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Healthy Afternoon Snack: Vanilla Cranberry Almond Green Smoothie


For several months, my afternoon snack has been a smoothie—and most days, it is a green smoothie.  I will admit, I was a little put off by the green smoothie color at first.  These days, I feel like there is something missing if I dare leave out the spinach from any of my smoothie creations.  The days after Christmas left me with some fresh and frozen cranberries on hand.   I couldn’t let them go to waste, so I decided to add an antioxidant boost to my afternoon smoothies with tart, fresh cranberries.  While I use this recipe as an afternoon snack, it could also be used as an easy, grab and go breakfast too.

Ingredients for a Vanilla Cranberry Almond Green Smoothie
1 c. Vanilla Almond Milk
½ Large Ripe Banana, broken into pieces and frozen, if desired
½ c. Fresh Cranberries
1 c. or a handful of Fresh Spinach Leaves
¼ c. Vanilla Flavored Greek Yogurt
½ tsp. Vanilla Extract
Stevia or other all natural sweetener to taste

Instructions for Vanilla Cranberry Almond Green Smoothie

Blend ingredients.  In a blender, toss in the banana, cranberries, spinach, yogurt, almond milk and green yogurt.   Blend until smooth.  I like to blend this smoothie a little longer than most to ensure that the cranberries (and their skins) break down completely.  I also prefer the taste and texture of this smoothie when I use frozen banana chunks in the ingredients.

Sweeten and serve.  Cranberries are tart—and even a little bitter.  If you use overly ripe bananas in this smoothie, you may find that you need less sweetener.  Just sweeten to taste with an all-natural sweetener.  This is really a matter of taste.  I use at least a teaspoon of Stevia in my smoothie—but, my husband prefers it with no sweetener at all.  Sweeten and serve while still chilled.

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3 Comments

  1. This smoothie looks really good! The ingredients are great and healthy. I love a healthy afternoon snack. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. This sounds good! Always looking for new green smoothies to try - going to pin this on pinterest.

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  3. Thanks for linking up at Sweet and Savoury Sunday, I'm the new co-host and would love for you to link up this weekend. This sounds like a great mid afternoon snack! Laura@baking in pyjamas

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