Fruit + greens + super foods + water. Blend. Drink. Repeat. As each morning gives way to the heat of the day I find myself with my finger on the blender trigger. Usually just after all of the sweat has dried on my skin from my yoga class. I'm salt and a fiery appetite, embodied. I can down a half gallon of green smoothie in about a minute. No idea if that's healthy. But it's real life.

I've gone through periods of chaffing against green smoothies. Mostly just green kombucha, actually. And spirulina and I are still not really friends. But putting baby spinach in my smoothies eased me into a more comfy relationship with ye ol' swamp juice. I like toting a huge mason jar of this stuff around and peeking out of the corner of my eye to see who's grossed out. Usually it's kids, but sometimes they surprise you like yeah my mom makes me those but she makes em into popsicles i like that. Oh, Charlottesville. This place is basically the East Coast Boulder, CO. Rich hippie dips out the wazoo and their waaaaay tuned in kids.

This pink and green super smoothie is a great way to get tons of life-force supporting greens into your day with minimal effort. It's cool, refreshing, punchy, and sweet. If you're looking for ways to get more plants in your diet, I always suggest smoothies as a first step. They can carry you a long way through your journey to eat more greens. You can add baby spinach to just about any smoothie base without changing the flavor. This smoothie I like particularly for the balance of flavors (tangy / creamy / sweet) and the addition of goji berries, which is basically edible sunblock. This Summer I've been walking a lot and spending some much needed chill time at my gym's outdoor pool (heavenly). So my fair skin needs all of the protection it can get!

I've fallen out of the habit of making / consuming banana based smoothies. Bananas have been selected for sugar content for generations. So no doubt the bananas we see in the market are far sweeter than some of the original varieties we humans stumbled upon in the rainforest. Each banana has about 15 grams of sugar in it. So if you make a huge smoothie with bananas as the base you're consuming a lot more sugar than you may be aware.

I like using pineapple as a base instead as it contains some wonderfully vital enzymes that support the digestion and aid in muscle repair. The enzyme, bromelian, is also anti-inflammatory. Which makes it a great food to consume after a workout or if your system is feeling particularly acidic / inflamed.

Todays smoothie contains a protein powder from Sunwarrior. I'm a fan of the classic vanilla protein powder specifically, which has a little bit of inulin and stevia in it to sweeten your smoothie in a way that won't spike your blood sugar. It's made from raw, whole brown rice protein. And I like that the Sunwarrior protein is vegan, sprouted & fermented and non-GMO. I always go for pea, hemp, or brown rice protein when looking for protein supplements. I consider them whole food proteins and I find they're highly supportive of my Ashtanga yoga practice and active lifestyle. If you don't dig on protein powders, whole hemp hearts are a good alternative.

Pink & Green Strawberry Pineapple Super Smoothie

Recipe Type

:

Breakfast

Author:

Renee Shuman (Will Frolic for Food)

Prep time:

5 mins

Total time:

5 mins

Serves:

2 servings

This pink and green super smoothie is nourishing and delicious, packed with greens and super fruits and seeds! The recipe makes for a huge smoothie for one, or a couple of overflowing glasses for two. I personally like drinking this after a workout to recover my energy & feel great!

Ingredients

• green
• 2 cups frozen pineapple
• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 3 tablespoons goji berries
• 1 teaspoon virgin coconut oil
• 2 large handfuls baby spinach
• 1 tablespoon Sunwarrior vanilla protein powder (you can also sub with hemp hearts or any unsweet vanilla protein powder + 1 drop stevia or 1 teaspoon honey)
• water
• pink
• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1/2 cup goat or coconut yogurt (unsweet)
• 1 tablespoon raw honey (sub maple syrup if vegan)
• 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1/4 cup water
• *optional: mint, to garnish

Instructions

1. In a high powered blender, combine frozen pineapple, frozen strawberries, chia, goji berries, coconut oil, spinach, Sunwarrior vanilla protein and enough water to just barely cover all of the ingredients.
2. Blend on high until smooth and creamy.
3. Pour equal amounts of the smoothie into two glasses.
4. Set in the fridge until you're ready to top with the pink smoothie.
5. Wash out your blender cup and blade.
6. In your blender, combine the frozen strawberries, yogurt, honey, coconut oil, and 1/4 cup water and blend on high until the smoothie is creamy.
7. Top the green smoothie with the pink smoothie. Garnish with mint and get sipping!
8. Best consumed immediately.

3.3.3077

This strawberry pineapple super smoothie post was sponsored by Sunwarrior. All opinions and words are, as always, my own. Thanks Sunwarrior!