Chocolate Mint “Green” Smoothie
Here’s another surefire way to coax my stomach into getting some food into it when I’m not feeling my best and it decides to shut down on me. And since Christmas this year seems to be causing me a lot of emotional stress, well, Mr. Tummy has really entered uncooperative mode and refuses to feed normally.
Heck, he even refused pizza, today. PIZZA!
“Mhey… that dough is too soft, he said. Plus, it’s white. C’mon. Are you really going to feed me white pizza dough? Pfft, you know I don’t eat THAT! And there’s tomato sauce on it. And bell peppers. I’m not in the mood for bell peppers. So thanks, but no thanks. I’ll pass!”
I had to actually force feed it ONE poor little meager slice. That’s all I could manage.
But that smoothie? No way he could find anything wrong with that.
I mean, look at this. Would you say no to one of these?
Just please, don’t anyone read him the list of ingredients…
Because trust me, if you haven’t seen it, you’ll never guess what’s actually in it!
Can you think of a more beautiful and appetizing way to get some greens in you?
I don’t.
CHOCOLATE MINT GREEN SMOOTHIE
INGREDIENTS
Serves 1
Part I
- ½ avocado
- ½ cup fresh baby spinach leaves
- ¼ cup fresh mint leaves
- ½ cup unsweetened soy milk
- ½ scoop (20g) vanilla flavored whey protein
- ¼ cup pasteurized egg whites
Part II
- 2 heaping tbsp extra dark cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp flaxseed meal
Garnish (optional)
- 0% fat plain Greek yogurt
- Cacao nibs
- Fresh mint leaves
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add all ingredients of part one to your blender or food processor and process until smooth (a mini blender might not cut it here… spinach and mint leaves do take up a lot of room. You need the real arsenal for this one!)
- Transfer half of that mixture into a separate container and reserve.
- Add the cocoa powder and flaxseed meal to what’s left in your blender or food processor and process until smooth.
- Pour half of that into a serving glass. Top with reserved mint mixture. Finish with the rest of the chocolate.
- Garnish with a dollop of plain yogurt, cacao nibs and mint leaves, if desired.
46 Comments on “Chocolate Mint “Green” Smoothie”
I almost always use fresh organic spinach for my smoothies but never thought of using avocado…I bet it makes the texture of the smooty very creamy….something to think about next time I make them 🙂
Very rich and creamy indeed, not to mention all the healthy fats, fibers and vitamins that it adds! It’s definitely a winner! 🙂
Hi! I’m a huge lover of your recipes. I just had a question if it was okay to eat raw pasteurized egg whites? I often eat raw egg yolks for nutrition, but are egg whites okay? Thank You!!
Thanks Stephanie! Glad to hear you like my recipes. To answer your question, it’s very safe to eat raw egg whites, so long as they have been pasteurized. You can check out this site for more info
THIS IS AMAZING! So imaginative, i love all your recipes, they’re right up my street, i thought i would finally show some appreciation!
Hey, thank you Jess! I truly appreciate your showing some appreciation! Glad you like my recipes. I’ll have to look up some of yours, too! Seems like you’ve got some pretty good things on your site too! Will definitely have to explore it some more! 😀
Oh my gosh this looks incredible. My blender broke recently, hoping I get one for Christmas. I will 100% be making this. Drooling over the pics haha
I LOVE mint chocolate. This is a great use of hidden veggies! Do you think this recipe would fly for people who aren’t usually healthy eaters? (If I made it and they didn’t know?)
I hope you’re feeling better soon. I definitely understand where you’re at with the emotional tummy. I’ve been there. In those times, I’ve always found smoothies to be the easiest/best thing to do be doing, and you are the queen of smoothies, so you’ve got that going for ya 🙂
Oh girl, you are a genius 🙂 xo
Thank you so very much! 😀
I hope you feel better soon Sonia! I am sorry you are going through a rough time – I wish there was something I could do! All the best to you my dear!
I am glad you could get some nutrition in with this smoothie – and hey, you tried avocado in your smoothie finally!!! : ) This looks fabulous, creamy and so decadent….YUMMMM
How did I ever miss your comment??? Sorry about that, just saw it this morning. Oh, can’t wait until this whole Christmas thing is over and things get back to normal. Guess I’ll have to plan better, next year. 😉 I will be feeling better soon, that much I know. Couple of days to go! 🙂 Thanks for your comforting words. And you ARE doing something. Just you being here, reading this and leaving this comment is already plenty! I truly appreciate your regular presence on my blog, Nora.
And yes, I finally gave that a try, true, I have you to thank for that. 😀 What an amazing texture it conveys to a smoothie. Thanks for putting this idea into my mind!
I look forward to all new inspirations from you for the years to come! And don’t be too hard on your body with all the changes that are happening in your life. Stay healthy, girlfriend! 🙂 xoxo
I LOVE the presentation of this smoothie! You make it look so beautiful with the swirls and everything 🙂 I would definately love to make this smoothie and maybe even make it for breakfast for my brother who is home from the military. I don’t have any mint leaves though so maybe I will try replacing the mint leaves with extra spinach and pure mint extract. BTW, I LOVE avocado in smoothies! Makes the texture sooo smooth!
Very smooth indeed. Glad I finally decided to give it a try. Now I’m hooked. I don’t think you even need to add the extra spinach, mint extract should do the trick. But if you do want to add them, go right ahead, more good nutrients is never a bad thing. Thank you for your lovely comment! I appreciate that! 😉
Beautiful! I hope you’re feeling alright! But then again, with an awesome smoothie like this you should be better in no time 😀 I loooooove the mint. It’s always this time of year when I wish I would have salvaged a bit of my mint plant to bring inside 🙁 Such pretty pictures for this one by the way, and I love the glass you used 😀
Thank you so much Heidi! I should be feeling much better as soon as this whole Christmas thing is behind me… Hopefully next year won’t be as hard! Can you not buy mint at the supermarket? I wish it was as readily available as parsley is, really!
I love all of your recipes, they are all so decadent and yet healthy too! I was wondering though…so many of your recipes include protein powder, which I don’t have the moolah to invest in. Is there anything I can use to substitute or can I leave it out altogether?
In most cases, you could just omit the protein powder altogether and you wouldn’t see much of a difference. Maybe you’ll want to add a little bit of a sweetener to up the sweetness level, but that’s about. I tend to use a lot of protein powder because I don’t eat much meat, so this really helps get some protein into my body!
Your photos are AMAZING! My gosh, I’ve seen them all over Pinterest. I need to make this!
My, thanks A LOT Leanne! Coming from you, that is one MAJOR compliment! You just made my day! Thanks! 😀
Holy crap your smoothies are good! I made the pear one two days ago, and swore it was my favorite smoothie ever. Then yesterday I made this mint one and swore IT was! Made the pear one again, and now I just don’t know haha. I am going to try the gingerbread one as soon as I can get my hands on some blackstrap molasses (my town has like 1 good grocery store and they don’t carry it). Anyway, thank you for your creativity in smoothie making 🙂
AWW, thank you so much Kalie, you have just made my day! So glad you like my smoothies. I think when you try the gingerbread one, you’ll have yet another new favorite! To this day, it has remained my ultimate favorite. Mind you, the pear one… oh, and the apple cheesecake… I also make an apple cranberry, which I LOOOOVE but never posted. Hmmm… maybe I should get busy doing that. 😉
Thanks for your lovely comment. You truly made my day! 😀
ps, i am googling how to grow mint indoors right now, i plan on making that many mint smoothies haha
Oh no. Another recipe that I ignored because of the raw eggs! I suppose I could just leave them out and add some more milk or something. I have everything I need except for the mint leaves! But does this taste like spinach? I mean, really, no spinach taste at all?
This doesn’t taste like spinach at all, Erin. You might get a slight feeling of their presence because of the texture, but serioulsy, they are very well hidden in that smoothie. As for the egg whites, you got it. Just plain leave them out of add a little more milk. I personally use them for a little bit of added protein… but they are totally optional! 😉
I really hope you try that one, Erin. If you, of all people, like it, then I think I should market and sell this thing. I’d make a fortune! 😉 😀
Thanks for the texture warning! 🙂
I won’t say that I’m going to make it. I’ve decided not to do that anymore for recipes that have what I think are weird combinations. So if I do make it, one day you will just wake up with a nice glowing review of this recipe and not be worried if this picky eater will like it or not.
I was actually thinking today that you might think, “Oh no! Erin found this recipe! She hates everything.” No more of that. 🙂
LOL! You’re nuts Erin, but that’s why I love you so much. 😉 Hey, knowing you and where you are coming from, to have you not care much for one of my recipes is never an insult, but to have you like one, or even LOVE one is always such a great honour. So don’t ever stop trying them or giving me your feedback, alright? I always appreciate to no end (even though I take forever to get back to you sometimes… I still have to get working on that last email you sent!) And hey, just the mere fact that you would TRY some of my recipes, that you would WANT to improve the diversity of your diet means A LOT to me. So don’t ever think that I don’t want you discovering a recipe. I want you to discover them all and try all those that inspire you. And one last thing. Thanks a million for being such a loyal reader and active commenter. You are awesome, girlfriend. AWESOME!
Well in that case, I bought lots of fresh mint today and I’m making this smoothie as soon as I get home from work tomorrow! 😀 It was killing me not to say that! And hehe. No need to say thank you for commenting and all. It’s fun. 🙂
Oh, and if someone told me that they didn’t like the texture of one of my recipes (even if it was because of their dislike for one of the ingredients and not because of the recipe) I would still feel really sad. I want everyone to love everything and it’s hard to accept that this isn’t how it works.
Guess what?! I bought chickpea flour today. After making the truffles I decided that I could deal with chickpea flavor. Just though I’d throw that in there.
Ooooh, I haven’t really worked with chickpea flour before… but I get the feeling that it’ll be happening very soon. Looks like we’ll be experimenting at the same time. Can’t wait to see what you come up with… maybe I could copy you! 😉
Do you have anything in mind at this point?
And hey, have you tried that smoothie after all, with the (ewwww, it sort of hurts me to say this) frozen spinach?
Sonia:
Love the smoothie.
Thank you for sharing.
Charlie
Oh no. I just realized it said “fresh” spinach. That’s really hard to find here. Would frozen be really nasty?
EEEEEEEEEE! Now that might explain why you don’t like spinach! Gee, the challenge just got that much harder! Honestly, I have no idea, Erin. For sure, it will change the texture… but I don’t think it would be NASTY. I’ll have to try that, honestly. I am curious to see what it does. Are frozen spinach typically cooked before they are frozen, do you know?
Oh, I forgot that there was supposed to be a non-chocolate part. I kind of forgot to mention that I didn’t do that. I needed the cocoa powder to make me feel better about eating spinach. 🙂
I hate posting other peoples’ recipes when I don’t change a thing, although I do it. But I don’t want to do it too often! Your pasta and fake Nutella are in line though. 🙂
Right, better leave it out anyway if you’re going to go the raspberry route. And I really can’t wait to see your entries for my fake Nutella and my pasta.
Have you posted them yet? 😉
How ’bout now?
Are they up now?
And now? 😉
I hate fresh spinach too. It’s less disgusting, which lessens the gag-factor, but the stems increase the gag-factor, making it just as difficult as the cooked stuff to eat.
I made the smoothie! With my frozen uncooked stuff. I definitely couldn’t taste the spinach (woohoo!) but I discovered today that although I love mint extract and mint flavored things, I don’t like fresh mint. BUT! I added some mint extract to the smoothie and got rid of that “fresh” taste to make it more… synthetic. Haha. Oh well. It’s a winner, though! I’ll make it more in the winter. 🙂
Or maybe I’ll just add raspberries instead of mint. That doesn’t even make sense but I’m just throwing frozen raspberries into everything these days.
Oh my… it sounds as though you guys only have the big spinach, not the cute little baby leaves. That could explain a lot of things!
Regardless, I am thrilled that you “somewhat” liked the smoothie. Hey, maybe you need to freeze the mint leaves too, that way their texture might match that of the spinach! 😉
You know, you must be the strangest person I’ve ever met, Miss Erin. But you are one funny chick, you really make me laugh, and this place just wouldn’t be the same without you. Please, don’t ever stop trying out my recipes. Now that would be a disaster!
And hey, raspberries would probably work, but the color… yikes. Not sure I’d take pictures! 😉 Let me know how it worked out, though! 🙂
I think I’ve seen what I guess is baby spinach somewhere, but I don’t remember where. So I guess we really only have the big kind, and even that isn’t so easy to find.
Hey now! I’m not *that* weird. I’m just a 27 year old with the pickyness of a super picky 4 year old who only wants to chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, French fries and sweets. I’m just a little more refined than your average 4 year old as I prefer potato wedges made with olive oil over French fries.
I don’t think the color would be so weird. My raspberry avocado pudding is just a normal brown and I guess this would be the same.
I won’t stop making your recipes but I need to start making more stuff of my own so that I can have something to post. Your recipes are causing me to neglect my own stuff! I bet that’s the first time anyone’s said that to you. 🙂
You’re just too funny, Erin! 😀
I was more talking about the green part of the smoothie… I was having this vision for a 2 color, chocolate rapsberry smoothie, but avocado and raspberry together I don’t think would look too nice. Of course, if you blend everything and don’t go for the layered look, then I think you’ve got yourself a winner! Hey, I might even steal that idea. Wonder how come I’ve never thought about it before.
And hey, you could always post your versions of my recipes, how’s that? I, for one, would love to see that! 🙂
And thanks for saying that to me. It is indeed the first time anyone has ever said something like that to me, and I have to admit that it’s quite flattering! Thanks a bunch! You truly rock, girlfriend! 😀
Hi!
Let me start off by saying that from the little I have seen of your blog, it looks fantastic! I am loving the look of this smoothie (my boyfriend is an avocado fiend so I hope it is something we can share) but because I am a vegan, I was wondering what I could sub in for the egg yolks.
Any suggestions? Thanks!
Hi Dani and thanks for your nice comment! I really appreciate. As for the egg yolk, I assume you mean egg whites, for the recipe doesn’t call for the yolk at all. I tend to use the whites a lot! You can just plain leave them out, or replace with more non dairy milk. Their only purpose really is to add a little bit of protein, so not using them won’t change anything at all!
Hope you like the smoothie if you end up giving it a try! 🙂
If you would create something, you must be something.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Mmmm this looks to die for! Gorgeous pics!
Hello,
Found this while browsing new recipes for my green smoothies and cannot wait to make it. However, the egg white part has me a little stumped. I dont know if its because I am in Australia and we don’t stock that in the shops near me or what but is there an alternative to it or can it be cut out and still taste as delish! as it looks?
Also I see a spoon…. is this more an edible dessert or are a couple of large straw suitable?
Off to browse more of your site… think it is my new go to for healthy food ideas 😀
You can totally just leave the egg whites out, Annette, although that will result in an even thicker smoothie. Perhaps you could replace them with some kind of milk variety…
And you could most definitely use a large straw to drink this, if you wanted to.