Most people think of scary, terrifying things when they hear the word “monster”.

I’m sure that some of you might be a bit surprised to hear that I have my own personal monster, and I actually like it.

I’m talking about a green monster, of course.  A green monster monster smoothie!

In my journey to eat just a bit more healthily, I started researching smoothies.  I was actually researching spirulina smoothies, but came across the Green Monster Movement website along the way.  I decided to give it a whirl (tee hee) and try one.  I used Angela’s basic recipe and thought that it was quite tasty.  So, I thought that I would try a few more.

Unfortunately, my blender was not a fan of green monsters.  It broke after the second one (a chipped chunk of plastic from one of the screws = husband decided he could muck something together to make it work = sparks and smoke and an entire pitcher-full of smoothie ingredients being dumped down the sink with the remnants making it into the rubbish bin = less than pleased email to husband).

Fast-forward a few days: the Easter Weekend was over, stores were open again, and I was able to buy a replacement blender.  I used what was left of the spinach (much of it had been eaten by then in other forms: salads, omelets, etc.) to make another smoothie.  It was as yummy as I remembered, which led to making today’s green monster, pictured above.

I’ve tried various adaptations of the original recipe.  I’ve used regular milk, soy milk, Greek yoghurt.  I’ve used peanut butter and gone without.  I’ve added ice or skipped it.  I think that what I like the best about this recipe is that it’s very adaptable to what you have on hand.  The things that have remained the same in my monsters are (1) at least 2 big handfuls of rinsed spinach, (2) a tablespoon of chia seeds, and (3) a frozen banana.  In cases where I’ve only used the banana, I found that it wasn’t quite sweet enough to mask the spinach flavour (and let me tell you, drinking spinach and having it taste like you’re drinking spinach isn’t as nice as drinking spinach and having it taste like something else).  In those instances, I added a bit of honey and that was enough.

Today’s green monster was put together in the following order:

• 3 large handfuls of rinsed spinach
• 1 T of chia seeds
• 1 avocado, peeled and with the stone removed
• 1 frozen banana
• 2 small handfuls of frozen berries (try to find ones w/o added sweetener)
• 1 C of milk
• Juice from 1 orange

It was delicious.  I think that the avo helped give it a smoother, less liquid-y texture, more like a green monster shake.  If you don’t have any avos, just use unsweetened yoghurt in place of the milk, blend, and add water to thin as needed.

I’d recommend checking out the recipes over at Green Monster Movement and seeing what works for you.  The smoothies that I’ve made have never been overpoweringly fruity – I’ve always felt like I could taste just a wee bit of the spinach – but that’s because of the way that I’m making them.  If you don’t want to taste any veggies, then just add more fruit!  My advice is to take a small taste while it’s still in the pitcher, and then adjust as needed.