Matcha Mango Super Smoothie

If there really is such a thing as purchasing too much fruit, my roommate and I have accomplished it. Our freezer is filled with plastic bags containing the remains of pint-sized cartons of blueberries, strawberries, and entire pineapples. And then there are the bananas. We buy bananas with good intentions: they’re quick - an easy snack for those 5-in-the-morning shifts. That is, if we actually decide to eat one. Instead, they linger in the fruit bowl, over-ripening tomatoes and getting all speckled and mushy. We don’t like to waste food, so what do we do? Into the freezer they go. We will never not have bananas in our freezer. It has become a way of life for us.

The surplus of fruit in our freezer has only become problematic because soon we won’t be able to fit anything else in it. Ok, I’m exaggerating a little bit here, but the it is a very real possibility, especially because we keep buying fruit. One can only enjoy strawberry banana smoothies for so long, so I’ve been getting creative with my fruity, blended creations. Take for instance, today’s offering on the blog: my matcha mango super smoothie. This smoothie is full of trendy, healthy buzzwords in its name, and it is also full of trendy, healthy food items like matcha, chia seeds, and spinach – another staple goes-bad-way-too-quickly food of Struggletown. This is a green smoothie unlike any other you have had. It’s delicately sweetened, packed full of antioxidants, and is actually filling. I like to balance the fruits and vegetables I put in my smoothies so I’m not drinking a sugar bomb, and I like to think that this is the first smoothie that I’ve actually made to fit this balance successfully.

1 mango, peeled and diced

1 banana, frozen

1 cup fresh spinach leaves

1 cup ice

½ cup almond milk

1 ½ tsp matcha powder

1 tsp honey

½ tsp chia seeds

Splash lime or lemon juice

Add all of the ingredients except for the chia seeds to a blender. Blend on high until smooth. There shouldn’t really be any chunks or flecks of spinach. Add the chia seeds and pulse 2-3 times to incorporate them, but not pulverize them. If you don’t like the texture of chia seeds, by all means leave them out, or add them to the blender with the other ingredients so they’re ground up with the rest of the smoothie.