Happy St. Patrick’s Day! ♣ 
♣
Some people celebrate St. Pat’s Day with parades, green beer and corned beef…I’m celebrating it with a Green Monster! 
In the mix:
- 1/2 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
- 1/2 Tablespoon chia seeds
- 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze
- 1 Tablespoon almond butter
- 1 frozen banana
- enough spinach to fill the blender to the top!
What, you’ve never put spinach in your smoothies?! 
I put all the ingredients, except for the banana, into my blender last night. This morning I took it out of the fridge, blended the heck out of it, added the frozen banana and continued blending until it was silky smooth.
Ahhh, look at that nutrient packed, holiday inspired goodness!
I am seriously never making another smoothie without vanilla whey protein powder. I cannot tell you how thick and luxurious it makes any smoothie I add it to. It’s like drinking a milkshake in the morning…albeit a brightly colored green one!
And, no, you can’t taste the spinach, I promise! If you don’t trust me, trust 3 year old Theo, who can’t get enough green monsters in his life! You’ll love them!
Word to the wise – check your mug after drinking this. Chances are high that you’ll be sporting a festive, green mustache.
Lunch is also going green – I packed a big Spinach Salad!
In the mix:
- Mixed greens
- Spinach
- Carrots
- Celery
- Low-sodium deli turkey
- Dried cranberries
- Almond slices
Oh and I wanted to tell you – I put so much spinach in here that it was literally overflowing out of the container, so I whipped out my homemade “salad chopper“, aka a pizza cutter, and zipped through the leaves a couple times. 15 seconds later, I had a manageable, non face-whipping salad. Cool, huh?
And a 100 Calorie bag of popcorn for the 2:00 muncheroos.
Green attire: check.
Green breakfast & lunch: check.
Green happy hour: we’ll see.
Have a great day!
~~~~~
How do you partake in St. Pat’s Day festivities? Green clothes, Irish food, parades, green beer?
LOVE THIS SMOOTHIE. I made it this morning, when my mom saw me putting spinach in the blender, she thought I was absolutely crazy. HA I proved her wrong! You really can’t taste the spinach ONE BIT! I actually cut up 5 strawberries and threw them in, put in a little stevia, and instead of chia seeds I used ground flax. I had this as my breakfast before a hard workout this morning…I swear it gave me sooo much energy, I was like a crazy woman on the elliptical! THANK YOU:)
Oh well, it was delicious and great for a pre-workout meal!
P.S. You’re smoothie is beautiful! Mine turned out a pukey green..
That smoothie looks interesting to say the least. I recently bought a juicer and have fallen in love with it. Sad thing is I don’t think my blender is quality enough to liquify spinach.
Your Green Monster is a little different than what I invented for my friends:
Blue Curacao
Vodka
Rum
OJ
I was created in honor of the Red Sox left field wall the “Green Monster”.
Not as healthy, but definitely good!
Wow. You are taking going green to a whole new level. Thanks for posting.
Just tried this and LOVE! Will be a new daily staple for me. I am totally loving all of your recipes. I cook most of my family meals on Sundays and made the Chicken Noodles for dinner, chicken chilli on for this week, made a double batch of the apple pie oatmeal for my breakfasts and have the monglian beef on the menu for Wednesdays meal. Also made the so good it pisses me off sauce….LOVE! Thank you so much for all of the great recipes. Now I have printed off a few of your running regimens….a must need for the early morning.
Have a great week, thanks for making my weekend so much fun with new recipes. 
So glad you are enjoying everything!
[...] Ahhh, look at that nutrient packed, holiday inspired goodness! I'm Going GREEN! | Iowa Girl Eats – StumbleUpon [...]
[...] still chuckle over my friend’s husband who refuses to let her add Chobani to her Green Monsters, because they’re “too precious to be eaten any way but right out of the carton.” [...]
Hello! I like your salad mixes for your lunches. Very healthy. I was wondering, what salad dressing do you use? Do you have a recipe for one that you mix yourself with the poppy seeds and olive oil and something else I’m not thinking of? I’m not describing it very well I guess.
Anyway, just curious what dressing you like to put on those salads.
I usually use a local Italian dressing called Bisignanos Italian Dressing, or I make my own. Here are a bunch of recipes to try!
http://iowagirleats.com/recipes/?search_term=dressing&ui=402