Green Power Smoothie

My friend and fellow teaching colleague, Paul, recently bought a NutriBullet. I once saw the infomercial and was interested, but forgot all about it until he started talking about how much he loves his. Well, given that Paul is a former fitness trainer and the current PE teacher at my school, I put a lot of stock in his judgment when it comes to nutrition related topics.

So off I went to buy my own little personal smoothie maker. At first I was wary of all this talk of kale and spinach that Paul was telling me to put in my smoothie. I’ve tried green smoothie recipes before and they all ended up making me gag. However, this new ratio of leafy greens to fruit was a much better balance for me. Plus no bananas. Somewhere along the way I realized I can’t drink blended bananas. I can eat whole bananas just fine, but the texture of blended ones throw me off.

I’ve been drinking these smoothies at school for lunch and have been on the receiving end of many crinkled noses. As I was chatting with my principal in the hallway one day, drink in hand, a group of girls surrounded me, heads cocked, brows furrowed, all asking,

“What are you drinking Ms. N??”

“Are you drinking grass??”

“What’s in that??”

Funny kids. They make me laugh. When I’m not yelling at them to do their work, that is. 😉

Ingredients:

• 2 cups packed kale leaves
• 1 cup frozen pineapple
• 1/4 cup pomegranate arils
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1/2 cup 100% papaya juice
• 1 cup water (more or less depending on how thick you like your smoothies)

Directions:

Blend all ingredients until smooth using a high powered blender. This power of your blender is critical, otherwise the pomegranate seeds won’t break down and you’ll end up having to spit them out as you drink.

Homegrown pomegranates from my uncle’s house.

The seeds are so pretty.

Seeding pomegranates is not my most favorite of tasks.

This little bowl took a good ten minutes of careful extraction.

I’m no longer afraid of kale smoothies.

Smiling kale.

Layering my drink.

In goes the liquids.

Action shot.

Mmm mmm tasty!

Cheers!