Spinach Smoothies

I'm back! After a fabulous and exhausting vacation we had family in town for 10 days but now life is somewhat back to normal, for now. I have enjoyed every minute of it and did plenty of cooking along the way. I am ready to get back to the blog world!

This recipe is one of those sneaky ways to get your family to eat more green. While the greenish/brownish color may weird some people out, my one year old did not know the difference. She loves these spinach smoothies and always has a cute little green goatee afterward to prove it! This is more of an idea than a recipe. You can customize these to your liking. The original idea comes from 2 of my fabulous cousins Stephanie and Laura. Both are beautiful, creative, amazing moms who live in some sort of paradise (Hawaii and Huntington Beach respectively). And they are both great writers. I love being inspired by each of their blogs on a regular basis. So here's my version of their green smoothies. You can eat these for breakfast, a snack, or along side lunch or dinner. We may or not have had them with our dinner of hot dogs and tater tots last week to compensate for the greasiness of the rest of the meal. :-)

Spinach Smoothies
1/2-1 cup frozen blueberries
1 frozen banana
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt (or your favorite flavor, but if you use plain yogurt you might want to add a little sugar)
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2-1 cup milk (depending on how much liquid your blender needs and how thick you like it)
1 tsp. vanilla
fresh spinach (pile it in and fill the blender up!)

Add ingredients to blender in order listed. You may need to stop and push the spinach down after the other stuff is blended. Blend until smooth.
*Note: I don't add any sugar. I find the vanilla yogurt has enough sugar on its own. I also don't add any ice. the frozen fruit makes it cold and icy enough without diluting the flavor.

Put in your fruit (I added ice to this one because my banana wasn't frozen)

Add the yogurt, liquids, and pack in the spinach. Isn't it pretty?

Blend until smooth.

She knows what's good!