By Kayla Colgrove, MS, RDN, ACSM-CPT, Extension Educator, Lancaster Co.
For St. Patrick’s Day, I rename this recipe “Shamrocks & Gold Smoothie” to celebrate with a festive, tasty and kid-friendly green smoothie.
CLOVER POWER SMOOTHIE
(Makes 4 cups)
2/3 cup 100% apple juice*
1/2 cup fresh baby spinach**
2 cups frozen pineapple chunks, no sugar added
1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt***
1 banana
1. Add apple juice and spinach leaves to blender. Blend first to help make it smooth and avoid leafy chunks.
2. Place the remaining ingredients in the blender.
3. Blend until smooth and serve.
Kayla’s notes:
*You can substitute low-fat or nonfat milk or 100% white grape juice for 100% apple juice. Adding milk instead of 100% fruit juice will lower the calories and sugar while adding extra calcium to help strengthen bones.
**You can use kale instead of spinach. Kale does have a stronger flavor than spinach. I really like using spinach since it has little to no flavor.
***To make the smoothie even healthier, use nonfat vanilla yogurt or nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt instead of low-fat vanilla yogurt.
Nutrition Facts Per Serving (1 cup): 135 Calories, 1g Total Fat, 0g Saturated Fat, 35mg Sodium, 31g Total Carbs, 24g Sugars, 2g Dietary Fiber, 2g Protein