Green Smoothie

Weelicious | William Morrow, 2012

I’m pretty lucky to have kids who eat their greens. But even if I didn’t, I’m pretty sure this Green Smoothie would be irresistible to them. This smoothie packs a lot of goodness and yumminess into one glass. I came up with the name “Green Monster Smoothie” for it because it’s a monster of nutrition and it’s so delicious it’s scary. If you have a kid who avoids eating greens, this just may be the answer to your prayers. On a vegetable nutrition ranking, spinach is way up at the top in terms of vitamins and minerals—there’s no doubt why Popeye ate so much of the stuff. It also gives this delicious drink a beautiful green color as well as a mild, sweet flavor that will surprise you.–Catherine McCord

LC Yes, We Went There Note

Yes. We went there. To that green smoothie place. But close your eyes, take a sip, and we swear you’d never guess this sweet, banana-y smoothie is suffused with good-for-you green things. Honest. We find that the basic proportion of banana, milk of some sort, and a little something to sweeten things up hides all manner of sins, er, healthful ingredients. And not to dissuade you from tossing in spinach or chard or kale or other green things, but we’ve also swooned over this basic banana smoothie made without the green stuff. Other times, we’ve found kids to like it with a handful of berries or papaya or mango. We’ve slipped peanut butter in there, too. A shot of vodka may make it go down even easier. Oh, and when we remember, we slice ripe (or borderline overripe) bananas and freeze them before blending for a smoothie that’s uber thick and creamy. That’s all we got. Care to add anything?

Green Smoothie Recipe

Hands-On Time: 5 minutes | Total Time: 5 minutes | Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

Directions

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