I know. It’s green. For some the color of green smoothies is intimidating. But this spinach smoothie doesn’t taste green. For me, the greener the better. I love that showered from within feeling and I love a good spinach smoothie. But I see some people cringe when I drink it. It’s the equivalent of putting vanilla pudding in the mayonnaise jar or smearing red dye on Halloween. Don’t be fooled by the color. It’s like dessert, except it’s really good for you. And you don’t feel gross after. I remember reading about the benefits of juicing and smoothies years ago, and I was sold. I can only gnaw on vegetables and fruits so often in a day and I love that liquifying them gets me to eat more. Of course that leaves less room for the naughty foods.

I have a habit of studying nature–leaves, stems flowers, trees. I can stare at berries for at least a half hour and spinach even longer. Ever notice the playful edges of mint versus the flat and thick meatiness of spinach leaves? I’m a dork. Yes. And I’ve read Leaves of Grass one too many times. But so much has been said and written on the the mystery and beauty of nature. It’s in art and literature–the countless still life paintings of fruit. The Romantic period worshiped it. It’s hard not to.  Just look at those beautiful spinach leaves.

When I saw a photo of The Blender Girl with a smoothie poured over hear head, I thought, yes, that’s me. She beat me to it. I would love to bathe in this spinach smoothie among other frothy smoothies and almond milk. I even found one spa that offers this as a real treatment–seriously. I think there’s a little of a nature lover in all of us and it often extends to our food. Most people are riveted by campfires and roasting potatoes and s’mores over them. The smell of barbeque carries anytime it’s warm. People always yearn to eat outdoors. The smoothie reconnects with those sentiments. Those are my favorite days–sitting outside with the dogs running past me. The flowers in the garden seem to stretch for the sunlight. The smell and hiss of the grill mixes with the hum of the blender. I connect with my inner-greenness. I like that I can throw anything in just to see if it comes out tasting good. There are those moments when it’s–“Ouww…yea that’s nasty tasting” and we laugh. But once in a while I hit on a blend that I want to make over and over like this spinach smoothie.

They don’t always come out tasting the same, even if you use the same ingredients. For berry and banana smoothies I noticed that the banana must be very ripe, otherwise it won’t taste sweet. The sourness of the berries will take over and that gritty film will come through from the almost-ripe banana. For this citrus spinach smoothie, the oranges are always up in the air–the taste changes if they are too ripe and lose flavor. Once, I accidentally put in a half-rotten orange. Beware of the oranges.

Ingredients:

1 cup Baby spinach, rinsed

1 Orange, peeled wedges

1/2 Lime, peeled

8 oz. Mint tea, brewed and chilled (Numi Moroccan Mint)

6 Fresh mint leaves

A pinch of Sweetleaf Stevia

1. Brew hot water for mint tea and steep tea for 6 minutes. Chill. Set aside. If you’re in a rush add ice or put the tea in the freezer.

2. Add spinach, orange, lime, mint and stevia in a high quality blender. (Be sure you have a blender that can fully liquify an orange. You don’t want huge bits of pulp in your smoothie.)

3. Add chilled mint tea and blend.