Mojito Smoothie

I absolutely LOVE smoothies, but was having a hard time finding smoothies that would fit into my dietary guidelines.  This particular smoothie does it with flying colors.  Don't be intimidated by the fresh spinach in the smoothie - you won't even taste it!

I am so NOT a morning person, so I need to be able to put breakfast together quickly - especially on work days!  With a tiny bit of pre- prep, these smoothies come together very very quickly.

I always have frozen bananas on hand.  Just peel them and cut them up and throw them into a freezer bag or container.  I usually have one small banana per container.  I also divide out my fresh spinach and put it into a baggie in the freezer along with the mint. This makes it easy to just grab and go in the morning, and my smoothie usually comes together in about 10 minutes.

I use unsweetened almond milk in this smoothie - regular or vanilla is fantastic.  I use the unsweetened almond milk for carb count reasons mostly.  One cup of regular milk has 13 grams of carbohydrate, where 1 cup of the unsweetened almond milk only has 2 grams of carbohydrate. 

Mojito Smoothie 

Serves 1 for breakfast or 2-3 for dessert.

1 ½ cups fresh spinach

½ cup fresh mint leaves

1 small banana, frozen

1/2 -1 cup frozen mango*

2 tbsp ground flaxseed

3 oz plain greek yogurt. (about ½ of a single serving container)

4-5 ice cubes

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/3 cup lime juice

2 packets Splenda (about 1-2 tsp)

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp rum extract.

Whirl all in blender until smooth.  Divide among dessert glasses or pour into a 32 oz cup for breakfast. 

Experiment with different frozen fruit in this smoothie - Peaches, Strawberries, Cherries, Rasberrries, and mixed berries are all fantastic in this smoothie.  Keep in mind that this will slightly alter the fiber and carbohydrate content.

Another Fantastic twist to this smoothie is to add 1-2 Tbsp good quality unsweetened cocoa to it.  You may need to add one more packet of Splenda (depending on your tastes) and a small amount more of the almond milk when you do this.

For some reason nutritional calculators add far more carbs to this than the actual food is worth - by my calculations this comes to about 47 grams of carbohydrate, depending on how much frozen fruit you use and which type of fruit you use.  Fiber equals out to be about 10 grams in one smoothie That equals out to be about 37 grams net carbs (if that is how you count your carbs)  Here is how I broke down the nutritional info

1 1/2 cups fresh spinach = 1.5 grams carbohydrate, 1.5 grams fiber

fresh mint leaves = 0 grams carbohydrate

1 small (about 6 inches) banana = 23 grams carbohydrate, 3 grams fiber

1 cup frozen mango = 13 grams carbohydrate,1.5 grams fiber (this may vary so read your packages of frozen fruit)

2 Tbsp ground flax seed = 4 grams carbohydrate, 4 grams fiber

1 cup unsweetened almond milk = 2 grams carbohydrate

Ice, Lime juice, Splenda sweetener, vanilla extract and rum extract, = O grams carbohydrate.

Nutritionally, this smoothie packs quite a punch with Calcium, Potassium, Vitamin A and Vitamin C!   

What are some of YOUR favorite smoothies? Leave me a comment and let me know!