Energizing green smoothie with spinach and protein

In January 2009, I felt a huge void in my life. I was unhappy with my career and often awake until 3 or 4 in the morning stressing about work. Not surprisingly, I dragged my butt all day long and my energy plummeted, especially during my morning workouts. After months of carrying on like a zombie, I decided to do something about it.

At the time, I was reading a book called Crazy Sexy Cancer by Kris Carr. Kris is known for making all kinds of delicious homemade green juices and I knew that I should try it out myself. The only problem was that I didn’t have a juicer! However, I did have a blender, so I decided just to blend my green 'juice'. My horrible 'juice' experiments were promptly called Green Monsters. They were scary, but it wasn’t long before I was blending up incredibly delicious green smoothies – and allowing me to take a moment each day for myself. So while it’s not green juice, now I can’t imagine going more than a few days without a green smoothie.

In The Story of the Green Monster post, I explained: Determined to feel alive once again, I crammed the healthiest foods into my blender and I blended my little heart out. Of course, the first few attempts looked horrific and they tasted no better. But, I didn’t care. I drank every last drop of those green monsters before I made the long commute to work each morning. The green monster not only gave me energy, but it represented something much deeper than that- inner peace and self-love. I created the Green Monsters as a way to take time out for my health. Even if I knew it was going to be a stressful day, drinking my Green Monster in the morning provided me with a sense of calm in my life. I hope it does that for you too.
Green Monster Smoothie I know what you’re thinking, but I promise you can’t taste the spinach! Have fun experimenting with all kinds of flavours. I love to add in frozen mixed berries for a burst of antioxidant power. President’s Choice has a new organic frozen power berry blend (including sweet cherries!) that I‘m loving lately. Also feel free to change up your greens too. I like to use dinosaur kale as a change from spinach. Enjoy!

Yield: 1 serving or 2 cups

Ingredients: 1 cup almond milk, or milk of choice 1 tbsp chia seeds or ground flax seed 1 tbsp nut butter (optional) 1 scoop of protein powder (optional) 2 handfuls organic raw spinach 1 ripe banana, preferably peeled and frozen 1-3 ice cubes

Directions: 1. On Sunday night, I like to peel and chop about 5 bananas and then place them in a container in the freezer. Now you have frozen bananas ready to go in your smoothies all week long. 2. In a high speed blender, add 1 cup of almond milk. Now add in the chia or flax and optional nut butter and protein powder. Next, add the spinach followed by the frozen banana on top. Blend until smooth. 3. Add in 1-3 ice cubes and blend again until smooth. Serve immediately and enjoy a burst of energy in the morning or anytime of the day. I love to make Green Monsters after a hard workout, adding in some protein powder as a great recovery smoothie.

Angela Liddon is the creator of Oh She Glows — a popular healthy vegan recipe website receiving over 1.6 million page views a month — and one of Chatelaine's Women of the Year 2011. Angela’s passion for healthy vegan food is contagious and she’s eager to show others that vegan (and often gluten-free) food can blow your taste buds away.