Pear (Provides Calcium & Fiber)
½ Cup of Ice

The above recipe, of course, did not include flax seeds, since as I mentioned previously, I hadn’t received the flax seeds that I had ordered online yet.

Anyhow, after I made and drank the majority of my smoothie, I remembered that I should have taken photos, so I did that this time around.  Even still…I forgot to take pictures of me actually making the smoothie. Maybe I’ll do that another time.

So this time when I made my smoothie, I followed this recipe (flax seeds will be included in my NEXT smoothie):

½ cup of almond milk 
½ organic Banana 
1 Handful of Spinach 
1 Handful of Kale
1 Tablespoon of Flax Seeds 
½ Organic Pear
½ Cup of Ice

This size worked out much better for me as a single serving, and perhaps I’ll slowly increase the amount of ingredients I put into my Ninja until I’ve reached the amounts specified in the first recipe.

Yummers!

It is really tasty.  To be honest, I can’t even taste the spinach or kale much.  All I can really taste is the pear and the banana.  That works out well for me…as I don’t know how appetizing it is to taste/drink kale & spinach!  I plan to try this with raspberries instead of pear sometime in the future.  I think it’s important to mix things up so that I don’t get bored.

Delish!

The smoothie is pretty “smooth”, but it still has a little bit of texture to it, so I do “chew” when I drink it.  I think that’s a good thing.  Chewing helps activate digestion, does it not?  🙂

20 minutes later…

I did finish my smoothie and enjoyed every minute of it.  I did not feel like I was strictly drinking “for the health of it” or that I was forcing myself to finish drinking.  I actually liked it.

Pulp!

There was still a bit of pulp and stuff left over in my cup.  When I put my pear in there, I simply washed it, but I did not peel it. There is plenty of good fiber in the skin of the pear, so don’t peel your pear and throw that goodness away!