To be honest, I wasn’t a fan of green smoothies until VERY recently. Why? Because I didn’t know how to make them. And they all tasted like grass to me. And raw kale. Which I HATE. Green juices? I can do. But they’re a pain in the freaking BUTT to make because I don’t have a juicer. But this Mango Ginger Green Smoothie? GAME. CHANGER.
The inspiration for this recipe comes from one of my grad school friends, Rachita. We were doing a group project on how to build a balanced bowl – both sweet AND savory, for breakfast, lunch and dinner – like I do for you guys all the time with my Pesto Broccoli & Chicken Bowls, Buffalo Burrito Bowls, the Bowl of Crazy, and the Pulled Pork & Plantain Cauliflower Rice Bowls, but we wanted to do a smoothie bowl handout too. Took myself out of being responsible for that one REAL quick, because I am no smoothie expert for suuure. But I’m learning! For some reason even though it’s been cold as balls the past few weeks I’ve been craving smoothies like it’s my job. Which means I’ve been getting reaaaally good at making (just a few of) them.
First one on tap: this Mango Ginger Green Smoothie! Which even has raw kale in it. I shock myself sometimes. I didn’t have any spinach on hand the first time I had to test this recipe out, so I did all kale…and I DIDN’T HATE IT. Actually, it was pretty freaking tasty. Maybe raw kale isn’t so bad after all…if you blend the crap out of it with some really tasty fruit in a smoothie. Lolz.
So what’s in here, you ask? It’s jam-packed with vitamin and nutrient bomb foods, like spinach and kale, mango, banana, ginger, hemp seeds, and I even added in some collagen for an extra protein/beauty boost. For the wiiin. Even my super skeptical little brother said it was amazing, so you know it’s gotta be the real deal.
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 cup kale
- 1 cup frozen mango chunks
- ½ frozen banana
- ¼ cup full-fat coconut milk*
- 2 Tbsp collagen**
- 1 Tbsp hemp hearts
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup filtered water (add more as needed)
- Throw all the ingredients in a blender and let it rip! Add more water as needed to thin it out. Top with your favorites!
**To make this a smoothie bowl, substitute 5oz dairy-free yogurt for the coconut milk (current favorite: Forager Cashew Milk Yogurt!), and reduce the water to about 2-4 Tbsp.
