Hi Angela,

So this is my (condensed) story… my boyfriend and I moved in together in May. We don’t necessarily eat poorly, but definitely not as good as we should. On top of that, I’ve been keeping up with his food intake and in the last 4 months, I’ve gained a good 10-15 pounds. The other day I started reading some random healthy blogs trying to get ideas and inspiration when I came across Oh She Glows and the Green Monsters. Angela, you’re very inspiring and I love the idea of the Green Monsters!

I wanted to try my own, but I’m so new to the world of whey and flax and Greek yogurt. I thought chia seeds were only used for chia pets. 🙂 So with my lack of knowledge, I kept my first Green Monster simple but delicious:

Low fat strawberry yogurt
A banana
A cup of vanilla soy milk
2 handfuls of spinach

It was awesome. I even made the boyfriend try some and he loved it! If you have any advice about chia seeds or anything else, or if you can point me in the direction of how I could learn more, I would GREATLY appreciate it. Thank you!

~Kristen

Since I finally took the plunge I am hooked and make a new Green monster every day! I even managed to come up with one that looks PRETTY!
Pink Monster

1 tsp flax seeds
75 ml lowfat vanilla yoghurt
75 ml coconut milk
1 handfull spinach
2 handfulls frozen raspberries
1 handfull frozen blue/black berries
a few dark grapes
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp coconut extract (optional)
2 tbsp sweetener of choice
garnish: drizzle of coconut milk and frozen raspberries

This Pink lady is really something worth waking up for in the morning!

http://thefruitpursuit.com

I finally got a blender this week, so I finally made my very first Green Monster.  I was so excited to try it.  I love spinach, so I figured if everyone was wrong and you COULD taste the spinach, that would be alright with me!

I put 1/4 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, one sliced banana, one container of blueberry greek yogurt, and a 1/2 cup of POM pomegranate juice, then stuffed the blender with as much spinach as I could fit into it.

It looked scary, but it was SO good.  I loved the flavor and I was full all the way until lunch.  Now I’m excited to try new combinations every day!

Oh dear!  I hate to admit it, but I am kind of obsessed with reading your blog!  I’ve been juicing for a while, any my three kids LOVE LOVE LOVE IT.  My 4 year old would drink green juice all day long.  We call it “strong juice”.

I decided to try out your green monster, but really wanted to add some other protein to it, and make it more of a meal replacement.  I have seen amazing grass, but I thought to myself that I might stick to it more if I don’t psych myself out!! (Flavor + texture + yuck = deal breaker and wasted funds)

I wandered over to Sunflower Market…..a “farmers market” grocery we have here in Las Vegas to see what they had.  The lovely sales gal pointed me toward a plant protein mix which consists of ….are you ready……pea, hemp, rice and chia seed.  It’s called Life’s Basics and it comes in Vanilla flavor.  Then….and here comes the best part….she tells me it tastes like cake batter.   I mean come on!  CAKE BATTER….is she out of her mind? Either she has no taste buds, or it could possibly be the best thing I have ever found that is under $25.00 a can.

I decided to buy it.

Now normally I would be ripping into it and getting way ahead of myself to even make it the right way.  Not this time. I waited until my kids were busy….got out the ninja (my blender) and the following ingredients:

1 cup of almond milk
1 scoop of Life’s Basics Plant Protein
1 handful of washed, organic spinach leaves
1 fully ripened, but frozen banana. (When my bananas are fully ripe and I don’t want to eat them I freeze them, that way when I make a drink I can skip the ice.)

Lid on…and away we went.  And of course….in the tradition of green monsters everywhere…..it turned BRIGHT, and beautiful green.

Into the glass it went.  I started out with a small glass….small like a shot glass…..and then it happened…..

Lifted glass to lips and I kid you not…..I was drinking Vanilla Cake Batter with a hint of banana.  It was heaven

I found a wild purslane plant and transplanted it in my flower bed. Quite by accident. I had intended to use the purslane for my Green Monster but forgot about it for a week. The plant took root and now I have purslane on demand! Green Monsters all the time!

The Green Monster Mini
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla hemp milk
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 cup fresh spinach
small handful purslane
1/2 banana
1/4 cup raspberries
1 tiny pear, pulled from my neighbor’s tree, chopped

Blend all ingredients until smooth.

We are growing mint in the garden and it is SO good in a GM!  It gives the smoothie a cool, refreshing, deeelicious extra oomph.  Sooo my GM has:

Five or six mint leaves
Two cups baby spinach
Half a super ripe banana for sweetness
Original almond milk, about 1 cup
Half scoop vegan vanilla protein powder
1 TBS chia seeds
1 TBS flax seeds
liberal sprinkling cinnamon on top!
Ice

Enjoy 🙂

The other day I woke up absolutely craving a green monster. Normally I throw in a handful of fresh strawberries, but the ones on hand were getting a little fuzzy.

So I dug deep and came out with an apple. Surely that would work – an apple green monster!  So I threw the apple into the blender (raw), followed by a few handfuls of spinach (about 2 cups), 1/2 frozen banana and some soymilk (about 3/4 cup) and let it whirl!

Then I got the crazy idea to throw in some cinnamon, along with a pinch of nutmeg and ground cloves.

So delicious, sweet and a great way to start a morning!

(the photo is not the greatest – I was in a hurry to get on the road!)

I had been feeling like I really needed to eat more greens, and then I came across the green monster while reading your blog. Green monsters are the perfect solution!

My go-to green monster is as follows:
1 large bunch of spinach
1c almond mylk
2 Tbsp cacao
1 Tbsp flaxseed
1 Tbsp Vitamineral Green (Healthforce Nutritionals)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 banana
2 Medjool dates, pitted