My journey of giving up alcohol for the Lent is almost over.  In the meantime, I thought I would supplement the urge to drink with something besides sweet tea. I love fresh juices and smoothies but I don’t drink enough of them.  I’ve been drinking a ton of sweet tea lately but making my own green smoothie was definitely worth it.  A common complaint that a lot of us have with trying to eat healthy or trying juicing at home is that it’s too expensive and you’re right.  Sometimes prices can get a bit out of control especially when you’re on a budget but want to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The great thing about this smoothie is that you can play with the flavors and textures but also, it’s relatively affordable and very easy to make.  You won’t break the bank and you still have a delicious and healthy smoothie packed with nutrients and your favorite fruits. I followed “the formula”.  Have you seen these formulas yet floating around on Pinterest? I pinned recently and was immediately convinced I needed to make a green smoothie. So here we are.  I’ll show you how to make an easy, simple and delicious green smoothie.

         This photo makes me laugh because this photo is missing the almond milk that I used. Oh well.

The “formula” is pretty easy: 2 cups of a leafy green (spinach, kale, collards, etc.); 2 cups of a liquid (water, almond milk, coconut water, etc.); 3 cups of fruit (bananas, mangoes, apples, pineapples, grapes, etc.).  

For my smoothie, I used spinach, almond milk, 1 cup of chopped mangoes, 1 cup of frozen pineapples and 2 ripe
bananas.  I had to stop myself from eating the mango that I was using…so good.  Make sure you use at least one frozen fruit to chill the
smoothie; this also eliminates having to use ice, which waters down your
smoothie.  Dole has great frozen fruit chunks; I used their frozen pineapples. 

Another note: be sure to blend your smoothie in batches. Blend your leafy green and your liquid first, then when you add the rest of the ingredients, blend again.  This helps you not have a chewy smoothie.  Gross.

You can also made this smoothie using green tea matcha powder.  Certainly you can ‘boost’ your smoothie with protein powder, chia seeds or acai powder. I sprinkled a bit of cinnamon on top of my finished product just to give it a bit of extra flavor – it smelled nice too.  Definitely a great way to enter the weekend!

Try it!