Monster smoothie packs a BIG nutrititious punch!

I LOVE fruit smoothies and recently I’ve been playing around with variations of my favorites.  My latest obsession is with Green Monster Smoothies and I’m officially a card-carrying member of the Green Monster Movement.

What’s a green monster smoothie?  Well, if you haven’t heard of it, it’s a fruit smoothie with veggies, like spinach or kale. Spinach and kale are both  fantastic antioxidants and blending up a green monster smoothie is a great way to sneak some healthy veggie servings into your fruit drink.

Today’s green(ish) monster smoothie included blueberries, so it actually turned out a really pretty dark purple.  All the better to hide the spinach, woot!

Here’s my easy, healthy recipe:

• 2 cups of frozen blueberries*
• 2 cups of FRESH spinach (do not use frozen, here’s what happens, lol!)
• 2 cups of milk or I used Soy Nice unsweetened soy milk*
• sweeten to taste or add 2 fresh squeezed oranges if you have a sweet tooth (I don’t sweeten)

*note: if you use fresh blueberries instead of frozen, you will need to add ice – if you use 2 cups of ice, cut back to 1 cup of milk

This recipe makes one big glass with enough for a partial refill.

What are the benefits?  This drink packs a HUGE nutritional punch!

If you have a smoothie for breakfast or lunch, you are well on your way to meeting your nutritional requirements for the day. What a tasty, easy way to get there!

Here’s the breakdown. (Please note, you need to double the values on the charts below as they are based on 1 cup serving sizes instead of the 2 cups in the recipe)

• Combining the 2 cups of  spinach and the 2 cups of blueberries, this monster smoothie gives you a whopping 20% of your daily iron requirements

2 cups of raw spinach:

• contains 112% of your Vitamin A for the day
• Has only 14 calories
• Contains the second highest amount of antioxidants (approximately 5630 OACs) of all veggies
• Counts as 2 servings of vegetables out of your 3-5 recommended servings per day

2 cups of blueberries:

• contains 50% of your daily fiber requirements
• contains the third highest amount of antioxidants (about 2800 OACs) of all fruits
• counts as 3-4 servings of fruit out of your 2-4 recommended servings per day

So you can see how just having this one drink for breakfast can start your day off right! And talk about antioxidants…I thinkI felt myself getting younger with every sip, lol! (Too bad I didn’t notice any improvements in the mirror – but it’s inside that counts right? )

Have you tried a green monster smoothie? What’s your favorite recipe? Leave a comment and let me know.

And if you haven’t joined the Green Monster Movement, give it a go, you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

Want another variation? Try the Green Monster Smoothie recipe at She-fit.com – her second version (she used frozen spinach in her first) turned out great and looks spectacular! There are also links to more recipes you can try.

Bon appetite!

~ Melanie