green and not so green smoothies

Not long ago, it was warm in Texas.  We were walking around in T-shirts and flip flops and craved a nice cold drink.  This was... oh, say LAST week.  Today we have the heat cranked, wood set out for the fireplace, and winter coats by the door.

So, I feel a little silly posting this warm weather drink on a cold day like today.... but, oh well.

Green smoothies.  This may be a new term for you, it may not.  I've seen several variations of the Green Smoothie recipe on the web, but the heart of the recipe comes down to using green vegetables mixed with fruit in a smoothie.  The green veggie most commonly used is Spinach, because it will blend nicely in the drink and not be at all gritty if blended enough.   Fresh spinach is better..... MUCH better... on MANY levels.

Here are some of the variations we have tried depending on your audience...

If you want to keep it GREEN and use cool smoothie names like 'Incredible Hulk' 'Green Goblin' "Super Slime' 'Green Monster' 'Oscar the Grouch', etc.....
Use fresh spinach, yogurt, ice, and.... key ingredient (drum roll please.....) BANANA.  For us, the banana is a must.  It will overpower the spinach, add sweetness but keep the color of the drink GREEN.

Now, if green is not the final result you are wanting... you can do a PURPLE smoothie and call it 'Grape-alicious' 'purple princess' 'purple monster', etc, etc...
Same ingredients as above, but add BLUEBERRIES and STRAWBERRIES.  If using frozen berries, you can omit the ice!

For a PINK version, start with the same basic ingredients as above, but just add STRAWBERRIES, and POM juice. Adding more yogurt/banana to the smoothie and less spinach will create a 'prettier' pink.  Come up with some great 'pink-alicious, princess y' name, and viola!

Really, the sky is the limit - I usually do kitchen sink version with whatever we have on hand. 
Pictured are the smoothies we made last week with some of the POM juice we received to try.
On this particular day, I used spinach, kefir and yogurt (both were almost gone and needed to be used), a small handful of fresh blueberries, banana, frozen strawberries, pom juice.  After tasting, I decided the strawberries were a little tart and added a squirt of honey to the blender!

The kids INHALED it - as did I!