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The best thing about this recipe (probably thanks to the fact that a smoothie looks just like a milkshake) is that both of my daughters love them, and my pickier child ends up consuming fruits and vegetables that she would not normally eat. I had been making these for a while when one day I added the spinach, and it barely changed the taste. I was so excited that I could easily get everyone (including me) to eat some fresh, raw spinach!
It is currently strawberry season here in NC, and this is a great way to use up all of those freshly picked berries. But, feel free to experiment with substitutions based on your family’s favorites. I noted some alternatives that we have tried below. Please leave a comment if you try something new to let us know how it turns out!
Tasty Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups plain yogurt
- 1 cup berries (fresh or frozen (we have also tried 2 oranges, peeled))
- 2 bananas (or honey (1-2 tablespoons))
- 2 tablespoons milk
- ½ cup spinach (fresh (I also tried adding some leftover broccoli instead of the spinach. My husband said I took things a little too far, but the kids still sucked it down!))
- ice (optional (use if doing fresh berries instead of frozen))
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients into blender and blend. Pour into cups and garnish with fruit or use fun straws to entice your kids!
Hi Mary. Fresh is best for taste and nutrients. However, if you have picked, cleaned, and frozen it yourself there is no reason not to try it. That said, I have read that store bought frozen leafy greens are processed in a way that involves less cleaning than frozen fruit because there is an expectation that the leafy greens will be cooked. That has always made me leery of using them raw in a smoothie. Hope that helps. ~Amy
Is there a nutritional or taste difference if I use frozen kale/spinach instead of fresh?
Made this for me and the kiddos today. I used organic frozen broccoli because that is what we had on hand. Turned out great!
I want to try and make smoothies to put in the Norpro silicone ice pops. My kids love yogurt and love berries but they hate the seeds, do you have any suggestions on how to make them seedless?
Thank You!
Hi Penny. I would try using a fine strainer. Let us know if that does the trick. ~Amy
Just tried this smoothie as a Popsicle. I think I put to much spinach because it came out green. I thought my kids would not want to try because of the color. My three year old twins ate two Popsicle ( the ones you give your daughter for school lunch) and my five year old ate one. For never eating it before it will be our special ice cream from now on. Thank you!
Hi! Can I freeze fresh spinach to use in smoothies? I bought a large tub and I don’t want it to go bad before we use it all. Thanks!
Hi Claire. I don’t see why it wouldn’t freeze just fine. Jill
I was wondering how your smoothie in the picture is nice and pink? When I add the spinach, it turns a murky brown color :) Still tastes good, but my kids shy away from it due to the color.
I took this picture so long ago I can’t remember if there is spinach in it or not, but it sounds like you could maybe add a little less or put the smoothie in different cups (that aren’t see-through!). Also, a Vitamix (albeit pricey) can grind things up really well. Just some thoughts :)
I got some chard in our organic co-op today and am trying to figure out what to to with….besides smoothies any ideas?!
Hi Jaci. Have you tried sauteing it in a little bit of olive oil and garlic? Jill
I wouldn’t use spinach with milk the calcium doesn’t allow the iron to be absorbed by the body. We use organic juice instead.
How many servings does this recipe make? I’ve been making it for a while and my kids and I absolutely love it, but am wondering if we’re drinking enough of it or too much. Thanks!
Hi Lisa. Probably about 4 8 oz. servings. Jill
We have smoothies everyday in our home. I become very adventurous with mine and the kids generally will follow suit. We generally use a peanut butter or almond butter, banana base and to it we add variations: always a green (kale, swiss chard or spinach), flax seed, chia seed, a milk substitute (hemp, almond, coconut or our new fave Almond coconut blend) and yogurt or kefir. If we want a chocolaty smoothie we had raw cacoa powder – kids slurp these up and have the most healthiest of breakfasts!
Could you add measurements of how much of each ingredient you put in? Love the chocolate – almond butter idea.
Silly question—do you freeze them or put them in the fridge? I put them in the freezer and when my son was eating it—it all popped out and ended up on the floor. I am missing an important part here! :)
Yes, I freeze them. Make sure you are not overfilling them or they will “pop out” as you state. Jill
I avoid soy, broccoli, kale and spinach due to a thyroid disorder (they have natural thyroid blockers in them) – is there an alternative to these ingredients that would still offer nutritional value in the smoothies?
Hi Alisse. You can add whatever veggies you like, the key is using ones that will not alter the taste. Jill
I don’t like the consistency of smoothies when using yogurt, any ideas of a substitute?!
Hi Jennifer. You should look at some of the smoothie recipes on this blog…they don’t contain yogurt. You can also use milk or almond milk too. Here are a few links to the recipes: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/06/11/recipe-pbj-smoothie/ and https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/01/27/recipe-virgin-pina-colada-smoothie/. Jill
I use OJ, or coconut milk, or coconut sparkling water. You can also add 100% fruit juice. I don’t like my smoothies too thick.
I have been making smoothies for a while and have learned that fresh spinach, zucchini, or squash can be added without altering the taste.
I am on day four of making smoothies, and just love the blender I bought at Aldis for 24.99! It crushes ice and apple chunks in seconds. I use fresh baby spinach , Chia seeds…google those, they are so good for you and fill you up, full of omega 3s, I also use flaxseed, or hemp seeds, fresh pineapple, apples, bananas, strawberries. I am going to try sneaking in some cucumber, celery and carrots to the above and see how it goes!
I love these yummy smoothies! :-D They were very good. We added some extra strawberries for flavor, too. Also, try GREEK yogurt, especially Fage brand at Aldi. It made ours creamy and delicious.
I ALWAYS put carrots in smoothies – I’m surprised it’s not mentioned more here… I thought that was such a common thing! Carrots don’t change the taste at all – they hide sooo well in smoothies. Thanks for sharing! I just got a Vitamix, so I’m a bit smoothie happy. :) I LOVE all of the FRESH, whole foods I can make meals and snacks with. Awesomeness!
I tried adding carrots. It tasted ok but the need to chew bits of carrots was a little unpleasant for the kids. Is there a trick or do I just need a better blender?
Hi Sarah. It could be your blender, but, carrots will probably be a little harder to puree. I usually add spinach or kale which are also pretty tasteless. Jill
Try adding grated carrots.
Grated beets are awesome, too and they turn smoothies a fabulous colour! :-)
are the beets raw or cooked?
I just made the coconut milk smoothie recipe with kale, spinach, coconut flakes, a banana, pineapple, frozen mango and of course organic canned coconut milk…YUM!
Is this what you put in the cute little pop molds for their lunches?
Yes, this is one of the things. You may want to take a look at the real food tip on using freezie pop molds which will give you some other ideas. https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/03/19/real-food-tips-4-hints-for-using-freezie-pop-molds/
Hi,
I’d like to make green (that is veggie with some fruit to sweeten)
smoothies or juices in order to get down more vegetables a day.
Is it possible to make these with only a regular blender (not something like that expensive veggiemaster? What is the difference between one that is called a smoothie or a juice? Thanks.
To get advice on juicing definitely check out http://foodbabe.com/ …she is the juicing/blender expert!
I’ve been unemployed for a year now and really wanted a blender to make smoothies, got mine for 24.99 at Aldis!!! It crushes ice just like it said it would do and has a 3 year warranty! So yes they will!
Is there an alternative to yogurt? For some reason I can’t ever get yogurt to last longer than a day or two in my fridge so we don’t buy it very often.
Thanks.
You could try it with extra milk instead of yogurt.
Another thing you could use instead of honey is an all natural sweetener such as Agave! Also, another alternative to spinach is Kale! My kids have been drinking these smoothies for months now and have no idea how good and healthy they are for them!!!!
I love to add a little raw beet to all our smoothies cause it gives the illusion of a sweeter berry taste with more nutrition. When ever I make anybody a smoothie (kid or adult) with a little beet added (spinach, kale, beet greens, banana, flax seed, cucumber, bell pepper, almonds etc, etc) they always think they are tasting some sort of berry, even if there is none in there. Awesome! I love my Vitamix!
our favorite smoothie is a kale colada…handful of kale (I keep some frozen)~ a banana~ some pineapple juice (or fresh pineapple)~ and a small can of coconut milk (the real stuff found in the Asian section, not the coconut replacement milk)~~ YUMM!!
Mine were a little tart. I didn’t use bananas but used the honey. Maybe the strawberries were tart. Any ideas??
I think ripe bananas sweeten it up quite a bit…might need more honey if you aren’t going to use them.
I just made this recipe and it was huge hit! We joined a local co-op and used all local ingredients and it was soooo good! Thank you! I did add 1/2 t. of vanilla, but that’s just a force of habit when it comes to smoothies. We also got the freeze pop containers, which I think is great – this way we don’t end up with separated smoothie in the fridge that we forgot about.. not that I think we would forget about this smoothie very easily. :)
I make smoothies for myself a few times a week, and I always add oatmeal to make them more filling (just 1/2 cup of quick-cook oats straight from the pantry). For my first experiment in hiding healthy stuff, I tried spinach and couldn’t even tell it was in there — I buy frozen bagged spinach (Trader Joe’s has a cheap organic version) because it’s easier to shake out what I want instead of hacking at a frozen block of spinach. For my next experiment I tried frozen peas, but never managed to blend them finely enough. They’re pesky. Now I’m using frozen broccoli and it’s great! It blends nicely and I can’t even tell it’s in there.
Made these for breakfast for my kiddos…funny story my picky eater son who is 7 years old. I told him that if he had the entire smoothy he is going to do AWESOME at his basketball game. We went to his game nd he had one of his best games. :) Now he is requesting that I make it before his next game. LOVE IT!!!!!
YOU ROCK…what I love about your recipes are the fact that hey are really kid friendly. We had your whole wheat waffles this morning and they were ALL gone ( none to freeze ).
I don’t know if someone else already suggested this but we add kale (and spinach- 1 cup of each) to our smoothies and you would never know (except for the fact that the smoothie is green in color)! My kids LOVE them which is awesome since those two greens are so great.
I’m giving the Week 1 Pledge a whirl and am looking to add this to my breakfast meal (which I currently don’t eat). I’m wondering how many ounces this smoothie recipe makes. I would only be making it for me and I don’t want a ton of leftovers cause I’m not sure if it would keep for me.
Thanks!
If you are making the recipe just for you I would cut the recipe in half…good luck!
I started making sneaky healthy smoothies for our son a few months ago when he went through his last round of teeth (8 teeth in 6 weeks!)and was super hungry but didn’t want to chew anything. We make them often now as a snack before a big outing or if dinner gets rejected.
I make his smoothies with silken tofu instead of banana and yogurt. I add half an avocado plus 2 tbl. of ground flax. I also add some steamed and cooled butternut squash and carrots plus spinach. Then we do either peaches or mango with raspberries and strawberries. To thin it out I add some unsweetened soy milk and a splash of orange juice.
My son chugs it down like its a big treat but it’s really a meal in a glass! I like it for myself as a treat after a good zumba class
@Morgen – I don’t want to tell you what to do, but I wanted to pass on some information about the dangers of soy products, especially for male children. The scientific study information is available at
@Morgen – I don’t want to tell you what to do, but I wanted to pass on some information about the dangers of soy products, especially for male children. The scientific study information is available at Weston A. Price Foundation.
I am just starting a clean eating blog and getting recipes from my clean eating magazine. I notice when the recipes call for yogurt it is always greek yogurt. Do you ever use greek yogurt?
I couldn’t find Greek yogurt that was both organic and whole milk so I just use regular b/c I want it to be both of those things. Greek yogurt is a little higher in protein, but other than that I think they are equally good.
I have at times made my own yogurt – and to make Greek yogurt, you just take regular yogurt and drain it. Put it in a clean dishtowel, wrap a rubber band around the top to hold all the sides of the towel together, and hang someplace with a bowl underneath for a bit. Leave it for an hour or so and you’ll get Greek yogurt, leave it longer and you’ll get an approximation of cream cheese – which I have used plain on bagels, etc. or flavored with herbs and such to make different spreadable cheeses. HTH.
I find that protein is very important in smoothies. Possibilities: protein powder; nut butters, soaked raw cashews…
Flax seed, too!!!
My family has smoothies every morning that are similar to these. However we substitute frozen mango and water in place of yogurt and milk as we are trying to eat primarily vegan. If you’ve never read ‘The China Study’ by T. Colin Campbell, I would highly recommend it.
My family and I have “green smoothies” (all fruit/greens with water) every morning – I hate salads, so this is how I get my greens down!
Two tips: blend your spinach and liquid FIRST, then add the other fruit. That way the spinach is microscopic and you don’t get any icky chunks. Second, you can buy spinach at Costco, or any other fresh bulk way, and then wash it and freeze it in gallon bags! Easy to break off a chunk for smoothies and cheaper than store-frozen!
Fantastic tip!! And it is so much faster to wash it once and freeze it than to wash a handful every time you want it. Thanks!
Thanks for the tip. I try making these with Kale and it was not blended enough. In fact I had to chew the kale bits. I’m sure the problem stems from me blending it with everything together in stead of first. And maybe I used a bit too much :O)
Can you use frozen spinach instead of fresh?
I’ve never tried it…start with a little bit at first to make sure it works okay!
I know this is late, but for others that might read this, frozen spinach has a much more spinach-y taste than fresh, raw spinach. I thought the frozen was a great idea for smoothies, but it was awful! And by awful, I mean inedible! It could have been a brand issue. I think mine was 365.
When using spinach, I read you should blend it first with your liquid to make sure it’s blended well, and then add the remaining ingredients and give another whirl. I use one banana and frozen blueberries, greek yogurt, nuts, oatmeal, soy milk with the spinach and one would never know the spinach was included.
My girls and I loved it! Thank you!
Hi Lisa! My name is Hope and I found you just searching on the web. I recently finished reading “In defense of food”. I am a going to school for dietetics because i love food and nutrition and all of that. I just made a goal for myself to cut out all processed foods! I started a blog about it also, however I am going to switch over to wordpress because I like it more than blogger. anyways, just wanted to say HI and say I am excited about what you are doing. I just started with this whole goal only about a week ago, so i’m a little new on it all, but I am super excited!
Hello there! I love coming across others who are on board with this. I was considering blogspot too, but several people recommended wordpress to me and it has worked well so far. Also, I felt very overwhelmed in the first few weeks of changing our diet so hopefully some of the stuff I have written about will help you out. I agree that the book was great, but once you decide to move forward it doesn’t exactly tell you what specific foods to buy and what recipes to make (which is what I am trying to do here). I would love to trade notes once you get you your new blog going!
I’ve never thought about adding the spinach! I’ll try it. Thanks Lisa!