Apple, Almond and Banana Smoothie

Who doesn't like a good green smoothie?  Here's another tasty option to add to your repetoire.  It is sweet yet tangy with the almonds and banana lending a comforting layer of flavour and soft texture.  I find it quite an invigorating, Summery recipe.  Apparently lots of people eat sliced apples with almond butter as a snack, so I must try this because I loved it in smoothie form.  I leave the skin on the apples for extra fibre, and because my Nutrininja can handle it, but peel yours if your blender doesn't like skin. If you are wondering about combining the flavour of spinach in there, don't - you can't even taste it.

As well as the general nom-factor, this combination is pretty healthy.  Bananas and spinach are both high in potatssium and bananas pack a B2 punch.  All the ingredients in this recipe are high in fibre (aside from the protein powder of course), almonds are rich in good fats, and the Vitamin E in almonds helps the body to absorb the Vitamin C in the apples. We all know that spinach is a good vegetarian source of iron, and Vitamin C has been shown to improve the body's ability to absorb it.  So overall this combo is a winner! Of course there is a fair bit of sugar and therefore carbs in here, but just factor that into the rest of your day and its all good! Just have a lower carb lunch or a lower carb dinner.  Plus, let's not get all crazy about this stuff - balance is the key and this is delicious :)

It is a great morning pick me up. Plus apples wake you up as well as a coffee. That doesn't stop my coffee addiction once I arrive at work, though.  Still - an apple a day and all!

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 1 large granny smith apple, chopped.
• 2 bananas, peeled and quartered
• 1 tbs natural almond butter
• 2 handfuls baby spinach
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 2 scoops of unflavoured whey protein
• 1 handful of ice

Potential Spins

Swapping granny smith apples for red delicious apples would change this up a lot - it would be less tart and more sweet. I'm keen to try it.  Adding some natural or Greek yoghurt would also be lovely. 

Method

Is it really necessary to add a method section to a smoothie?  Well OK then.

1. Add ingredients to your blender
2. Blitz!
3. Serve

Nutrition Breakdown

• Calories348.8
• Total Fat7.8 g
• Saturated Fat0.6 g
• Polyunsaturated Fat1.2 g
• Monounsaturated Fat2.7 g
• Cholesterol60.0 mg
• Sodium168.7 mg
• Potassium690.0 mg
• Total Carbohydrate48.9 g
• Dietary Fiber8.1 g
• Sugars29.1 g
• Protein27.3 g