Mint Chocolate Spinach Smoothie

With this season being about 45 days late, yesterday was the first day where I actually got to harvest something out of the garden – Mint! It’s at the perfect age and height. As you can see in the mug (below) I’ve picked just the top six inches (or so) getting the best four sets of leaves. When in the garden, I samples a few leaves and they were delicately succulent and beautifully flavorful. I love the first of the season spearmint.

For the last couple days I’ve been craving mint-chocolate as a smoothie flavor. Last time I dug into the mint to put this combo together, the mint was older and a whole lot more pungent. This mint is smooth and subtle so I knew it would add a delicate savory essence rather than an overpowering one. If you’ve got some mint growing where you can get it before the sun burns in a lot of flavor, you’ll love it combined with cacao!

Here’s what I did, I’m sure you’ll enjoy something similar.

Recipe:

• 1 organic Fuji apple (That’s what I had, got a great deal the other day)
• 1 banana
• 2 large medjool dates
• 1+ cup liquid (I used watered down coconut milk)
• 10 spearmint tops (about the top 4 sets of leaves)
• ½ lb Spinach
• 1 heaping tablespoon full cacao powder

Seed the dates, core and remove seeds from the apple, pinch off the leaves from the spearmint add all but the seeds to the blender and whirl until smooth.

I’ve got a few leaves left over for tomorrow. I’ve also got the second half of the package of Spinach. I’m going to give it a second go with an orange rather than the apple to see how that mixes up. Orange, mint and chocolate should be a really good combination.

Get out, grow some herbs and enjoy the life they bring to your own. Mint’s one of the easiest to grow and mixes will with lots of things. And, the best part is it’s good (great) for you.

Good day.