The First Green Smoothie That Didn't Make Me Gag

I know it's not the most attractive title, but it's true. Not only did it NOT send me running for the kitchen sink, I actually enjoyed it. I consider myself a fairly healthy person. I eat at least 4 fruits and vegetables daily, I drink almost a gallon of water, about 80% of my grains are whole, and we rarely eat processed food. I make my own bread twice a week, jam, ice cream, almond milk, and chocolate sauce, among other things.

We have a juicer, but throwing away all the fiber killed me. So we got a NutriBullet. Oh my gosh, I love this thing. Toss in fruits and veggies whole and it completely liquifies everything. Perfect! Now, I'll admit that I dumped a bunch of different green smoothies down the drain before finally conceding and just making all fruit ones. But I was determined to turn it all around and I recently accepted Desiree's 30-Day Love Your Greens Challenge from Unconventional Kitchen.


I signed up two days before it began, and instantly got the shopping list for the whole month (most of which I had already - we stock tons of produce, raw nuts, flax seed, and whatnot in our house), as well as the recipe for the first day. I figured I may as well give it a shot before starting day to at least make sure I'd be able to choke it down during the actual challenge. It's pretty fill in the blank - choose a liquid, choose a green, add a half a banana and a cup of frozen fruit of your choosing. I plugged in my choices, added a few ice cubes, let the Bullet do it's thang, and gave it a go. 

Oh my goodness, was this thing good! All I could really taste was banana, but not in a bad way, and I don't even like bananas. But I definitely couldn't taste the spinach at all. If your kids like bananas, this has definite potential. It was nice, no, it was good. Is it the only drink I want to drink for the rest of my life? Of course not, but I could definitely drink one a day for a few months. The challenge recipe changes daily, so who knows what I'll be drinking next week, but it's nice to know I have this one as my trusty backup.

Gag-Free Green Smoothie
Makes 2 regular smoothies (perfect for 2 adults or 1 adult and 2 kids)

What I use:

• 2 c. (handfuls) fresh organic spinach
• 1 c. coconut water
• 1/2 banana
• 1 c. fresh pineapple
• 6 ice cubes

How I do it:

If you have a NutriBullet, you can just load it all up in the large cup and blend.

If not, follow these steps with your favorite blender.

1. Blend the spinach and coconut water together until smooth.

2. Add the banana and blend again.

3. Add the pineapple and blend again.

4. Add the ice and blend until perfectly smooth and creamy.

That's it! Enjoy your tasty green smoothie!

The family says:

• K (one of the pickiest eaters I know) shocked me to pieces and said it was really good. I'm still stunned. I really thought he was going to make awful faces, spit it out, and claim I tried to poison him (11 year olds can be so dramatic!). 
• Andrew did a big juicing challenge a while back, and he always uses greens in the NutriBullet, so I knew he'd like it a lot and he did.
• I think we've already covered where I stand on this one. Yay! Thanks Desi!