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Saturday, May 30, 2009
Smoothie recipe with a healthy spinach spin
Posted by Jenna Weber on Sat, May 30, 2009 at 9:00 AM
It's 7:00 a.m. I poke around the kitchen in a daze, adding ingredients to my Vita Mix (high speed blender) for an energizing shake. I add a frozen banana, a scoop of almond butter, a cup of almond or hemp milk and... four cups of organic spinach. Yes, you heard right. I add fresh spinach to my smoothies. Let me introduce to you the Green Monster.
Before you gag and stop reading, let me explain. First of all, you really can't taste the spinach! I promise you that you can't. I did a test run on my boyfriend, who, like most guys, prefers hot dogs, tacos and nachos over spinach, tofu and fruit. Sigh. He was adamant at first, too, but once he tried the legendary Green Monster he never went back. He was amazed that you really could NOT taste the greens in the drink and now he adds an obligatory four cups of spinach daily to his protein shakes. I swear.
If you are like most Americans you probably aren't getting in all your veggie servings per day. Adding even just one cup of greens to your morning shake puts you ahead of the gang and starts your day on the right foot. Raw spinach is a great source of antioxidants, vitamin C, calcium and lipoic acid, which prevents age-related macular degeneration. When you cook the spinach, however, most of these amazing benefits are lost, which is why you get the most bang for your buck when you eat it raw. (Juicing also squeezes the best nutrients from vegetables).
Since I've started having regular Green Monsters about a month ago, I have noticed my skin clearing up, my energy levels soaring and my skin glowing. My boyfriend, who suffers from low energy levels and headaches due to a high stress corporate job, has raved about the benefits as well, claiming that he feels better than ever and has more energy than ever before. We both don't even drink coffee. (Read how I kicked the habit).
But don't believe me. Try it for yourself! Start slow by just adding a small amount of greens (I prefer organic baby spinach) to your smoothie and then go from there. My favorite combination is 4 cups spinach, 1 frozen banana, 1 cup almond milk, 1 tbsp raw almond butter and 1 scoop brown rice protein. This creamy and satisfying smoothie keeps my energy levels up all day long and has 15 grams of high quality protein to boot.
Comments (19)
Showing 1-19 of 19
I love green smoothies! Have you tried fresh aloe? wow talk about good for your insides, just cut it open and slice out the soft inside. Ginger and carrot are good too. As for greens we grow kale in our garden and it is delicious blended with bananas. And Spirulina is so damn good for you too. This may be taking this too far but, I use the rinsewater from the blender and cups for my plants, they love it as much as I do!
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Great post, Jenna! I, too, have jumped on the Green Monster bandwagon and I have to say that I am a fan. I like using coconut water sometimes for the extra potassium and electrolytes. Talk about delicious and refreshing.
So glad that the green smoothies have nourished your skin!! Thank you for sharing your experiences :-)
I can also say that my fiancé loves these! Granted, he won't go to the kitchen and make them himself but he'll drink it if I make it for him! I drink one everyday! Great article.
Call me crazy, but I actually think those smoothies look pretty good! They're so pretty and colorful! I might have to try one some day soon, even though I just have a regular Oster blender, no fancy VitaMix for me!
I hope Angela doesn't mind you using the term "Green Monster" since she pretty much came up with it.
Unfortunately I have to agree with the anonymous post above...Angela over at www.ohsheglows.com more or less invented and named the Green Monster and made them main stream in the food blog world. I think a credit to her is more than due.
Holly and Anon your posts made me laugh. No one person invented the green monster. People have been making them for years just not in the blog world: a friend of mine has been drinking them for a long time and a local coffee shop makes them too and has been for at least three years. Besides, I don't think Jenna claimed to invent them. She just gave us a great recipe to try them at home. I think it is pretty safe to say the name and the style are in the "public domain."
I have been adding spinach to my smoothies for a few years. It is true, you really can't taste it. My kids couldn't believe it and now they love it because of the color!!
I just started making Green Monsters (after reading about them on MANY bloggers' websites) and I love them. The first one was weird, but the second and third went down very nice and I can't wait until the next time I have one! Now I'm addicted. :-)
always considerate to give credit/ link where due if one is aware of it. many bloggers, many food enthusiasts, no need to compete, non-threatening. RAW spinach is a problem? I have heard of high oxalic acid content/ calcium leaching? leaves a tingle on my tongue when I eat it raw. Any thoughts on this? Raw is not always better with vegetables. Cooking can increase bio-availability of nutrients/ decrease negative inputs, in certain cases.
I am tempted to try this it looks delish and I have heard so many great things about eating raw spinach! Can't believe the cattiness of people grow up! PS the term green monster has also been known as jealousy!
A simple shout out to Angela would be considerate. After all, the term "Green Monsters" has her name written all over it!
Thanks for the recipe. I've been making them since reading about them on your blog. I share mine with my 3 year old son. He LOVES them.
Hi there- Thought I'd follow up on my above comment since it seems to have caused a bit of unintended controversy. Wasn't intending to come off as catty, just thought that Angela would appreciate a link, or a shout out as I know what those daily "hits" mean to blogger. Apologies!
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