Raw spinach is one of those super foods I sometimes feel obligated to love. I love spinach cooked into everything from eggs, artichoke dip, lentil stew and mushroom risotto, but I find raw spinach––particularly in salads––just a bit too leafy for my liking.
My blender sure doesn’t seem to mind it though.
It took several attempts to get the spinach:liquid:frozen fruit ratio just right but last weekend I perfected this Simple Green Protein Smoothie, without protein powder or fruit juice and for about one-third of the price of what I’d normally pay.
Not only is it packed with vitamins and minerals but the combo of Greek and regular vanilla yogurt gets it to that 4:1 carb-to-protein ratio––the sweet spot for muscle recovery after a tough workout or training run.
If you’re new to homemade green smoothie making, I have a few tips:
Blend your greens and water first. Don’t choke on a half-shredded spinach leaf like I did.
Pre-freeze your fruit in individual portions. It makes the process super quick and you won’t need to water it down with ice.
Make sure all ingredients are cold––including the water. Like refrigerator cold. It’ll help keep the consistency perfectly thick and creamy.
Now go slurp down one of these babies for breakfast and tell me what you think!
- 2 cups baby spinach, lightly packed
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 cups pineapple chunks, frozen
- 1/2 small banana, frozen
- 1/2 cup 2% Greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoons honey
Puree spinach and water in a high-power blender. Add frozen fruit, yogurt and honey and blend until smooth.
Do you prefer to eat or drink your raw, leafy greens?
You should try a Blendtec blender. You can put all your spinach and liquids, fruits and yogurt in all at once. It has presets that do the trick every time. Make them sponsor you.. The blendtec are available at Costco and Amazon.com.. Sometimes eBay..
Made this for breakfast today, my first attempt at any smoothie. It turned out perfectly and tastes wonderful! Learned NOT to freeze bananas on a paper plate, too! :)
Funny, this recipe is quite similar to my good old favourite I just wrote about in my comment on your sponsored 12 smoothies post.
I don’t mix fruit & greens with diary products though, because the calcium & vitamin C combo isn’t so great.
This smoothie looks perfect and I love your beautiful photos.
I like to eat and drink my greens. I love huge salads and adding greens to scrambled eggs, but I also like green smoothies. The more greens, the better. :)
I’ve been loving spinach in my smoothies lately. Right now, my go-to is frozen berries, spinach, Greek yogurt and almond milk. I usually just toss things into the blender, but I never know what I’m going to end up with. I love your tips – hopefully they’ll improve my consistency.
These days I drink my leafy greens mostly. I bought a Nutribullet a couple of months ago and that has made making smoothies with kale and spinach very easy. I’ve never pre-sorted my ingredients before, and that’s a great time-saving tip. Thanks!
i havent had smoothies in so long…this looks delicious!
This is great! So yummy and perfect ratio! My clients will love this. I am posting it outside my office.
Great tip about blending the spinach with the liquid first! My smoothies always turn out a bit… chunky :)
This is similar to the one I make all the time but I use coconut water and add a whole orange. Yummy!