Green Smoothie

A few years ago, a friend told me about green smoothies.  Made from spinach.  

I grew up with canned spinach - which is nasty.  As an adult I didn't really know what to do with spinach and I never would have thought to grind it up with fruit for some deliciousness.

Anyway, she made one for everyone who was there (although she added a beet which I think tastes like dirt), and the smoothie - if you could ignore the beet - was surprisingly delicious.  

But my kids will never drink it if they see leaves go into it, I told her.  

Do it before you call them in, she said.  Blend the spinach up with a liquid first.  Then have them come in and help add the fruit.  They will never know.

I could see her point.  What kid would think their mom was crazy enough to grind up leaves to drink?

Thus began our love affair with green smoothies.

Or Purple Hulk smoothies, as the boys nicknamed them.  Because it starts out green like Hulk and then turns purple when you add the berries, bananas, and peaches.

I took a picture of the transformation because I thought it was pretty. 

A few weeks after we started enjoying these, I thought, that since I was pretty sure the kids were hooked, it was okay to let them see what really goes into the Hulk part.  It was a risk.  A big risk.  But it paid off.  The kids thought it was the coolest.  You can't get them to eat a leaf in regular life.  Normally, anyway.  But, Purple Hulk smoothies?  Throw the leaves in!  The more, the better. 

We eat these all the time.  And love them.  

I am so grateful to Natalie for sharing this recipe with us.

To make a green smoothie:

Add: 

a cup or so of orange juice

a blender full of fresh spinach.

Mix until smooth

Add:

a banana

two handfuls of *frozen peaches 

about a cup of *frozen berries

Blend

*If it is summer and you have fresh peaches and berries available, use those and add a cup of ice to make smoothie cold. 

So simple.  So yummy.  So pretty to see it take shape.