Green smoothie

I am no health nut. I think maybe the blog speaks for me, in that respect. I do love vegetables though, even if I haven't posted a lot of veg recipes yet. Brussels sprouts, bok choy, broccoli--it's all good. One of my favorites though, is spinach. It's so versatile. It shines in salads, alfredos, and, one of my favorite Korean banchan dishes, sigeumchi namul.

However, this post is not about highlighting the glories of spinach. It's about burying it deep in a blend of yogurt, banana, peanut butter, and almond milk. It's about hiding its flavor so well, you can't identify what makes this smoothie green. I discovered this recipe last year and drank it frequently last summer. I gave it up during the cold months, because smoothies don't appeal to me when it's snowy outside. It's spring though, so now it's time to break out the blender!

You definitely need a blender for this. It's super simple, but you have to remember to peel, slice, and freeze a ripe banana the night before you plan to make it. It tastes like a peanut butter banana smoothie and I really love it for breakfast. The first few times I drank it, I had to hide it in an opaque container because I couldn't get over how it tasted like peanut butter but looked like liquefied grass. Tasting peanut butter and seeing green created an uncomfortable cognitive dissonance. Now I get why green ketchup was such a disaster. I've gotten over that now though.

Trust me when I say that you won't look like this:

When you try this:

Enjoy!


Green smoothie
(makes about 16oz)
from Iowa Girl Eats

Ingredients
1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
1 cup vanilla almond milk (you can use other kinds of milk if that's what you prefer--I've done both soy and skim)
1 1/2 tbsp peanut butter
1 ripe banana, sliced and frozen
2 big handfuls of fresh spinach (about 3-4 oz)

Note: If you use plain yogurt and unsweetened almond milk, add a tablespoon or two of honey.

Place all the ingredients in the blender and blend until liquefied. Serve immediately.