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Green Smoothie Recipe {Gluten Free}

One of the hardest things about eating gluten free is finding something besides eggs to eat for breakfast. I love eggs as much as anyone can possibly love eggs, but even I don’t want to eat them every. single. morning. Besides, some days I want to eat them for lunch! (Love me some egg salad.)

My other go-to breakfast staple is a smoothie. I showed you last year how I make my yummy chocolate banana smoothie, but lately I’ve been wanting to figure out a recipe for a green smoothie. I’m all for sneaking veggies into my diet, and I figure if they’re raw, that’s even better, right??

Last week when my family was in town, my brother-in-law showed me how he makes his green smoothie, or, as they affectionately call it in his house, the Banana Nasty. Yeah, the kids aren’t really into it, as you might imagine. Unfortunately my kids didn’t like it either, but I do, and it’s a great way to fill up in the mornings AND fit in some more veggies.

Green Smoothie Recipe

All you do is throw a half a pear, a half an apple (I throw it all in – core, stem, seeds and all!), 1 frozen banana, 1 collard green leaf, and 1 kale leaf into a blender with about a cup of water. (Organic is best, although I don’t worry about the bananas so much.)

green smoothie in the blender

And blend!

And blend and blend and blend . . . depending on the strength of your blender, of course. The smoother the better so don’t be afraid to let it whirl for a minute or two. I just have a regular ol’ blender with two speeds, and it worked okay. I hear that the Vitamix* is awesome, though. I may have to add that to my Christmas wish list next year, if I continue to make smoothies often.

This is what you get:

green smoothie

Yes, it makes a lot more than that. That is just all I had left when I realized I had forgotten to take a picture! D’oh!

It really is tasty, and if you don’t mind a bit of texture, you’re probably gonna like it.

Do you have a tried and true smoothie recipe that your family enjoys? SHARE!!

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30 Responses

  1. I’m a loyal green smoothie drinker. I used to do mainly spinach, as it blends easily in even weak blenders, but once I got a VitaMix I switched to kale. Kale is such a nutritional powerhouse and I love being able to get some in without all the chewing. I usually do half a bunch/head/whatever a unit of kale is called. 🙂

    My blend changes depending on the contents of my fridge and freezer, but is usually kale, frozen banana, shredded raw coconut and an orange. It sounds odd, but avocados are good in green smoothies too. They lend a nice creaminess and some good plant fats.

      1. I put a scoop or two of greek yogurt in mine. I don’t like eating greek yogurt alone but it is great in smoothies! It adds a ton of protein and helps with the ‘creaminess’ factor. I also add beets and carrots to mine – they have a mild taste compared to fruit so they don’t ruin the taste.

  2. This is a good one, but I have trouble downing something cold when the house is cold and the outdoors looks even colder! Maybe I can add a chaser of strong coffee?

  3. I have a wimpy blender so I usually do spinach but one of these days I’ll make the jump to a VitaMix! If I’m doing one for the kids, I throw in a banana, a ton of spinach and blueberries and fill with water. The blueberries insure that they can’t see the color of the spinach, therefore insuring that they will drink it 🙂 If we have leftover apple slices or pears & strawberries that need to be used up, I toss those in, too.

  4. My go-to smoothie is a handful of fresh/frozen blueberries, fresh pineapple, a few strawberries, 1/2 banana, handful of spinach, 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder, a couple spoons of ground flaxseed, splash of milk and handful of ice cubes.

  5. I do one that I found on Annie’s Eats blog – it has a pear, banana, pineapple, bunch of spinach, orange juice, flax seed, and a little bit of honey. It’s delicious and even my 4 year old and 2 year old love them!

    1. just a note – I added strawberries and the smoothie was a brown color. It didn’t look very good but it tasted great! We call them green monster smoothies.

  6. 8 oz. of water, half a banana, big handful of spinach, and 1/2 cup frozen mango (or half cup frozen peaches and a sprinkle of cinnamon)…SO GOOD…both my kids love it. Sometimes I will add a scoop of Nanopro (the protein powder I use) which keeps me full longer. Spinach is much better in smoothies, I’ve found. Kale or any other green tends to make it a little bitter, but not the spinach.

  7. Did you make that in a regular old blender? I wasn’t sure if mine could handle all that! Everywhere I turn online I see people talking about Vitamix. I’m thinking I need one!

  8. Here’s another…I had been making it with cocoa powder, not cacao powder, b/c I didn’t realize there was a difference. Apparently there is but I haven’t had time to get to Whole Foods to pick any up. Tastes just like an almond joy…SO good!

    RAW protein – 1 scoop (can use any brand)
    Cacao powder – 2 TBS
    Raw honey – 1 TBS (not the brand, just raw)
    Coconut manna – 1 TBS
    Almond milk (original flavor) – 8 oz

    Put all in a blender & enjoy – so YUMMY! I will add a couple of ice cubes too, if I want it freezy.

  9. Emailing this link to my hubby right now…. adding smoothies to our breakfast rotation will really help us in our GF transition!

  10. Green Smoothie Girl website is all you need! I was totally converted to the GS lifestyle by Robyn. I did her 12 steps program and have even heard her speak in person. Love me some green smoothie! Her recipe is on her site and its great. My kids drink it daily! I’m also gluten free!

  11. And also, yes you should spring for the Vitamix or Blendtec. It will make all the difference in the world to your kids drinking it. Its just wonderful insurance for the kids to have it and strengthen their immune system, especially this time of year! You will love it!

  12. Vitamix is good. But I l.o.v.e my Ninja. It has 6 blades and kicks some serious smoothie butt! My breakie everyday is a strawberry mango peanut butter smoothie made with almond milk (smoothie convienently hides of all of my liquid vitamins and probiotics and protein powder!)

  13. A friend of mine tells the kids the green smoothie is a “Shrek Smoothie” and they love it!!! You could even call it and “Incredible Hulk Smoothie” whatever works!!!

    1. Well THAT just rained on my parade! LOL. Okay, back to the drawing board. So some veggies are okay in these shakes, just not all. Good thing I’m not a raw veggie fan in general. I much prefer veggies cooked with butter. yum.

  14. I just recently started playing with green smoothies. I make a big batch and the freeze it in ice cube trays. Then pop em in a ziplock for easy morning breakfasts =] I used spinach, strawberries, chia seeds, unsweetened applesauce (I’m out of our canned stuff so I used storebought) and honey. When I take them out, I add 1/2 an avacado, banana, peaches and/or blueberries. The blueberries ALWAYS hide the green! Yay! We also juice and I currently have a beet/celery/spinach/apple/carrot that the kids hated. I froze it and I sneak it in their smoothies sometimes =] Muahahanaha!!! If I don’t use avacado I use Greek vanilla yogurt. We like our smoothies creamy. I’m trying for non-frozen smoothies but we just haven’t cleared that hurdle yet.

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