This is a variation on #1. I was short on spinach and frozen banana slices, so I improvised with an avocado, and it wasn’t too bad.

• Around half a banana, sliced and preferably frozen
• Around 10 ounces faux milk (oat milk, almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk, …), preferably unflavored/unsweetened
• Big wad of organic peanut butter without added sugar
• Roughly 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• A bunch of chia seeds (I just dump some in from the bag, but I suspect it’s around 1 or 2 teaspoons)
• A little bit of spinach
• 1 small avocado, peeled and pitted

I used a combination of oat milk and almond milk. I started with 8 ounces, which turned out not to be quite enough, so I added some more to get an estimated 10 ounces. I sliced the avocado in half, removed the pit, and scooped the fruit out with a spoon into the blender. The resulting smoothie had more of a milkshake-like consistency than most of my others. I ended up with some peanut butter stuck to the sides, which I wish I could figure out how to avoid, as it happens a lot. The smoothie tasted pretty good, and was very filling.

I decided to try a different smoothie recipe yesterday:

• Around 10 ounces almond milk (a little more than the recipe calls for, but I wanted to use up the carton)
• 2 red apples of some sort (probably Fuji or Gala), cored and quartered
• A bunch of spinach (recipe calls for 3 cups, but I didn’t measure)
• 1 avocado, peeled and pitted
• Some honey (recipe calls for 2 tsp; again, I didn’t measure)
• 1-inch knob of ginger, peeled and chopped
• Juice of one lemon
• Several ice cubes

This recipe makes 2 smoothies, and I had to use the full-size Ninja blender to fit all of the ingredients. Prep time was longer than my usual go-to recipe, because the apples needed to be cored, avocado peeled/pitted, ginger peeled/chopped, and lemon squeezed.

I did not like this at all initially. It was way too lemony, and lacked any hint of sweetness. However, I liked it a lot better when I drank the second half the next day, I think partially because I wasn’t expecting it to taste sweet, and the lemony sourness had mellowed out somewhat. If I make this again, I’ll cut back on the lemon, and maybe add some cayenne pepper to give it a little kick. The recipe does lack a good source of protein, so I may try substituting Greek yogurt for some of the Almond milk, and/or adding protein powder.

I found another recipe that is very similar to this one, but adds a banana and omits the lemon juice. It might be worth trying that as well.

This has been my go-to smoothie recipe since I started making them regularly a few months ago.

• 1 banana, sliced and preferably frozen
• A little bit of whatever other fruit is on hand (pineapple chunks, blueberries, strawberries [1 or 2], blackberries, raspberries, etc…), preferably frozen. I’ve also used red grapes, which worked better than I was expecting it would.
• 8 ounces faux milk (oat milk, almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk, …), preferably unflavored/unsweetened
• Big wad of nut butter (peanut or almond works well) preferably without added sugar
• Roughly 1 scoop protein powder (been using chocolate since it’s all we have on hand)
• A bunch of chia seeds (I just dump some in from the bag, but I suspect it’s around 1 or 2 teaspoons)
• Big handful of greens (usually spinach, but I’ve used parsley, and will try baby kale when we have some)

Blend everything up in the Ninja. If it’s too runny, add some rolled oats. If it’s too thick, add some more faux milk. Makes two small to medium smoothies, or one big smoothie.

Variations:

• I’ve occasionally added plain Greek yogurt, and it’s not bad. It can be used either in addition to or in place of the protein powder.
• I’ve tried making them with romaine lettuce as the green vegetable. It works in a pinch, but I’m not crazy about the taste.
• I’ve also tried an apple as the second fruit, and it works, but I much prefer berries.
• I added some eggnog on 1/2/2024, and it was pretty good. The eggnog flavor tends to overpower most of the other fruits, though.