Green Smoothie- Variation #1- Green PB Monster

I’m loving my Vitamix. It’s truly an incredible machine. One of my favorite things to make with it is a smoothie, and more specifically I’m really enjoying tricking myself into eating more vegetables by making green smoothies.

My green smoothies probably aren’t like a lot of green smoothies that you’ve seen- mostly because there not quite as green! I’ve just taken the first step by adding in some greens to my current base smoothie recipe for the PB Monster smoothie.

Here’s what I do-

I get all my ingredients together (and never mind my husband’s non-dairy coffee creamer in the background!):

Approx 1/2 cup Coconut Milk- here I’m using So Delicious’s Unsweetened coconut milk, you can use any can of dairy/dairy alternative, but for me I use unsweetened coconut milk. So Delicious has this great new product with the same consistency of regular cow’s milk. I also sometimes use coconut milk from the can, Thai Kitchen is my personal fave when I use the can, and you can find it almost anywhere now in the ethic section of your grocery store.

1 Banana- I just use one banana in my smoothie, as I know it does have more natural sugars in it than something like strawberries or blueberries.

Approx. 2 tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder- I like to add a little chocolate to my PB Monster smoothie, just to give it that flavor that we all know and love!

Stevia to taste- Stevia is a tricky little thing! Is it bitter? Is it too sweet? Is it not sweet enough? Honestly the answer could be yes to all questions, but you really just have to play with it. I personally like to use the pure 100% stevia extract powder, which has a tiny little micro scoop for the powder, and in this case I used 4 little scoops. You just really have to play with it though. I also use the liquid extract with the dropper, and honestly I am still tweaking my stevia preference. I’m even growing my own! Stay tuned for a future post on Stevia 411!

Approx. 2 tablespoons Peanut Butter- I’m using a peanut butter made with Valencia peanuts and flaxseeds, available at one of my favorite grocery stores- Trader Joes!

Two handfuls of Organic Baby Spinach- I get my baby spinach at Costco- you get a huge container for less than what a typical small bag costs at most grocery stores- plus it’s organic! Awesome!!!

Ice, your preference- I just used a small handful of ice, but you might want to use more or even less, it really depends on the consistency you’re looking for.

I put all of these in my Vita-Mix, in the order that I have listed above, and you will see what looks like an odd combination in your blender!

From here it’s a super quick process, starting on variable 1, quickly turning it up to variable 10, then switching up to high. I use the tamper to get everything smushed down into the blades. After approx. 15-20 seconds it’s done! Pour it in a glass, and tah-dah! Breakfast is served!

As you can see, my smoothie is definitely green, it’s just not that bright neon green that I used to think of when I pictured a green smoothie! At this point baby spinach is my green of choice due to its high nutrient density, and the fact that in smoothies it is practically undetectable! I’m going to also give Romaine and Kale a try in the near future, so stay tuned!