Rio and I are also perfecting our green smoothie recipe.  Whole Foods sells a green smoothie which he absolutely loves.  They say it contains kale and ginger, it is delicious and costs $6.

The one we’ve been developing at home has included some combination of the following:

• Spinach, but we’ll be moving on to chard since the spinach is pretty much toast with this hot weather.
• Fresh Ginger
• Bananas, frozen or fresh
• Peaches, frozen, canned or fresh
• Apples, peeled
• Pineapple
• Orange Juice
• cilantro (highly optional, a small amount will do but it gives an awesome fresh taste)
• plain yogurt
• ice

I usually put everything in a canning jar or bowl except the spinach and the ice, and blend with an immersion blender.   Enough fruit to fill the jar all the way, and enough orange juice and/or yogurt to pour over the fruit til it’s about half way up the jar.  Puree those, then add the spinach and blend, add the ice last.

I have had a couple of failed green smoothie attempts, and I think the main points to consider are the following.

• Use yellow or white fruits and juices, so the smoothie will be bright green.  Strawberries are yummy, but give you a brownish smoothie, which doesn’t look as delicious.
• Include the fresh ginger.
• Make sure it’s very very cold, ideally at least one ingredient should be frozen.
• Make sure it’s sweet enough, especially if you use more bitter greens like kale.  Some recipes use honey, I didn’t since kids under 2 aren’t supposed to eat honey.   Bananas and OJ add plenty of sweetness.

Anybody have another favorite green smoothie combo?  I want to try avocado, but haven’t yet.

— Katie

Green smoothie in my sippy cup.