I hear people talking about how they cannot live without blue Gatorade or red Powerade.
But I never hear anyone say they cannot live without their green smoothie.
I get it. I’ve really never been into the green smoothie thing. They are green, for crying out loud. And usually taste like sludge.
Okay, so this here smoothie recipe is kale-free (do I hear loud clapping?). The bad news is that it does have a few green ingredients. But the semi-good news is that the sludge factor is super low.
Pretend It’s Red Smoothie Recipe
(1 serving)
4 oz (120 ml) light canned coconut milk
1/4 c (20 gm) dry old-fashioned oats
20-25 gm vanilla protein powder by protein content (I used 1 scoop of Garden of Life)
1 Tbsp (10g) hemp seeds
1/3 medium banana (40 gm)
1 Tbsp (15 gm) almond butter
1 c (42 gm) mixed dark leafy greens (I used this mix)
1 kiwi fruit (62 gm); I peeled the skin off the ends and left the skin on the rest of the fruit, but you can peel the whole fruit if you prefer.
8-12 oz (240-360 ml) water and ice for blending to desired consistency
Add all of the ingredients to your blender and do it up!
Note: this isn’t one of those sweet tasting smoothies, so if you need to notch up the sweetness, add more banana and you’ll be good to go.
Basic nutrition info:
~515 calories
40 gm carbohydrate
9 gm fiber
33 gm protein
25 gm fat
Bonus: Over 9 mg iron and 70 mg of vitamin C - helpful for those needing more iron
To be truthful, I selected these ingredients aiming for a higher than usual iron content, with added vitamin C to help increase iron absorption. I chose the canned coconut milk since it’s calcium-free and we know that calcium doesn’t play well with iron absorption.
You’re wondering about taste, aren’t you? I will say that I surprisingly enjoyed it. The consistency was thick (how I like it!) but not like drinking blended hay and shrubbery like some of those other “green smoothies”. Probably because this concoction didn’t have a load of kale in it… yet we were still able to achieve a nutritional goal of higher iron content.
If you’re in doubt, just close your eyes when you drink this one. Or pretend it’s a red color and you’ll be fine.
Be brave, my friends.
-Dina