Pink Monster

This morning as I was setting up the ingredients for my Green Monster I realized I had forgotten to purchase a key ingredient-- kale! Duh! Alright so you may think I'm crazy but ask yourself this: how many vegetables have you eaten today? Ketchup, by the way, does not count as your vegetable for the day. Green Monsters are a great way to pack in those greens your body needs and is especially excellent if you are a picky eater! By no means am I a picky eater but I am always on the lookout for ways to bump up my vegetable intake.

The reason why I like kale so much is because it is a dark, dark green. The rule of thumb is the darker the green, the more nutritious, which is why you should replace all of that iceberg lettuce with some spinach, romaine or arugula... Anyway, kale has great antioxidant and anti-cancer properties as well as being a great source of vitamin C. My only issue with kale is that it is a very rough green, which makes it a bit difficult to eat raw. Steaming it with garlic would be delicious but you could also tear up three leaves and throw it into your blender along with your favorite smoothie ingredients. Your smoothie will turn green with envy (from all the benefits your body will receive from it!) and you will just have fulfilled part of your vegetable requirement for the day. Woo-hoo!

While I forgot the kale, I did remember my other ingredients:

1 cup 0% fat Greek yogurt
1/3 frozen banana (freeze your browning bananas!)
6 frozen cherries
1/2 cup water
1/2 avocado


Just throw everything into a blender and in a minute or two you will have a creamy smoothie that you will swear is sinful. If you want your smoothie to be a bit thinner just add more water while blending. While it ended up being a Pink Monster due to the cherries and lack of kale, this sucker kept me full for the entire afternoon!


Check out Oh She Glows for more Green Monster ideas! I have a sneaking suspicion that I will be stuck in my apartment tomorrow, so I'm going to give you all a peak into my grocery shopping habits!

With health,

Melissa