Tropical Green Smoothie

This week, I got to do something I LOVE – work at a health fair! I always have a fun time at health fairs because I love getting to talk to lots of people, face-to-face, about food and lifestyle behaviors that can make eating healthy a whole lot easier.

THIS time, it was all about healthy snacks. And freshly blended tropical green smoothies. People were really diggin’ the smoothie – and some even came back for seconds. So obviously, I had to post the recipe up here to share the green goodness!

As I’ve mentioned, I love a healthy shortcut, and this smoothie’s got them in spades. You don’t need to prep ANYTHING. And you don’t even need a knife. There’s basically no clean-up except the blender and two measuring cups. I use pre-washed spinach, which is a good time-saver, and the frozen fruit makes it cold (so you don’t need to make ice)!

Here’s what you’ll need in the order you need it: (Makes 2 servings) 

• 1-1/2 cups of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 cup tightly packed fresh spinach
• 1-1/2 cups frozen mango chunks
• 1/2 banana
• 1/3 cup soft calcium-set tofu (optional)
• 1 teaspoon honey

Directions:

1. Blend the almond milk and spinach together. Start on a low speed, then up to medium, and then high. Blend until you can’t see any little green bits anymore (see photo below)
2. Add the mango, banana, tofu, and honey. Blend together starting at a low speed and working up to high.
3. Since this makes two servings, you can drink one immediately and freeze for another day. You can freeze them in an ice-cube tray or silicon muffin pan and then toss in an air-tight container! (Check out this article from TheKitchn about freezing smoothies).

The smoothie I made for the health fair was a simple fruit and vegetable blend (it didn’t have the tofu). But, I recommended people add some of their favorite protein and/or healthy fat to help them feel full if they were going to drink this alone. Some examples are protein powder, spirulina powder, nut or seed butter, flax seed, Greek yogurt, or calcium-set tofu.

Blend the almond milk and greens until you can’t see bits of spinach anymore. That the secret to making your smoothie nice and well, smooth.