Chocolate Smoothie

This smoothie makes an excellent dessert, but to be perfectly honest, I’ve had it for breakfast too! It is full of feel good ingredients, and will give you an excellent jump start to your day. Not to mention because it isn’t chock full of fruit it probably has less sugar than a lot of other smoothies.

The dates in this recipe are optional. I like really dark chocolate so I usually leave them out or I’ll use just 1, but my husband likes things a bit sweeter so for him I use 4 dates. You can always add them at the end depending on if you want this smoothie sweeter, but adding at the beginning helps to chop them up a bit better, especially if you don’t have a very powerful blender. You can also do step 1 and let the dates soak in the milk for a while before going to step 2. This will help soften them so they will chop up better.

Makes: 1 serving (16 ounces)

Preparation time: 5m
Cooking time: 5m
Total time: 5m

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup unsweetened milk substitute (e.g. organic soy, almond or coconut)
  • 1/4 cup frozen spinach
  • 1-4 dates (optional)
  • 1 ripe banana
  • 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup ice

Equipment: blender

Instructions:

  1. Place the milk substitute of your choice into a blender along with spinach and dates (if using). Puree on high until smooth.
  2. Then add the banana, cocoa powder and vanilla extract. Blend again until smooth.
  3. Now add about a cup of ice and blend to make this smoothie nice and frosty!
  4. Enjoy and feel good about yourself!