Admission time: the average green smoothie made of a green, a fruit or two & some ice, water or coconut water leaves me… meh at times.  I feel great, but drinking down the quart of “smoothie” is not always pleasant.  Hence, I use the Vitamix for sauces, soups, coconut & nut milks and even salsa… and smoothies of every color but green!  Today I dove back into green-experimentation, and came up with what might be considered too sweet to be a “healthy smoothie” but its a great starter green drink for those of you- like me- who are lukewarm about diving into liquefied kale all at once!

 My Power Green Date Smoothie: Two handfuls of mixed greens (Trader Jose makes a bag filled with chard, spinach & kale called “Power Greens”), a peeled ripe banana, a red or brown pear (I used red this time) cored with the stem removed, and four small or three large soft dates.  (*If your dates are more dehydrated, you can soak them for a bit beforehand.)

I mixed all this with about a cup and a half of ice and a cup of water in the Vitamix for about 45 seconds, but any pretty powerful blender can do the trick if you can blend until smooth.  (*Some blenders won’t really get the kale and chard leaves liquefied, so start off with soft leaves like spinach if you are testing your blender strength.)

That’s one big smoothie.  Was it sweeter than a traditional “green smoothie”?- yes. Can you blend it with coconut water or almond milk or another milk?- sure.  Is this the kind of green smoothie you can drink all the time?- well, experts say that the trick to these things is to  always mix it up and vary your nutrients.  All sweet food is not balanced, sadly!  But, this shake (or your own spin on it)  will get your taste going for liquefied greens… and that is a good thing in my book!  xoxo Dana