Vegas Style Green Smoothie with Spinach

Hi Everyone, I know it’s been a while since I posted a green smoothie recipe. The last half year, or so, has felt like a rerun of the previous few years when it comes to creating new green smoothie recipes. But today is a little different.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned to a friend that I would look into changing the base for my smoothies in order to make it something that would be a little friendlier for her new-found diet and her new-found restricted income. Basically, she didn’t like the idea of using juice as a base and her friend was allergic to coconut milk. Juice can also be expensive. To me, those are two really good base liquids that greatly enhance the flavor of smoothies. I don’t mind spending a little more for that enhancement.

So, I’m making an effort to remove some of the cost along with reducing the calories.

To do this, welcome Tea! Not just any tea, but your favorite tea! In my case, it’s Sweet Oolong Revolution from Teavana. You can find it on Teavana’s tea wall here. Notice they’ve got White, Green, Oolong, Black, Red and Herbal tea blends. They’re generally not cheap, but they sure are good. 

The best part about these particular teas is that they’re full of flavor. The Sweet Oolong Revolution tea has a hint of cinnamon which really caries through the smoothie. Because the key to a good smoothie is a flavorful base, these teas serve that function well.

Recipe:

2 apples

  • 4 Medjool dates
  • 2 cups seedless grapes
  • 2 bananas
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 1+ cup Sweet Oolong Revolution tea (chilled)
  • 1lb Baby spinach

I like to place the soft fruit first. That way I’ll quickly get some mass in the blender that will suck down the harder fruit (like apples).

After you’ve worked the chunks out, it’s time to pack in the greens. It’s amazing how many leaves you can press into the blender as the liquid fills in all around it.

You might need to help the blender get through the ‘plug’ of leaves. But once you do, breakfast is only 60 seconds away!

Note that this recipe makes a little more than 2 quarts. If it was just for me, I’d cut the ingredient list in half.

It’s also interesting to note that apples give a fluff to green smoothies that other fruit doesn’t do. Notice all the air in the jar? After I let this mixture sit for an hour (made before yoga, consumed afterwards) the volume was reduced almost a cup.

Banana’s a cinnamon go together very well. Even though there are extra dates added, the mixture comes across as being a bit more savory than sweet.

If you have a favorite tea that you’d love to see mixed into a smoothie, let me know.

Oh, almost forgot. A long time ago I came across a video describing a Vegas Style Smoothie. I did a quick search and found this by the Renegade Health Show.

At one time I was an advocate for putting lots of different powders in my smoothie. But it just doesn’t make sense to me any longer. I’m all about simplicity and ease. Yet, I did make one association in this video and that was Tea with Vegas! I’ve forever thought of Vegas Smoothies as being Tea based. I guess I should have thought of them as being over the top with 40+ ingredients.

Oh well. I don’t know of anyone that’s explicitly calling tea based smoothies anything different. Thus, to me, they are Green Smoothies Vegas Style!

See ya soon…

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