Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie

A few of my friends (about six now, actually) have seen me with my "green smoothie" and inquired with strange looks on their faces, "what the heck is that?" They keep an odd look on their faces as I explain to them it's called a green smoothie, and tell them to try some of mine before they make judgments. I won't tell them what's in it until they try it. They have all be extremely surprised to find that a green colored smoothie tastes just like chocolate peanut butter!

It's healthy for you, to boot. Most of us have a hard time getting in enough leafy, dark green vegetables, and this is the perfect way to do so! My sisters feed this to their three-year olds and they cry when it's gone because they want more. It really looks "like sewage" (according to my sister Mackenzie), but it tastes like heaven. (Even Tyler loves them!)

Here's the recipe I acquired from the Simple Healthy Tasty blog, and adapted it to fit Tyler and I's lifestyle. (I didn't adapt much: the original recipe calls for almond or rice milk, and I replaced it with regular milk. Everything from the Simple Healthy Tasty blog is dairy-free to support a certain lifestyle choice. I, however, love milk. And choose to drink it several times a day.)

2 cups milk

2 LARGE handfuls of spinach, frozen

2 Tablespoons all natural peanut butter (Costco has a good organic kind and Adam's brand is always good)

2 Tablespoons honey

2 or 3 bananas, frozen

1 small handful of chocolate chips

Makes 2 servings

• The original recipe also calls for ice, but due to our small freezer, we don't generally have room for an ice cube tray. So I learned a trick from my sisters and my mom: freeze the spinach. Smart thinking, eh? The frozen bananas and frozen spinach will be plenty to keep the smoothie cold. 
  
•  I usually fill the blender about halfway with spinach. I really try to get in as much as I can because you can't taste it anyway!
  
• If you buy spinach at the store in a bunch, be sure to wash it THOROUGHLY before sticking it in the freezer. It's not like romaine lettuce with a little bit of dirt, it's like a nasty potato with A LOT of dirt. Rinse it several times and then stick it in a bag in the freezer. I made the mistake of not rinsing it the first time I made this smoothie. Yuck.