Green Monster

In my journey to eat healthier I've found some good information, a few great "food" blogs, and many yummy recipes.  One thing that I kept seeing over and over on these healthy eating blogs was a smoothie type drink called a "green monster".  This is a generic term because no two green monsters are usually alike.... though they do have some similarities.

I decided I didn't want to be left out.  I shared the idea with Michael, and at first he was a little put off.  I'll be honest, they don't always look so appealing.  But after me being a little persistent he was ready to give it a try.

One of the main reasons people drink a green monster is to get in some key nutrients and things you need in a quick and easy way.  We have been making green monsters for a couple of months now, and we both love them and what they do for our bodies.

Like I said, each is somewhat different, but have a few key ingredients the same.

One ingredient that is always the same is spinach.  That's right!! We put spinach in a smoothie.

I know what you are thinking, but I promise you do not taste it at all.

Leafy greens are so important and this is an easy and yummy way to get in one of the servings you need.

You also need some sort of liquid--nonfat milk, rice milk, almond milk, hemp milk.  You choose.  We usually use nonfat milk or almond milk.

A banana is key.  This definitely masks the taste of the spinach or anything else.

Frozen fruit is also good.  You can choose whatever fruit you want.

Berries are obviously very good for you.  I'll warn you though, if you use dark berries (like a berry mix, blueberries, etc) your green monster will be more army green than minty green.  We all know the health benefits of blueberries!!  We mix it up.  We've had many different varieties of frozen fruit.  Currently we are working through a bag of just strawberries.

Protein powder is the next essential ingredient.  It's good to mix protein with carbs.
Plus, it will help fill you up. 

Flax seed (ground) is the next ingredient you'll need.  Flax seed is ridiculously good for you!!  It has far too many benefits for me to mention in this post.  I encourage you to do some research it and add it to your daily diet ASAP.  I try to get 2 tablespoons a day.

Lastly, we use some Kefir.  Kefir is sort of like yogurt--it's fermented milk(along with other things) that can have a huge benefit to the human digestive system.  It's even more tangy than yogurt.  We put it in the shake as a way of getting a probiotic without having to eat yogurt.  Michael doesn't like yogurt and I go through phases.  You should use an unsweetened one (no sugars), but our store only sells flavored ones.  We go with vanilla.

Now here's how you make it...
Michael is the "blender master" in our house, so after trying a couple of different ways to make it, this is the method he has found to work best.

He first put's in the liquids.
We use about a half a cup of milk.

We also use about a half a cup of Kefir.

Next he breaks up the banana and puts it in the blender in about 4 pieces.

Next, add your frozen (or fresh) fruit.  You should use about a half cup to a cup.

Then blend.

While it's blending, you will want to add the protein powder and flax seed.
Michael says that by adding it while it's blending, it will help prevent it from clumping or sticking to the sides.

We use 2 scoops of protein powder and 2 tablespoons of flax seed--so when split, we are each getting one scoop of each.

Then add as much spinach as you can!!
Most of the blogs say "two huge handfuls".
Michael adds as much as can fit in the blender.

Remember, one serving of leafy greens is ONE CUP.
If you are sharing this with someone, you will want at least two cups of spinach to call it a serving.

BLEND
then add some ice and
BLEND SOME MORE!

Your yummy drink will look something like this.

Ok, so I don't drink it in a wine glass on a daily basis.  I just put it in there so it would look cute and you could see the color of green that it is.

In reality, we drink it out of these.

They are 32 ounces each and get filled almost to the top. 
Green monsters are super filling.  We were having them for breakfast, but now that Michael isn't working (and isn't getting up at the same time as me), we've actually had them as our dinner a few times.  They are GREAT after a good run! :)  In case you are wondering... with the ingredients and measurements we use, I calculated that the entire blender is around 400 calories.  That means that if you are splitting it, you are getting about 200 calories.  I do think the people I see on the blogs drink the entire thing.  Although, they don't add quite as much as we do.

Other things I've seen people add--juiced carrots, peanut butter, dry oats or  cooked oatmeal, green superfood.  You can add whatever you want to help make it tasty to you.

I'm off to enjoy my yummy breakfast...