Ever since the New Year, I've been reading all over the blogosphere about this awesome energy boosting shake called The Green Monster. Everyone has been raving about how much energy it gives them, some have even claimed they've given up coffee and switched over to this. Since we're trying to be more healthy I decided to give it a whirl myself, and here's what happened:
Step 1: put 2 tablespoons of Flax Seed in your blender
Step 2: Add one cup of Almond Milk to your blender.
Step 3: Slice up one banana and add it to your blender.
Step 4: Fill the rest of the empty space in your blender with baby spinach. Yup, SPINACH!
This is what your blender should look like, put the top on and begin to liquefy.
I start by pulsing my blender until all of the spinach is blended in, then I set it to liquefy for about a minute to make sure it grinds up the spinach and flax seeds fairly well.
This recipe makes enough to fill a pint glass.
And it was delicious! You can't taste the spinach, you get a nutty taste from the almond milk and flax seed, but the main flavor that comes through is the banana. Not full on strong banana, but a mellowed more subtle banana flavor. It was delicious!
M tasted it and suggested I make it with some sugar....which would pretty much defeat the purpose ;)
I'm a fan! Next I'm going to try making it with a frozen banana for more of a smoothie texture instead of the shake texture a raw banana gives you.
Have you tried the Green Monster?
What did you think of it?
If not, will you?
This sounds great! How did it work for energy, any difference? I wonder if you can substitute something else in place of the banana????
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
I have read a lot about these shakes, and I am still not so sure what to think of them because of the spinach.
ReplyDeleteBut I am tempted to try it out now.
This is looks a little scary in the "I-don't-want-to-mix-veggies-with-fruit" way. But at the same time I want to try it! Did your bananas liquefy all the way? Or come out a bit stringy/chunky? I'm going to have to pull out the blender tonight and give this a whirl. No pun intended.
ReplyDeletesounds good to me!
ReplyDeleteI've been making a variation of this for years. My version has chocolate soymilk, spinach, frozen blueberries, peanut butter, flax (oil or seeds, whichever I have on hand), and whey protein powder. I will freely admit it sounds disgusting but it's NOT - my boyfriend, who has the palate of a six-year-old, recently tried it and said it wasn't bad.
ReplyDeleteWhen I stayed with my parents my father came to refer to it as "Purple Drank" because the berries make it kind of purple. It's totally my favorite thing ever. I'm enjoying some right now!
Green Monster? I haven't heard of it at all. I love making smoothies some morning so I'll give this a whirl. Maybe add some Splenda with fiber if it isn't that sweet. That can't hurt it right? =P
ReplyDeleteMelanie's Randomness
@Millie - I can't say that I noticed a big difference...I've also drank coffee both days I've had the shake.
ReplyDelete@Pia - Don't let the spinach scare you!
@M - the banana totally liquefies, no chunks at all...except from the flax seed that doesn't get completely ground up.
@Thiry - I've also made shakes with frozen blueberries, soy milk, and chocolate whey protein...those are SUPER YUMMY! I think I will start calling it the "Purple Drank" too ;)
@Melanie - Let me know how it is with splenda!
yay! I have been looking for a recipe like this! thanks for sharing...off to get me some almond milk and spinach
ReplyDeleteI'm going to buy the ingredients - including a new blender tonight. I need energy. Hope your Dad had a good birthday.
ReplyDeleteit certainly looks delicious - i like the color and spinach is really healthy!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE it! I've had one every day this week! So delicious. I've been using vanilla almond milk, you should give that a try! I just ran out of it yesterday, so I tried it with plain almond milk. Vanilla is the way to go! Haha.
ReplyDeleteI just hate how it's so hard to get the ground up seeds off of the blender!
I'm definitely trying this out :p
ReplyDelete