It's not easy drinking green

You may have missed contestant Annie's comment containing a recipe for a spinach smoothie. Or you may have read it, gagged a little and decided she is crazy. She's not crazy (I'm her aunt, and nobody related to me is crazy). Spinach smoothies are good! Not only that, they are chock-full of stuff you need to be healthy, energetic and pimple-free. 

Spinach Smoothie (Annie style)

about 4 handfuls of spinach

1/2 banana

1 or 2 huge handfuls frozen berries

some orange juice

Blend the heck out of it and drink. 

Annie says, "It fills me up, gives me lots of energy and motivates me to eat well the rest of the day."

I admit I haven't tried Annie's version of the spinach smoothie yet. However, a  few years ago my pal Amy from California gave me the following recipe. It's a little more hardcore than the above recipe, but it's surprisingly good. Don't let its green-sludge appearance fool you. 

Amy's Glass of Green Goodness

3 big handfuls of baby spinach

3-4 inches of seedless cucumber with skin

handful of frozen mango chunks (or substitute pineapple)

1 fresh, very ripe banana

1/2 small lemon, peel removed (cuts bitterness of greens--adjust to taste)

Blend the heck out of it and drink. 

Holly's note: my blender is from the early 1980's (no joke) and is just phoning it in, so I have to add a little liquid to get this to blend.  I just use water or a little juice. 

Amy's smoothie has also been referred to as the E coli smoothie, because when she first introduced the recipe to me and some of our friends, there was some sort of scare about e coli and spinach in CA. Or something like that. I'm really bad at remembering stories. 

Are you inspired to drink spinach yet? I hope so! 

If you're a spinach-drinking novice and are a little sickened by the idea, I suggest trying Annie's smoothie first. Even her 1-year-old son likes it! 

Helpful hint: if you have access to Costco, get berries (or other frozen fruit) and spinach there. They are very affordable there compared to supermarket prices.