Alyssa's Favorite Green Smoothie

A healthy, vegan, and nutrient rich smoothie to start your day off right.

Sitting here pondering my Saturday, preparing the to-do lists in my head, all I really want to think and talk about is the delicious breakfast smoothie I'm drinking. This morning, packing up my blender with yummy green goodness, I realized this was the fourth day this week I had made this exact smoothie. I figured since I enjoy this so much, I should share it with all of you.

I've finally found my perfect green smoothie recipe.

If you've ever wanted to try a green smoothie, I'm sure that you've turned to Google to see what your options are, only to find out that there are tons of gluten-free and vegan green smoothie recipes out there. How could you choose? Everyone has their own twist to making a healthy green smoothie and trust me, I've tried my share of them. I've found ingredients that I love to include (like Kale and Spinach) and ingredients I will no longer touch with a ten foot pole (like Spirulina, ick - sorry if you enjoy it, but this seaweed based powder is not for me), and I've finally found a recipe that has the perfect amount of sweet and green. It's so yummy.

My secret to the perfect smoothie texture? Avocados.

A tasty vegan green smoothie packed with raw kale.

Some of my New Year's resolutions were to eat more veggies, eat less sugar and to have a liquid meal each day. It's easiest to have my liquid meal at breakfast because I totally adore smoothies, especially sweet, fruit based smoothies. To cut back on sugar, I've tried to avoid packing my morning meal with just fruit and have played around with different green ingredients. I've tried peas, swiss chard, fennel, parsley, kale, spinach, avocado, among others and finally found the combo that gives me the exact type of smoothie my body craves every morning.

My best green smoothie recipe yet.

Alyssa's Favorite Green Smoothie

My top two factors that make a perfect smoothie are sweetness and texture. Not enough sweetness is unappetizing for me in the morning. A thick, icy texture is a major ick factor for me. My goal with each smoothie is to balance just a touch of sweetness with a creamy, thick texture.

For this recipe, the sweetness comes from berries and coconuts, the amazing, creamy texture comes from avocados (they almost act like bananas in the texture they bring). I've combined my two favorite vegetables, kale and avocado, with my lovely little antioxidant packed friends, blueberries, almond milk and unsweetened coconut. Sipping this, you would almost never know you were drinking vegetables for breakfast, aside from the very green color!

ingredients:

• 1/2 ripe avocado
• 2 cups raw green kale, stemmed and shredded
• 1/2 frozen organic blueberries
• 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 filtered water
• 5 - 6 ice cubes
• 1 tablespoon flax meal
• 1 tablespoon vegan, gluten-free rice protein
• 1/2 teaspoon organic green stevia powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves

Add all the ingredients in the order they are listed to a strong blender. Blend until you have a smooth and creamy texture.

It's as simple as that! You're body will be so happy to start its day out this way. 

Serves 1 huge smoothie (yes, I drink the whole thing each morning).