Hello, friends and welcome to this weeks edition of What I Ate Wednesday! I’ve realized that I’ve never officially posted the recipe of my go-to green smoothie and since this has been my breakfast (sometimes lunch) pretty much every day for the month of January; I thought I better give you guys the lowdown and get this up on my Recipage.
In my opinion, this green smoothie is the tastiest healthy smoothie I’ve made yet. Now don’t get me wrong, adding a little chocolate and increasing the peanut butter may be tastier, but we’re talking healthiest too! I’ve never been a huge fan of celery, but in this smoothie you’ll barely even know it’s there and you can’t taste the spinach at all.
- 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 2-3 large handfuls fresh spinach (or other green)
- 2 stalks celery
- ¼-1/2 of a cucumber
- 1 ripe banana, frozen
- 1 tablespoon peanut butter (a handful of nuts or other nutbutter work too)
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1-2 packets of stevia (a date or a little honey would work too)
- a few cubes of ice (optional)
- Combine all of the ingredients (except ice) in a high speed blender. Start with the first ingredient listed and work your way down, so the milk should be on the bottom and the chia seeds and stevia should be on the top. *If you put your chia seeds at the bottom, they will clump up and stick to the bottom.
- Blend the ingredients until smooth and fully combined.
- If desired, add ice and blend again.
- Garnish with fruit, granola and/or shredded coconut, if desired. Enjoy!
Of course, you can be adventurous and change up the ingredients. For example; try coconut milk instead of almond milk, ground flax instead of chia seeds, kale instead of spinach, apple instead of banana and/or almond butter instead of peanut butter.
Yesterday was a really busy day at work and I spent lots of time trying to get all of my tax info together to give to my tax lady, so I’m deferring from the normal What I Ate Wednesday post with pictures of everything that I ate for the day. For a more pleasant visual experience; I did put a collage together of some recycled pictures which pretty much sums up my day of eats, though. 😉
My Keurig is back in working order (for now) so I was able to enjoy a cup of Coconut Mocha coffee with 2 stevia packets and a splash of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. Breakfast was, of course, the above smoothie. I’ve been drinking the smoothies on my way to work. This works out great because I save time in the morning. Baby carrots for a mid-morning snack. Lunch was my favorite Trader Joe’s salad, the Field Fresh Chopped Salad with grilled white chicken. I added a little extra spinach. The dressing is sooooo good. Strangely enough, I didn’t have my normal apple for my afternoon snack. Instead I was feeling one of the NuGo Nutrition Bars. They’re really good and filling enough to keep me going until dinner time. I also enjoyed another little treat before dinner, though, a Starbucks Grande Veranda Blend with two pumps of sugar-free cinnamon dolce, two stevia packets and a splash of steamed breve with the foam. I waited way too long to try the cinnamon dolce…. oh, it is so good! Dinner was half a veggie club sandwich and a cup of veggie chili from McAlister’s. I totally forgot the picture… oops. This was my first time trying the veggie chili and it definitely won’t be the last.
Something to think about…..
What deliciousness did you enjoy yesterday?
If you’re a smoothie gal (or guy), like myself, what ingredient is a must in your smoothie?
Have you tried the cinnamon dolce from Starbucks? yum, yum, yum!
Have a wonderful Wednesday and be sure to click the link below to check out other What I Ate Wednesday posts!
Welcome y'all! I'm the girl, Kim, behind Kim's Cravings. Please stick around and join me on my journey to create healthy, clean and yummy food for myself and my family.
I literally just made this smoothie 🙂 it’s currently freezing up a bit more in the freezer though.
I hope you liked it as much as I do!
It has been far too long since I’ve had a green smoothie. I enjoyed sushi yesterday!
Lucky you! I NEED sushi soon!
Your pics are always so pretty– I love smoothies!
Thanks, smoothie sista!
Beautiful pictures of that smoothie! The addition of cucumber sounds really refreshing.
I’m glad your Keurig is back in working order. My brother got one for Christmas and I don’t know what my parents and him would do if it broke down. Haha.
Thanks, Madison. I hear you on the Keurig… I was just about to break down and buy a new one, until I got it working.
I never would have thought to add celery to my green smoothie! Can you taste it a lot?
I definitely have to have banana and peanut butter in my green smoothies! Another combo I love is pineapple, peach, and orange for a brighter flavor 🙂
You really can’t taste the celery, especially if you just stick to one stalk. I love pineapple and peach too, but I’ve never tried orange. I’ll have to give that a try tomorrow because I have some oranges.
I love banana green smoothies and have one every day, but haven’t tried adding celery to it. For me orange, banana and spinach is a must in a smoothie. I also love adding beets. 🙂
I still need to try an orange smoothie. I have some oranges, so I may try that tomorrow.
It’s kind of crazy.. Despite the fact that it’s the middle of winter and crazy cold, my smoothie cravings have definitely kicked up a notch. I didn’t drink many throughout the summer, and now that it’s below freezing, I’m craving something cold and creamy? Way to make sense, body. And a must for my smoothies is definitely frozen bananas.
I know…. I always crave ice cream in the winter. Well, in the summer too!
Goodness I worked at Starbucks for just about 3 years during college. I had my fair share or skinny cinnamon dolce lattes. They were my fave for a while. Now I’m happy with a skim or soy latte with just a shake of the cinnamon dolce sprinkles on top! They were always my favorite part.
Your smoothie looks great! I’d never think to try cucumber in a smoothie, I may give it a whirl soon!
I’ll have to try just the sprinkles. You really can’t even tell the cucumbers in there.
Your smoothie looks amazing and I am going to try it today!
I hope you love it!
Mmm green smoothies. So delicious no matter what you throw in there! My fav combo right now is spinach, kale, banana, pear and water (with a few other mix ins).
I love pear in my smoothies too!
This has to be the prettiest smoothie, ever! Yummy
Thanks, Nichole! It’s pretty tasty too!
My smoothies always have greens and protein powder and lots of ice.
Where do you buy those straws?
I like mine slushy too. I got the straws at Target, pretty recently.
I need to start adding more greens to my smoothies, your’s looks amazing!
Thanks, Courtney. You can’t even taste the spinach. 😉
So excited about this…my husband and I have been on a smoothie kick lately, but have yet to try a green one (shocking, right?!) Bookmarking this to get the ingredients!
If you use spinach, you can’t even taste it. Good luck! Hope you like it!
Green smoothie looks delicious! I’ve had my eye on some TJs salads, but never tried them. Yours looks delicious – I’ll have to give them a go!
All of the ones that I’ve tried, I’ve really liked!
I have not tried the cinnamon drink but will have to! Love the background of your smoothie picture 🙂 I also like to include frozen bananas in mine because they increase the thick consistency!
I agree, frozen bananas are a must!
That smoothie looks so good! What a cute, colorful picture! I’ve been in search for a good green smoothie recipe, I’m so gonna try this out sometime. As weird as it sound, I love me some cottage cheese in my smoothies. I can’t taste the cheese it all with the fruit and smoothies, but it adds so much protein to my diet!
Cottage cheese is a great add-in. I’ve done that before too!
The one ingredient that makes a difference for me is a teaspoon of cinnamon (for one serving)!
Oh yes…. I usually add a good sprinkling of cinnamon too!
I’ve been loving smoothies with lots of fruit lately! I buy bags of frozen mixed berries, cherries, peaches and strawberries and combine whatever I’m in the mood for and then toss in some spinach. Soo yummy 😀