Banana Orange Kale Smoothie

We make a lot of smoothies, but this one seems to be everyone’s favorite. We make it at least once a day and it takes about 5 minutes to put together. If I have leftovers I freeze them in our smoothie pop molds and the kids have them for snacks. My 4-year-old especially loves the pops, she eats every last drop! You can use any ice pop mold if you are going to use them as pops.  If you want to use them as a smoothie at a later date you can use the Norpro 431 4-Piece Silicone Ice Pop Maker Set.  Just freeze the smoothie in these molds and take them out to thaw an hour or so before eating.

Banana Orange Kale Smoothie

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Number of servings: 2

See Detailed Nutrition Info on

Banana Orange Kale Smoothie

Ingredients

  • 1 cup kale
  • 1 cup spinach
  • 1 cup red grapes (green work too)
  • 1 pear
  • 1 banana
  • 1 orange
  • 1 tsp chia seeds
  • 2 cups ice
  • 1/2 cup water

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients in blender.
  2. Blend until smooth.
  3. Enjoy!

Notes:

Purchase all organic ingredients if possible.

1) A lot of times people will buy a bunch of produce, put them in the fridge and forget about them. It comes back to the convenience factor. If food is accessible, you are more likely to eat it. When I get home from the store I take my kale out of the bag and place it in a bowl for easy access. (Kale is one of the best known cancer fighting vegetables on the planet.) When I make a smoothie, I simply open the fridge and take a few pieces from the bowl.  That being said, the kale does wilt very quickly once out of the bag, thus only put 2-3 days worth in your bowl. For optimal results, keep it chilled in your crisper. The picture below is how much kale we go through in 3 days. Also, a fruit bowl is a great thing to put on your counter because you always have fruit accessible.

kale

2) Don’t throw away your ripened bananas, use them in a smoothie. As a banana ripens its levels of antioxidants increases. These antioxidants in ripe bananas protect your body against cancer and heart diseases. The banana also masks the taste of the kale and spinach, you don’t taste them at all.

3) Organic seedless grapes are hard to find this time of year where we live, but I can find ones with seeds. These work great in a smoothie because the blender will pulverize the seeds.

blender

4) This is a very versatile smoothie in that you can add many different types of seeds and powders.  We have used Flaxseed (Organic)Hemp Seeds, and Goji Berries Powder. The Goji powder does have a strong taste, so I would start with half a tablespoon until you get used to it.

5) I promise you, this smoothie is delicious!  You and your kids will never know you are drinking spinach and kale!  For picky kids, you can put the smoothie in a sippy or cup with a lid & straw so they don’t see the color.  The color will often throw kids off and they will refuse to try it.

Green smoothiebree

6) Immediately after making the smoothie, pour all of it into cups or pop molds so you can clean your blender.  The smoothie residue will dry and stick to the blender very quickly and make it very difficult to clean.  We have a Vitamix which is not dishwasher safe, so has to be washed by hand.  You can also put a small amount of soap and water in the Vitamix and turn it on to clean it.

~ Eat Better. Feel Better.

4 thoughts on “Banana Orange Kale Smoothie

  1. Hi, We don’t have a vitamix, but I do have a food processor. I imagine that could handle the kale, spinach, bananas, grapes (anything soft) but not the seeds. Am I right? I am so going to start this this weekend! You’ve inspired me. :) Oh, and when my kids won’t try something that looks gross, I pull out a $5 or $10 bill. They’ll try anything. I don’t mind giving them the $. It’s worth it to me for them to try new, healthy foods. They like a lot of new things now because of it. If you don’t want to do the $, find something else they love dearly. :)

    • Yes, the food processor can definitely handle this smoothie. Let me know how it turns out. My son had a few friends over one day and I put the smoothie in opaque cups with lids so they couldn’t see the contents. They drank every last bit and loved it — they did not believe me when I told them kale and spinach was in it.

  2. Pingback: A Real Food Beginning | Whole Food. Real Food. Good Food.

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