Happy New Year! On my trip back from New York to Ohio earlier this week, I had the most amazing green smoothie at LaGuardia Airport. Kevin and I were hungry as we were waiting for our return flight back to Ohio and decided to order breakfast at one of the restaurants. I had eaten a lot of heavy foods during my trip to New York, so I wanted to balance the heavy meals I had with a clean, green smoothie. When the smoothie arrived, I drank it up in less than five minutes. The description of the green smoothie on the airport restaurant menu stated the smoothie had a combination of kale, spinach, ginger, pineapple, mango, and orange juice. I made a mental note to make my own version when I got back to Ohio. This weekend, to gear up for a great new year, I started my morning with a green smoothie using almost all of the same ingredients I enjoyed in the green smoothie I had at the airport. I combined a handful of chopped up kale leaves, spinach leaves, fresh cut pineapple chunks, fresh cut mango, and juice from an orange in a blender. I turned the blender on and pulsed all of the ingredients together for a couple minutes until thoroughly combined. I also made a healthy breakfast wrap made of crumbled tofu, caramelized onion, sautéed mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, nutritional yeast, and a serving of vegan parsley cream. The wrap was the perfect complement to my green smoothie. One of the resolutions I made this year was to incorporate more vegan and vegetarian dishes into my diet. I was glad I started the new year off by sticking with at least one of my resolutions.
Kale and Spinach Green Smoothie
· 3 kale leaves, stems removed and roughly chopped
· 2 cups of spinach, loosely packed
· ¼ of a whole fresh pineapple, cut into chunks
· 1 fresh mango, cut into chunks
· Juice of ½ an orange juice
Directions:
1) In a blender, add the kale, spinach, pineapple, mango, and orange juice. Blend all of the ingredients for 1-2 minutes until smooth. Serve in glasses with orange slices and straws.
Takeaways: I served my green smoothie with a protein packed wrap for a satisfying and filling breakfast. If you are serving the green smoothie on its own, you can add some almonds or chia seeds to boost the protein content for a more filling smoothie.