Kayla’s Green Monster

So I’ve seen these Green Monsters around on a lot of blogs and was always kind of grossed out by the thought. Spinach? In a smoothie? No thanks.

But then I bought some spinach for a recipe and ended up with a lot of the scary green veggie left over (I say scary because I’m pretty sure that up until my first bite of pasta that night I had never knowingly eaten Popeye’s favorite food.)I was an incredibly picky eater as a kid (I’m still working on it) and pretty much refused to eat anything green. I’m happy to say that I now love many green items, but I do still have a hard time eating leafy greens.

So I figured a GM was possibly a good way to try to get more greens in my diet and decide to trust my favorite bloggers and give a GM a try.

And guess what: it was awesome! I was really afraid to try this scary colored drink but it’s actually really good! I always thought everyone was so full of it when they said “you can’t taste the spinach at all!” but they were telling the truth!!

My Green Monster consisted of:
about 1 cup of Organic Vanilla Soy Milk
1 Small Banana
1 Teaspoon of Simply Skippy Peanut Butter
2 Frozen Peach Slices
a Handful of Spinach

I just mixed it all up in my Magic Bullet.

And I’ve had many GMs since this one, I absolutely love them!

Alyssa’s Green Monster:

I bravely tried my first Green Monster about 5 weeks ago and, since then, not a day has gone by where I haven’t had at LEAST one of these delicious treats!  Yes, you heard me right.  I just referred to a drink whose main ingredient is spinach as a treat!  Believe me, this healthy blended concoction is nothing but delicious.  I’ve taste-tested a few different “recipes” and have found my perfect Green Monster.  I try to start off each morning with this drink – it’s incredibly delicious, it’s filling and it’s healthy!  Kermit’s crazy – it’s easy to be green!

– 1 cup Unsweetened Almond Breeze
– 1 frozen banana
– 2/3 large handfuls of spinach
– 1/4 cup dry oats
– 1/4 cup water

Blend it.  Sip it.  Love it.

Angie’s ‘Not-so-Green’ Monster

One afternoon, after grocery shopping, I decided to make my own green monster….it seems to be the coolest smoothie right now! Working as a dietitian, I actually first made a green smoothie with spinach a few years ago for a wellness camp for kids – we called it “Groovy Green Smoothie” and we were all surprised that it was so good…but I haven’t made one since…so I decided that I would try one today.

Ingredients:
I used 1-cup frozen mixed berries (blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries), one banana, 1 cup vanilla almond breeze, and 2 handfuls of spinach

I think the purple color from the berries was just overpowering…so, Anthony and I each enjoyed a Purple Monster. It still tasted really good and I loved the health benefits of the greens.

Quisha’s Green Monster

Hi Angela!

I have here my favorite Green Monster recipe:
 
-1 frozen banana
-1 scoop Amazing Grass Wheat Grass (substitute a handful of spinach if you have wheat grass allergy)
-1 scoop organic 365 PB
-1 cup almond milk
-1 handful organic spinach (fresh)
 
I’ve attached a pic of my first Green Monster. I drank this in my boyfriend’s Superman glass to get me through it. But it was great and even though I’m allergic to wheat grass, I use double spinach now 🙂

Bobbi‘s Green Monster:

Everyone has been raving about these juices, and I have been wanting to give them a try for quite some time now. I was a little afraid of what this was going to taste like, but I am one to TRY anything.

I used Angela’s recipe,

I also added a little of Odwalla Vanilla Al’Mondo Protein for some extra protein.

ooooo la la…it looks GREEN! Why did it take me so long to try this?!!! It was amazing. It tasted a lot like a banana shake, I couldn’t taste the Kale at ALL!

Sarah‘s Green Monster:

This week, thanks to a feature post on Healthy Ashley’s site, I discovered the wonderful Angela of Oh She Glows! I’ve been following her site for the past few days and I’m so glad I found her She’s also doing a Crap Free Week right now to detox from sugar, but she’s a couple days ahead of me. Anyway, for breakfast, she’s been having what she refers to as “Green Monsters” aka breakfast smoothies that include greens. I had seen people do spinach smoothies before and had always wanted to try one and for some reason she inspired me to do so today.

Here’s what went into my smoothie, taken directly from Angela’s site, with some slight modifications:

1 cup milk

A few ice cubes

Two big handfuls of spinach leaves

1 tbsp ground flax

1 medium banana

Oh…my…word. This was so good it made me wonder why the heck I haven’t been drinking these everyday! What an awesome way to get veggies in first thing in the morning. She was right too, I could not taste the spinach at all, it tasted very much like a banana smoothie. Every once in a while, I could feel the texture of the spinach (and flax) but I think I could’ve blended it a bit longer. Still, that wasn’t bad or anything. Plus look how cool the green color is!

Haleigh‘s Green Monster:

This morning I thought I would be adventurous and try out one of Oh She Glows’ green monsters for breakfast.

I knew that I wouldn’t be able to add any kale or flax for my first green smoothie so I kept it sweet and simple. I was somewhat hesitant at first because I didn’t know if it would keep me full as long as my usual oatmeal does. But, then I thought this breakfast would be perfect before a morning yoga class because it wouldn’t feel heavy in my stomach like oatmeal.

Ingredients:

• 1 small banana, 1 cup vanilla soy milk, and a handful of spinach.

My smoothie tasted mostly of banana and soy milk. I could barely taste the spinach at all which is good because I usually have a sweet oatmeal concoction for breakfast so I need to slowly move toward a more bitter smoothie.

Mara‘s Personalized Green Monster

I refused to try the green monster for the LONGEST time. Spinach? In a smoothie? What?? Then I saw person after person whose food tastes I trusted drinking these beautiful bright green frothy smoothies, and decided “what the heck, I’ll do it.”

I hit up the produce market and got 3 lbs of baby spinach, some strawberries, and a few other things, and that night after dinner, I made myself my very first Green Monster.

I call it “personalized” because I will ONLY drink Green Monsters in my big “M” mug! (Well, or my Amazing Grass cup but thats another story.)

Ingredients:

*3 cups baby spinach
*1 c. vanilla soy milk
*1 very ripe banana
*7 frozen strawberries
*3 slices frozen peaches
*chia seeds
*1 scoop chocolate Jay Robb

It’s the color of springtime, and gives me enough energy to keep up with my students AND my campers!