I haven’t written much about smoothies, but they deserve attention, because they taste great and are chock full of protein, vitamins, and minerals! My daughter-in-law Gerlinde says it’s the one way her girls L.O.V.E. to get down fresh spinach, and I understood what she meant when her three girls came home for lunch. They all exclaimed over getting to have a smoothie with their meal, and the youngest one even wondered if her mama really wanted hers or would like to give it away! 🙂 (Gerlinde did defend herself on this one, although she’s a very giving mother!)
Here’s Gerlinde’s recipe, although I think you can use pretty much whatever you have on hand in the way of fresh fruits and veggies:
Mango- Spinach-Banana Smoothie
(Makes 8 servings)
Ingredients:
3 bananas
5-7 oz. washed fresh spinach
8 oz. mango, cubed (can be frozen or fresh)
16 oz. yogurt (Greek or regular; Gerlinde used unflavored)
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 cups apple juice
To make: In a food processor, combine:
Bananas and spinach: process until smooth. Spinach reduces to practically nothing, but it’s bulky to begin with, so you may have to process it in several bunches
Add mango and process until everything is pretty smooth, then add 2 cups of yogurt. (I like Greek yogurt, because there’s so much protein, but you can use plain. Gerlinde uses unsweetened yogurt, but you could use your favorite flavor of sweetened yogurt . . . and then adjust how much maple syrup you need to sweeten it. One of the beauties of food is how versatile it is. It’s easy to experiment because ingredients combine and blend uniquely, but there’s a huge range in pleasant textures and tastes.
Adjust for sweetness according to your taste. Gerlinde used about 1/4 cup of maple syrup, which gave it a light sweet taste, which we all liked very well.
Finally, add apple juice until it’s as thick or thin as you like. Gerlinde used about 2 cups. The result was a smoothie that poured out like a thick malt. We were all big fans, and not a drop was left after lunch was over!
“He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” (Psalm 33:5, NASB).
Summer Setting 