Green Monster Smoothie

There’s no right or wrong way to make a green smoothie, but this one has a large volume of greens, creating a monstrous green colour! The raw kale adds important anti-cancer phytonutrients. The linseeds boost the omega-3 content, add fibre and help thicken the drink. In order to obtain a super smooth and silky drink, I recommend a high speed blender e.g. Vitamix.

Ingredients

  • 4 kale leaves (60 g) (top part only without the fibrous stalk)
  • 1 cup tightly packed baby spinach leaves (30 g)
  • Leaves from 4 large sprigs of fresh mint (10 g)
  • 1 large ripe banana, fresh or frozen
  • 1 small knob of fresh ginger, peeled
  • 1 TBSP ground linseeds
  • 2 cups of low fat almond milk
  • 12 ice cubes

Method

  1. Place ingredients into the blender in the order listed and whiz until smooth. Tip – start on low power and gradually increase until smooth and creamy. Makes approximately 1200 ml. Best served immediately but you can refrigerate and consume within 24 hours. If smoothie separates during storage, simply stir until smooth again.

 

Serves 2

TIPS

  • To clean your blender, simply add some warm water and a drop of dishwashing detergent and run it for a few seconds then rinse.
  • You can also use other green leaves and herbs and swap the ginger with fresh turmeric.
  • You can also use frozen ginger – just grate it using a microplane.
  • Replace the almond milk with soy milk for extra protein.
  • Use frozen over ripe bananas.

Per serve: energy 720 kJ (172 Cal); protein 5 g; fat 7 g; saturated fat 0.6 g; cholesterol 0 mg; carbohydrate 20 g; fibre 5 g; calcium 250 mg; iron 1.9 mg; sodium 195 mg