Recipe for Chocolate (Spinach!) Smoothies

We have a new favorite snack at our house: “Green” Smoothies, fondly referred to as “oo behpahp” by our two-year-old – his way of trying to say jugo especial (or “special juice” in Spanish). When the Little Man hears the blender, he races into the kitchen, exclaiming: “Oo behpahp! Oo behpahp!”

 

 

Our favorite is the Chocolate Spinach Variety. The “recipe” makes about four 1-cup servings and can be easily modified:

 

1 or 2 medium bananas (preferably frozen)

handful of fresh spinach leaves (I put in plenty: about 1 cup!)

1 Tbsp olive oil (to add a creamy texture)

1 to 2 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract (important to help bring out the natural sweetness of the bananas)

1 to 2 Tbsp honey

1 cup plain yogurt
½ cup almond milk (or whole milk)

6 to 8 ice cubes (optional)

 

Put all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. Using our Ninja Blender, we pulse a dozen or so times and then blend continuously for about 30 seconds.

This is a wonderful way to get little people to eat raw spinach! Our first-grader wants to try out the recipe on unsuspecting cousins: If you don’t know you’re getting a spinach smoothie, you’d probably have a hard time guessing it’s a main ingredient!