Have you ever looked at a green smoothie and thought, ‘hmm… that’s too green to be any good’? Well I have, and I was completely wrong. For years into the green smoothie craze I would see another neon green smoothie picture and think, ‘thanks but I’ll just have a salad’! Turns out that green smoothies are unbelievably good, so we’re embracing the green – green smoothie + green jar = a whole lotta green! I’d been making this smoothie nonstop for a while but then I got distracted by all my new creations, and this one never made it into an actual recipe. Until last week that is, when someone wrote in looking for a green smoothie with more veggies and just a little less fruit. Something about the request jogged my memory, so here we are with one of my all time favorite green smoothies, and as a bonus it’s veggie packed as well! I made sure this smoothie has plenty of fresh pineapple to combat having too much green flavor. But instead of layering with more fruit, it has a whole cucumber in it making it great for hydration. I also added 1/2 an avocado for two reasons, the first being that it helps the smoothie keep for longer. And secondly healthy fats help us to absorb all those vitamins and minerals. It’s been great having fresh herbs in the garden all summer long. But during the colder months, I turn to the little bunches of living herbs you can buy. They’re the herbs you see with the roots still attached and setting in water. I like to keep a bunch of mint, and several bunches of basil in my windowsill over the winter. For more details on how to keep them living once you get them home, you can check out my post – How to Maintain Living Herbs. The biggest bonus with living herbs is that they tend to last around 6-8 weeks . Where a bunch of cut herbs barely lasts a week. So it really saves a fair bit of money to have them living in your windowsill.
Let’s talk about how to make this Minty Pineapple Cucumber Green Smoothie!
I used spinach in this recipe because it’s a bit milder than kale. But you could use kale if you’d like although you might want to start with less than is called for, and work up to taste. I like to layer in the juicy ingredients on the bottom with the greens on the top in my blender. While mint is right in the title of this recipe, it’s completely optional. I like to use all sorts of fresh herbs in my green smoothies during the summer months when they’re plentiful. My favorites are cilantro, mint, and parsley. Weirdly enough I’ve never really liked mint in most things, but I’ve found that I love it in smoothies. I think my early childhood hatred of mint stems from it always being paired with chocolate in my experience. And needless to say, I have overly strong feelings about things being introduced into my chocolate. I’m conventional, preferring chocolate to be chocolate with the occasional addition of sea salt. Oh… and look at that, somehow I segued from vibrant green smoothies to chocolate. It’s amazing how all things come back around to chocolate in my mind! 5 from 2 reviews 1 medium cucumber, 10 ounces, 2 cups packed baby spinach, washed, 3 ounces 3 small sprigs of mint (or to taste) about 5 grams 1/2 ripe avocado, pitted and peeled 1 – 16 ounce bottle citrus kombucha Layer all the ingredients into a high powered blender in the order listed. Secure the lid and blend starting on low speed and working up to high. Blend until the smoothie is completely smooth, 1-2 minutes. Serve immediately for best flavor, or pour into containers with lids and refrigerate for up to 2 days. All green smoothies are best right away but this one keeps really well with only a slight change in flavor.
