the green monster

I recently found Katie. She's adorable and I love reading her equally adorable posts. But when she made this post about a smoothie, I said, and I quote, "But that means getting out my blender (do I even HAVE a blender?!) and making a giant mess I will then have to clean up!"

Sweet, adorable Katie emailed me back and said "That's what dishwashers are for!". I chuckled at her cuteness and thought "She hasn't seen my 25 year old blender."

But her words of praise about that smoothie wouldn't go away. They kept nagging at me. And I added to them with thoughts like "You know, you would probably love that smoothie. And you eat too much McDonalds and not enough good stuff...what a perfect way for YOU, Cheeseburger McFriespants, to add some nutrition to your life."

I told Jason about the smoothie, expecting him to laugh along with me at how silly it would be to pull out that old clunker of a blender. But alas. No. When will I learn not to assume what goes on in that head of his?! His response was "Yeah! You should try it! Then I could use my Magic Bullet!"

Ohhh the Magic Bullet. That should have been a post all in itself but I believe the purchase was made in one of my blogging slumps. Here's a quick run-down:

Jason: I want the Magic Bullet and it's on sale at Kohl's and Geoff has a coupon.

Me: Yeah, great plan. It will get used as often as the food processor I thought we "needed". 
(I hope you can detect the sarcasm in that sentence)

Jason: I will use it ALL. THE. TIME. Look! You can make whipped cream and alfredo sauce in it!

Me: I can make whipped cream with my Kitchen Aide and my alfredo sauce ROCKS as it is! I don't need some silly contraption to whirl it around in!

I don't remember exactly how it happened but somehow he coerced me and we own a Magic Bullet. He made whipped cream in it. Once. And maybe a milkshake. Since then, it's been sitting in the cupboard above the stove...the very same cupboard that houses the 25 year old blender.  

Fast-forward to today and my whole purpose of this post...the Green Monster Smoothie...and the fact that THIS GIRL now uses the Magic Bullet every single day. Shhh...maybe he won't remember I never wanted the darn thing.

The author/creator/owner of the Green Monster is Kristin at Iowa Girl Eats and she calls it her "top secret diet weapon". You can see her post and her recipe HERE. I tweaked the recipe a bit since my Magic Bullet is smaller than a blender:

1T Peanut Butter - 90

1/4c vanilla yogurt - 47.5

1/2c 1% milk - 50.5

1/2 banana (frozen) - 50

raw, fresh, baby spinach leaves

(I do not know how much spinach I use...I just cram it in until I can't cram any more in)

238 calories!

I cut my bananas in half, slice them, and freeze them in saran wrap so every day I just grab a pouch and it's ready to go. The supplies you see in the top picture last two whole weeks of me having the Green Monster at least 5 days (that's 10 smoothies in 2 weeks!) for lunch.

I Magic Bullet that stuff until it's liquefied.  It is pure green deliciousness, I PROMISE. It feels like I'm eating dessert.  It tastes like a yummy peanut butter & banana milkshake.  And it fills me up! I don't eat again until supper (unless you count coffee and water). 

Spinach? What spinach?! Leave me alone while I have a milkshake for LUNCH!