My First "Green Drink"

By Saturday morning, I still had not made any decisions in terms of my kale preparations. I decided, since my husband was pleasantly distracted with some video game of destruction to ask him about the possibility of using some of his mouth-watering spinach in a little "experiment." I told him about the Kale, Spinach Pear Smoothie I had learned about on Thursday. While he didn't seem too keen on the idea of trying any of the smoothie, he did acquiesce to trying a sip of mine.

I immediately got to work. This was exciting! My first ever "green drink" (I am not counting, mojitos. of course!) - people talk about these all of the time, they write about them, they brag of their tweaked recipes and amazing health benefits - I was finally going to see what all the hoopla was about. And I was finally going to put some kale to work in my kitchen!

I was surprised, first of all, by how little of my kale and spinach stash the recipe called for. Even though I made sure each cup was heaping, I still had plenty left over to do tons of things with. There was no need to worry my husband's head about any threat to his spinach, after all. I washed, I chopped and I remeasured to make sure I had enough, but all was well. So I went for the milk - decision time.

There was some Almond milk in the fridge from my husband, but he didn't remember how long ago he opened it or how long we had had it. I felt uneasy about this and did not want my experimnent foiled by some icky milk. We also had coconut milk, but I have been finding that it does not really agree with me, so that was out. Finally there was my sweet treat - my hazelnut milk, a brand new container. It is not as healthy as the almond (less on sodium but more calories and sugar), but it is fun and, in this case, definitely fresh.

I blended, then grabbed my pear, frozen banana and honey. Blended again. Wow - this stuff was super green. I suddenly became fearful of what it would taste like

• will it taste like liquid kale?
• will it have little chewy bits of spinach in it?
• is this drink going to make me sick?!
• did I ruin everything by using the hazelnut milk???

I was turning into a nervous wreck. I grabbed a glass, poured and was too terrified to inhale. I took a sip. What? Wait... I took a second sip and breathed in deeply. Whoa... How did it DO that? The flavor was sweet. There was a little banana and a little pear. None of these strong flavors took over. I couldn't believe it. I thought this drink was going to be a savory war of wits, each sip attacking me with another victory, but, instead it was as it was created - a blend.

I was fascinated.

...and I was not alone.

After his "one sip" my husband asked for his own "Hulk juice."

We drank each of our smothies wondering if the effects we were feeling - more awake, energized, less congested (I have been battling a cold), satiated without fullness - were just placebo effect or really as a result of drinking this green drink. Well, it was easy enough to make that we can try again and see if we have the same results next time!

A big thank you, again to Kim Winston, of Incandescent Blue Flame, for suggesting this recipe last week!

Do you enjoy a "green drink" to start off your day or to pep up a workout? 
What recipe do you use?
What benefits do you get from your green drink?