Smoothies

I've been on the hunt for a delicious and healthy smoothie recipe for a couple of years now. Everyone tells me that you just throw some fruit or berries in with whatever else sounds good. Blend and voila, you've got yourself a smoothie.

Ask G. This strategy has never worked for me. I'm a good cook, but my OCD requires a recipe. But since I haven't had a recipe I experimented many, many times and never got it right. Too many berries, not enough liquid, bad combo of fruit, too runny, not healthy, the problems were endless.
Lately two different friends have insisted that spinach is a key ingredient in a yummy and healthy smoothie. Then we bought a decent blender. Then we started buying soy milk. Then I found the perfect mix of frozen fruit at Costco. And my recipe was finally born. So I'm going to share my final recipe with you. I'll spell out all the instructions because I wish someone would have done that for me a long time ago. I hope you like them as much as we do. We are totally addicted in this house.

Fruit Smoothies
1 cup spinach juice
2 cups frozen fruit/berries
1/2 frozen banana
2 cups soy milk

I pre-blend my spinach. I buy a big bag at Costco and blend it up right when I buy it. I puree 1 cup of water with 2 cups of tightly packed spinach leaves. It makes a ton, so I keep some in the fridge and freeze the rest for later. (Make sure you reserve a few spinach leaves for a delicious chicken salad for dinner one night.) So to make the smoothie, blend everything together! This amount serves 4-6 people, depending on how big your appetites are.

I'm not a big fan of bananas, but everyone else says they are a MUST. So I usually blend everything else and pour myself a glass then throw the banana in after. I usually make them in the afternoon for our snack, then put some in the fridge for G to have the next morning for breakfast. Sambo loves them and starts freaking out at the sound of the blender. But they are too think for a sippy cup, so I just water his down a bit. One friend uses canned pineapple for her 2 cups of fruit and I've tasted it and it's delicious too. Enjoy!