My Morning Green Smoothie

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Like many of us, I renewed my vows to begin the new year eating a healthier diet. OK, so I stopped pretending to like oatmeal and took the plunge – into a green smoothie.

I had heard a lot about green smoothies but had always turned my nose up at the idea of them. My early smoothies left me with a bitter taste in my mouth and a hankering for toast with jam and butter. More experimenting and a snazzy new blender goaded me into getting my money’s worth, as my family used to say, and soon I became hooked on them.

The beauty of a green smoothie is that you can play with your ingredients and forego serious measuring. I like to add some unsweetened frozen fruit to fresh ingredients, just because I enjoy the icy temperature and texture.

Make it easy on yourself and use pre-washed, packaged organic greens.

Many thanks to Stacy for inspiring me to take the green smoothie challenge, and to Kim for cheerleading and giving me the tip to add stevia. (It takes away the slightly bitter aftertaste of the greens.)

Yields 2 generous cups

  • 1/3 to 1/2 cup organic nonfat milk
  • 2-3 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
  • 2 cups loosely packed organic baby spinach or (roughly chopped) organic kale
  • 5-6 chunks unsweetened frozen mango
  • 1 organic navel orange, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 4-6 drops stevia extract

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender. Purée on high one minute.

2. Serve at once.

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20 Responses to My Morning Green Smoothie

  1. apuginthekitchen January 26, 2012 at 5:14 pm #

    Looks great Liz, I have a smoothie every morning, my next one I am going green!

    • lizthechef January 26, 2012 at 7:43 pm #

      Try it – I still cannot believe I did it – and enjoy them – honest.

  2. Kim - Liv Life January 26, 2012 at 5:44 pm #

    We do one similar to this as well! Liv didn’t even know that I had put the spinach in, but since I’ve told her how healthy it is she actually asks now “Did you add my spinach??”. We do ours with blueberry too and she gobbles it up. I’m liking the chopped orange in here, I always use juice, but why not the whole orange? Thanks, Liz!

    • lizthechef January 26, 2012 at 7:44 pm #

      Beautiful – we are so lucky to live here with all the fresh, available produce. Go, Liv!

  3. The Wimpy Vegetarian January 26, 2012 at 8:53 pm #

    I’ve been thinking about a green smoothie for a couple months now. I consider this recipe a nudge to do it. Thanks for the recipe, Liz! I’m going to try it as soon I get to the store and get everything for it.!

    • lizthechef January 27, 2012 at 8:22 am #

      It sounds funny, but I truly enjoy them now, once I added the stevia. A small bottle of drops was about $7 at Whole Foods.

  4. Oui, Chef January 27, 2012 at 7:37 am #

    I love smoothies in the morning but haven’t yet gathered the courage to try a green one. I’m normally a blueberry-banana guy. Perhaps this lovely post will inspire me?

    • lizthechef January 27, 2012 at 8:23 am #

      Small small, Steve, with just a small handful of greens to your regular smoothie?

  5. midnitechef January 27, 2012 at 2:52 pm #

    We’ve just made papaya-banana-milk smoothies, no sugar needed 🙂 I like to add a little ice to keep it cold, plus the texture like you said. I’ve always wondered about a green smoothie, maybe this is a good experiment for Hubby 😛

    • lizthechef January 27, 2012 at 3:09 pm #

      Try adding just a few greens to your regular recipe and go from there – good luck!

  6. TasteFood January 28, 2012 at 9:01 am #

    What a wonderful smoothie – I love them as a pick me up. I still call coffee my breakfast, sigh.

    • lizthechef January 28, 2012 at 9:31 am #

      I hope I can stick with them – so far, so good.

  7. sippitysup (@sippitysup) January 29, 2012 at 7:23 pm #

    I know it’s good for me, but “it ain’t easy being green”! GREG

    • lizthechef January 30, 2012 at 10:51 am #

      Yep, I was slow to jump on the band wagaon here.

  8. bakeanything January 30, 2012 at 10:42 am #

    kale and mango combination sounds amazing! love green smoothies! stay healthy LIz (:

    • lizthechef January 30, 2012 at 10:52 am #

      That was the combo here this morning – welcome back, by the way X0

  9. Kim February 15, 2012 at 8:04 am #

    Thanks for the shout out!

    I was slow to get on the smoothie wagon, too. It wasn’t until I was strolling through Costco that I watched a demo and took the plunge. Best $400 I spent last year. And every time I drink one, I feel like Superwoman.

    You remind me that it has been just over a week since I’ve had a green smoothie. (Can’t tolerate tanything col at the moment.) But I hope to get back on track soon.

    I bought my liquid Stevia back in November… I still have half the bottle; that thing will last a long time!!

    [K]

  10. Averie @ Averie Cooks March 2, 2013 at 11:17 am #

    Perfect smoothie. Yes, a smidge of stevia, agave, etc takes away that bitter greens taste which is not pleasant, especially in the a.m.! Mango, orange & Greek yogurt sound perfect!

    • Liz March 2, 2013 at 2:25 pm #

      Sometimes, the only green I can tolerate in the morning is a cucumber –

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