Sneaky Green Smoothie

I have always been skeptical of smoothies with spinach. It just sounds weird and disgusting and too “granola” for me. But, I bit the bullet and gave it a try in an attempt to get in more veggies. And turns out you can’t even taste the spinach. I promise! What’s better than a delicious smoothie that is really, really good for you? Not much. We have been making them everyday the past week and haven’t gotten tired of them yet!

As you can tell, Noah loves these smoothies! He couldn’t keep his hands off this one I was trying to photograph, even though he already had his own. He wanted the “smoovie in the breakable cup.”

He loves helping make them and had to put his apron on before dumping in all the ingredients.

You can use any frozen fruit you like and feel free to mix it up to create different flavors. Another yummy variation that I adore is strawberry (replace the berries and peaches), pineapple, banana and a handful of shredded coconut. You will feel like you are on the beach somewhere! Delish!

Just to prove that you can’t taste the spinach…I gave one to Joel and didn’t tell him there was spinach in it and he totally didn’t know. And still doesn’t {insert evil laugh here}. Well, unless he’s reading this now.

Secret Green Smoothie
yields 1 large or 2 medium servings

2 cups ice cubes
1 cup orange juice (or water if you don’t want added sugar and calories)
1 banana
1 cup frozen blueberries
4-5 slices frozen peaches
1/4 cup frozen raspberries
1/4 cup frozen pineapple chunks
2 big handfuls fresh spinach

Place all ingredients into a blender and pulse until it’s smooth and no chunks remain.

Raspberry Swirl Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

When I came across this recipe I knew I would have to make it for my dad immediately. He loves the combination of raspberry and chocolate, especially in ice cream, so I knew it would be a hit with him. When we were visiting, I mentioned the recipe to him and he ensured that we had all the required ingredients so that I could make it happen.

I never really cared for raspberries but since starting my blog I gave them a second chance and have fallen in love with them. I’m just a bit addicted to Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate Raspberry Squares. But that’s for another time.

I love that this recipe uses coconut milk because in my opinion, coconut makes everything better. It only slightly imparts a coconut flavor but it’s enough to notice and it enhances the creaminess of the ice cream without adding as much calories as the traditional cream would. I am in no way stating this is healthy because it still does have heavy cream in the recipe, it just uses other milks make it a little better for you. But really, who wants healthy and ice cream in the same sentence? I certainly don’t. It’s an indulgence so it should be rich and creamy and totally delicious. If there are any of you that want healthy ice cream it has raspberries therefore it is good for you. Like my logic? Just go with it.

Raspberry Swirl Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream
recipe from Pastry Affair
Yields 1 quart

1 1/2 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 14-ounce can coconut milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small chunks

1. In a medium saucepan, boil the raspberries, sugar, and water for 10-12 minutes, or until the raspberries release all their juices and the mixture is slightly thickened. Remove from heat and refrigerate the syrup until cold.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, whipping cream, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla. Place in the refrigerator to cool for at least 30 minutes.

3. Put the cream mixture in ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacture’s instructions.

4. Fold in the chocolate chunks. Very carefully drizzle the cooled raspberry syrup into the ice cream and fold just a few times. This will swirl the raspberry sauce into the ice cream. Do not overmix or you will not achieve the swirled effect!

5. Freeze the ice cream for at least 2-3 hours to solidfy before indulging.

DIY Smoothie Packs

And it’s Pinterest for the save again. When I saw this wonderful DIY smoothie pack idea I knew I had to give it a try. Smoothies are so stinking expensive to buy but it’s just so much more convenient rather than having to prepare all the fruit each time. Well, now with just a little prep work in advance, you can have smoothies within seconds.

You can create whatever combinations you like for these delicious homemade smoothies. I purchased bananas, pineapple, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. You can use either fresh or frozen. I bought some frozen because the fresh did not look great and found it even better than the fresh because I didn’t have to slice and freeze it before assembling the packs. The fresh does have to be prepped and frozen in a single layer so that it doesn’t stick together in the bags.
While your fresh fruit is freezing, scoop about 1 tablespoon of yogurt into either a mini muffin tin or ice cube trays. I used a mini muffin tin and made 24 yogurt cubes. Cover and freeze until solid.
Once everything is frozen, grab it all out of the freezer and measure out about a cup and a half of fruit (whatever variety you desire…the sky is the limit) per bag. After the yogurt has sat out for a few minutes, use a spoon to scoop them out and place three in each bag.

Here is the approximate amount of ingredients I used to make 8 smoothie packs:

1 lb. strawberries
3 bananas
2 cups blueberries
1 cup pineapple
8 oz. raspberries
20 oz. yogurt

All you have to do is dump the bag in your blender, add a splash or two of milk and blend it up! Yum!