Happy Wednesday!
We’re on day 3 of the 7-Day Green Smoothie Challenge and I got a little crazy with my smoothie this morning.
I had the genius idea to make my green smoothie hybrid pre-yoga fuel + morning coffee and added a shot of espresso. Leave it to me to figure out how to caffeinate my smoothie! 😉
I also used chocolate almond milk instead of plain.
Today’s blend…
1.5 cups spinach
1 cup chocolate almond milk
1 shot of espresso
About 3/4 of a frozen banana
6 ice cubes, crushed
Still green even with the addition of espresso and chocolate! I liked the coffee flavor. It worked well with the chocolate and banana and was kind of mocha-esque. Yum!
My lunch today was also noteworthy.
I made a quesadilla with sautéed peppers, onions and broccoli, a scrambled egg and a mix of cheddar and pepper jack cheese. 
All piled into a whole wheat tortilla. I opened it back up after cooking it and stuffed it with diced avocado, salsa, hot sauce and sour cream. A salad on the side with green leaf lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes and feta.
After lunch I could not keep my hand out of this bag of granola. Emily from Hungry & Co. sent me two flavors of her new Hungrynola to sample and it is so good. This is Peanut Butter Crunch and I am obsessed. I haven’t even eaten any on yogurt because I keep snacking on it right out of the bag. I love everything that Emily makes (her Hungry Bars are killer too!) so definitely check her out.
Alright, it’s day 3. How are you guys doing with the challenge? What was in today’s green concoction!?
I’ll have to try coffee to my smoothie. Great idea. Today I had soy milk, spinach & mixed frozen berries. Thought about adding a banana but saved it for my morning snack. I used to make a green smoothie a couple times a week but thanks to you I plan to keep it up.
Coffee + smoothies sound amazing 🙂
Yesterday, I added instant coffee to my oatmeal b/c I had nothing to flavor it with, and it was really good! Though a bit strange at first bite, I really liked it.
that is creative! sounds yummy!
I think espresso and chocolate make almost EVERYTHING better. 🙂
I wasn’t a huge fan of my smoothie today… I added a few strawberries, and the brownish color kind of turned me off. And I used a tea that had peach in it, and it overpowered all of the other flavors. It was still good though.
I’m loving smoothie week!
boo – sorry your combo didn’t really work. win some, lose some! glad you’re still enjoying smoothie week!
Yumm!! My green smoothie was almost this exact one today! i didn’t get a chance to sign up for the challenge but I have been trying to drink a smoothie everyday! Mine had chocolate almond milk, protein powder, a small banana, spinach, ground flax, and a few ice cubes!! I bet the added caffeine was pretty tasty! I will have to try that next time!
britton – i’m happy to hear you’re getting your smoothies in even though you didn’t sign up. your smoothie sounds great!
I love coffee so much I think I would prefer to taste it on its own. But I do agree that morning rush makes it a bit difficult to have it all – so coffee combo worth trying 🙂
I stick with my spirulina smoothies for some more protein, as I can’t really have protein powder
i love spirulina!
I haven;t gotten a chance to put any photos of mine on the blog yet but today it was minus banana. Strawberries, blueberries, avacado, almond milk, flaxseed, and spinach. Very creamy and the color was not too brown. 🙂 Love the green smoothie week!
yum! how is the avocado in smoothies? i’ve never tried that.
Never thought of the addition of caffeine to my smoothie! Genius!
Thanks for the shout out Jen! Glad you are enjoying it! 🙂
Do you have an espresso machine?! Ahh! So fun! I once was desperate and added coffee to my instant oatmeal instead of water or milk. Not one of my finer moments, but hey, things happen:). Smoothie today was the ‘old reliable’ as I haven’t been to the grocery store recently. I’ll try something new as soon as the whole grocery store thing happens!
yes, i do!
haha about the coffee and oatmeal. i bet that was interesting. 😉
I agree, caffeine in the smoothie = genius! It gets to be a lot of fluids in the morning trying to juggle coffee, water, and a Green Smoothie. I’ll definitely have to try the chocolate, espresso, banana mixture. Yum!
And I’ve never thought to do this but now you’ve inspired me to think outside the box: I bet adding some brewed, chilled Yogi’s Kombucha Green Tea to the green smoothie instead of water or ice cubes would be a great flavor/ caffeine double bonus!
i know, i always have multiple beverages on my desk!
Not a coffee drinker – but the idea of chocolate is interesting. So far so good though. Going to try and switch things up after tomorrow. Thanks everyone for posting recipes! It’s super helpful1 and inspiring.
I’ve never used espresso but I do use instant coffee which is great since it doesn’t affect the temperature!
that’s a great idea! i need to try those starbucks via packets.
…missed Tuesday due to lack of an available/relatively convenient blending apparatus –> so I had two separate green smoothies today. Does that count/make up for it?!!
haha – we’ll give you a pass. awesome that you had 2 on wednesday to make up! totally counts! 🙂
I just made your smoothie combo this morning and added some peanut butter too…..it was delicious!! I also add green tea to my smoothies sometimes.
gah, i have got to start putting PB in my smoothies! 🙂
First of all, I love your blog! Second, what espresso machine do you have? Thanks 🙂
It is the morning of day 4….days 1-3 went well because I had everything prepped the night before. I didn’t get it together today in the madness of our morning rush so I decided that my smoothie will be a post-workout snack later today. I have not varied my go-to recipe, but the coffee & chocolate is a tempting idea. Maybe I will try that on day 5!
oh no! prep is very helpful in dealing with crazy mornings. i’m sure your smoothie will make perfect pre-workout fuel!
I love green smoothies! I hate cleaning my blender. I guess I need to get over it now that warmer temperatures are here.
i know, green smoothies make blender cleaning especially difficult. you have to rinse it out immediately and not let it dry to the sides!
Not doing the smoothie challenge but made those Peanut Butter and Coconut Bars you posted a week or so ago. So good!! My husband loved them. 🙂 And easy too. I skipped the dried fruit and think I will add more coconut, cinnamon and vanilla next time.
linda – thanks for trying them! i’m glad the bars were a hit!
Haha! I have definitely done the caffeinated green smoothie before! Seems odd, but very tasty and efficient 😉
WOW! I have been doing this all week since reading your challenge post and now have to try out the caffeinated thing! Great idea! Thanks for the inspiration!
david – thanks for participating! let me know what you think about the caffeinated smoothie! 🙂
I loved it! I followed my previous ingredients and substituted one cup of coffee (from this morning’s pot of coffee) and a half cup of silk creamer. It was awesome! Thanks again for the suggestion! I am going to have to try the chocolate almond milk sometime too.
What a fantastic idea for a smoothie… the flavours sound utterly delicious! I’ll have to try it out.
I had my very first green smoothie last night! I don’t know what took me so long to add spinach to the smoothies I already made. Unfortunately I’m out of spinach now so I’ll have to wait ’till I get to the store for my next one – and there will be a next one!
Have you ever used wilted/soggy/slimy spinach? I assume it would be okay.
Do they keep well in the fridge overnight?
hi erika – i’m so happy to hear that your first green smoothie experience was an enjoyable one! i think wilted spinach would be okay but i don’t know about once it becomes slimy. another option is to use frozen spinach! i have never tried to keep them in the fridge overnight but i do know that sometimes they can separate a little if the sit for a while. also, if you use ice or anything frozen, it wouldn’t be as frothy. i’m not sure though, give it a try!
Erika, I can tell you from (lots) of experience that smoothies that sit overnight do just fine! If I didn’t prep mine the night before I’d never drink ’em…You will want to blend them if possible in the morning before enjoying, but this weekend I was on the road so I just put mine in a jar, shook it up really well, and it was good to go. Don’t be worried if it looks grainy, that will disappear once you re-blend/ shake it.
And also from experience, fresh spinach is definitely the way to go. Hope that helps!
Yes to coffee in your smoothie! I am a coffee addict, so this is a great idea for me! I’m going to try it this afternoon in my green smoothie for when I need that little boost! What kind of espresso maker do you have? I’m looking for a new one, since I actually go to Starbucks every single day…its getting a little embarrassing I think 😉 Lately I’ve been using frozen spinach in my smoothies, and they are in little nuggets (ingredients is just spinach) and it makes the smoothies much thicker. love.
Absolutely LOVE the idea of a caffeinated green smoothie!!!
I bought spinach today and made my first green smoothie ever! It was delicious!
In my smoothie went:
1 cup baby spinach
1/2 cup 1% plain yogurt (ran out of greek)
1/2 banana
1 tbsp mint chocolate ice cream for taste
a few ice cubes
yumyumyum! It turned out a lovely pale green colour 😀
Tomorrow I will most likely be caffeinating my green smoothie too, I’m excited to try it!!
I like to add instant coffee grounds so the coffee doesn’t water down my smoothie.