Happy New Year! How did you spend your holiday? We rang in the New Year with way too much delicious spicy Sichuan food and a bottle of sparkling French wine. The next day, with a mimosa in hand, I revamped my recipe index so it’s now mostly text-based, which I prefer over the visual index. I hope this makes it easier to browse through my site, but please take look and let me know what you think.
It’s hard to believe that the holiday season is actually over- though for us the holidays extend until our wedding anniversary (8 years tomorrow). We had a great anniversary dinner last night followed by a beautiful snowy walk downtown. But after the high of the holidays, January always feels like a bummer of a month for me. I really throw myself into December and it feels like such a let down to take down the tree, take down the lights, and switch from eating holiday goodies to eating healthy normal food. Luckily, there are good ways to eat healthy food that tastes great too. When I’m not eating oatmeal, I can usually be found having this delicious basic green smoothie to start my day.
Smoothies seem to be everywhere these days, and there are a million recipes on the web that are worth exploring. Personally, it’s hard for me to eat enough veggies, especially when I just want to eat all the cookies, so this smoothie is a great way to sneak in a few cups of leafy greens. This basic green smoothie is a good starting point for those just starting out in the green smoothie world. It’s a simple recipe; just add unsweetened almond milk, fresh spinach, banana, frozen mango, and milled ground flax seed (if you wish) to a blender and blend until liquefied.
I promise it will taste great and won’t taste like spinach! Once you’re comfortable with this version you can switch out or add ingredients (berries instead of mango, soy milk instead of almond milk, medjool dates or agave if you need a sweetener, different greens, avocado, soft tofu, peanut butter, raw cacoa, etc). Though I imagine this would taste incredible if you had a high powered blender like a Vitamix or Blendtec, I use a normal blender and it’s still great. Try it and let me know what you think. And don’t worry, Sunday Cocktails will be back next week!
Basic green smoothie
Makes: 1 serving (16 oz)
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh spinach (about 2 handfuls)
- 1 cup frozen mango
- ½ ripe banana (frozen or fresh)
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk*
- 1 Tbsp milled flax seed*
Directions
Add all ingredients to a blender and blend on high until liquified. If you have a low powered blender you may need to blend the liquid with the spinach first, and then add the other ingredients. You can switch out the frozen mango for frozen berries if you wish, but note that the color won’t be as pretty and you may need a sweetener. Medjool dates, honey, maple syrup, or agave are all good choices.
Notes