Recipe: $1.50
Per Serving: $0.75
I completely forgot how San Diego tends to have super sunny days in January. You know, when it is winter in the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. We left a rainy, chilly San Diego in December, and returned in January to its super sunny and summery friend. Which means: it's totally okay to start your day with a green smoothie!
This time last year we were in the midst of a Green Smoothie 30-Day Challenge. I was still a baby blogger, so I didn't know what I was writing about, but I loved sharing the price breakdowns and a couple of our favorite recipes. You can drink a green smoothie every day for less than $1! My #1 favorite recipe never actually made it on the blog, so with all that delicious homemade coconut milk, I thought I'd go ahead and post it.
Full disclosure: last year I would ALWAYS buy the frozen mango chunks at Trader Joe's for $2.69. I'm not sure if they've just discontinued them, or if they can't get cheap mangos, but I haven't found them for the last couple of months. When your mangoes go on sale, just buy a big juicy one and that should be more than enough for this 2-person smoothie recipe. Sad days without frozen mango chunks.
There's good news though: you can also supplement with pineapple! I made this using Trader Joe's frozen pineapple tidbits a few times and it was still delicious. In the future, I'd probably do ½ fresh mango and ½ frozen pineapple to cut back on the cost but still get that mango flavor. ALSO, I found that frozen pineapple blends much much better than fresh pineapple. The fresh stuff tends to stay a little stringy. You can also freeze the coconut milk in an ice cube tray if you like a very cold smoothie. (About 8 cubes equals ½ cup.)
This mango-coconut spinach smoothie is also a crowd-pleaser. We hosted a 12-person brunch before a group wine tasting day and every single person drank a mango spinach smoothie. Even the people who had never seen a green smoothie before were into it. WIN.
Okay, here's the super simple tropical spinach smoothie recipe. Enjoy!
Mango (or Pineapple) Coconut Spinach Smoothie
Ingredients
- 3 cups fresh spinach packed
- 1 cup water
- 1 small banana
- ¾ cup mango chunks or pineapple - best if frozen
- ½ cup canned coconut milk see homemade coconut milk here
- Optional: add 2 scoops collagen or 2 Tablespoons hemp seeds for added protein
Instructions
- Add the water and spinach to the blender and blend until pureed, stopping and pushing down the spinach if necessary.
- Add remaining ingredients: banana, mango, coconut milk, (optional added protein) and blend until smooth.
- Pour into two large glasses and serve!
Notes
Nutrition
This green smoothie was amazing! I hadn't tried one with mango or pineapple before. Quite tasty!