I seriously heart this smoothie.  In fact, I drink one almost every morning on the way to work.  It’s only 300 calories, delicious, and super easy to make.   Oh, and it’s packed with nutrients such as vitamin A, vitamin B-6, vitamin C, vitamin K, iron, dietary fiber, phytochemicals, calcium, and potassium . . . just to name a few.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup Light Silk Almond Milk (60 calories)
• 1 ripe banana (100 calories)
• 1 cup (or handful) of rainbow chard (35 calories)
• 2 tablespoon Ovaltine (40 calories)
• 1 tablespoon  chia seeds (65 calories)
• 2-3 ice cubes, optional (0 calories)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Simply dump all the ingredients in a Nutribullet (my preference), Magic Bullet, or blender.   Stick a straw in it and enjoy.

TIPS:

• You’ll want to make sure you include the stems of the chard as that has more nutrients than the leaves.
• You could substitute the chard with kale or spinach, but chard is actually more nutritionally dense than either of those.  I also feel that it gives the smoothie a creamier texture and a better taste.
• Another substitute you can make is two tablespoons of  PB2 instead of Ovaltine if you’d rather have a peanut butter-y taste than chocolate-y.  Or better yet, do one tablespoon of each for a peanut butter-y and chocolate-y taste.
• You will want to make sure you drink this as soon as you blend it.  Chia seeds tend to gel up once they’re in a liquid.  After about an hour, the texture will become thick and quite gross.
• If you’d like your smoothie to be more filling, add 1/2 cup of dry oatmeal, but that’s going to add an additional 150 calories.

Do you have a favorite green smoothie?  Tell me about it in the comments.

You can also go to http://www.skiptomylou.org to check out other great recipes. 🙂