Very Berry Smoothie (with Kale)

I've shared a bunch of smoothie recipes, but somehow I missed the one we make the most. We make it so often that I stock up on bags of frozen mixed berries when they're on sale at the grocery store. Smoothieless on Sunday? That would be a tragedy.

Saying this is a “recipe” is overstating things a bit - we make smoothies by emptying out the freezer and/or the pantry. An extra banana? Throw it in there. No apple juice? Substitute water, plus some honey or sugar. A half-full bag of frozen strawberries and a half-full bag of frozen peaches? Sure, that’s mixed berries. Into the blender they go. The kale is a recent addition, trying to sneak some healthy vegetables in for the kids. They were dubious at first - you want to add WHAT to the smoothie? - but now they're OK with it, as long as we don't add so much that the smoothie turns olive green.

When I say “we” make the smoothies, I mean the kids make the smoothies. They’ve even started to make them on weekdays, before heading off for school. Now if I could just convince them that saving a quarter inch of smoothie in the blender jar is not a good idea. They stash it in the refrigerator, forget about it, and I find it a few days later. 2And cleaning a blender is so easy. Fill it ⅓rd of the way with cold water, add a drop or two of dish soap, and run the blender on high for 30 seconds. Rinse out the soap, then fill halfway with fresh water, and run for another minute to finish rinsing. Put it upside down in the dish drain, and you’re done. But, when I ask the kids to do this, you’d think I asked them to clean the entire kitchen with a toothbrush.

Very Berry Smoothie (with Kale)

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• Author: Mike Vrobel
• Total Time: 10 minutes
• Yield: 3 cups of smoothie 1x

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Description

Very Berry Smoothie with Kale. My favorite smoothie - frozen mixed berries blended with some kale.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 12 ounces (2 cups, plus a little) mixed frozen berries
• 1 handful kale (optional – about 2 cups loosely packed)
• 2 bananas, peeled, frozen
• 5-ounce container plain Greek yogurt
• 8 ounces apple juice (plus more to keep the blender moving, if necessary)

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Instructions

1. Blend it all: Put everything in the blender, start on low, and slowly increase the speed to the highest setting. Blend on high until the ingredients are smooth, about 1 minute. If the smoothie isn’t spinning and forming a vortex, add some more apple juice and break up the smoothie with your blender’s tamper. (If you don’t have a tamper, shut off the blender, mix the contents with a spatula, then restart it.)

Notes

• What kind of berries? Like I said above, whatever you have is fine.
• When bananas get black spots and soft around the edges, we peel them and add them to the zip-top bag of frozen bananas in the freezer.
• I know, Kale is the food bloggiest thing ever. It wasn’t me! Our nutritionist suggested it, so we gave it a try! When the kids didn’t absolutely refuse to drink it, it became part of our regular recipe. Don’t have Kale? Substitute spinach. It’s less trendy, but every bit as good for you.
• So, why did I mention the tamper? Because this always happens to me:
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• That’s a block of frozen berries, yogurt on top. Sitting way above the liquid that’s blending. I should put the berries in first, then the liquid. I always forget that part and have to mash it down with the tamper to get it to work.

Tools

• Blender (I love my Vitamix)

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Category: Drinks and Appetizers
• Method: Blender
• Cuisine: American

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

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