I’ve got two new recipes for you today that have one thing in common…they’re green! (Seriously!)

(I’ve included the original recipes with my additions/omissions in italics!)
 

I mentioned that one of my favorite parts of the Paleo diet has been the increase in produce we’ve been consuming. I love fruit, and it’s easier for me to fit it in to my diet, but I find vegetables are a little bit tougher to get in as many servings as I should. A great way to get a jump start on your veggie intake for the day is by including them in your breakfast. My new favorite way to do this? Starting my morning off with a green monster smoothie!

There are a lot of these recipes for this type of smoothie floating around Pinterest right now, and I’ll admit, I was hesistant to give it a try. Mainly because it’s the color of grass and it just does not look appetizing to me at all, plus I’ve never been a huge smoothie person to begin with. However, I tried out this version from Iowa Girl Eats, and it’s actually really delicious! I love that it includes a whopping 4 servings of spinach (because according to Cooking Light, when it comes to leafy greens, one serving = one cup), a superfood that is packed with nutrients. And the best part is that you honestly cannot taste the spinach at all…even Cam was suprised how delicious it was!

Green Monster Spinach Smoothie

Recipe From: Iowa Girl Eats
Serves 1

Ingredients:
1 frozen sliced banana (make sure you peel and slice the banana before you freeze it!)
1 Tablespoon peanut butter (this is technically not Paleo because a peanut is actually a legume, not a nut…I’ve been using peanut butter because we had it on hand and I love the flavor it gives to the smoothie, however if you want to go truly Paleo then I’d substitute some other nut butter!)
1/2 cup 0% Vanilla Chobani Greek yogurt (I omitted this)
1 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (or other kind of milk)
4 cups baby spinach (or more, or less)

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Nutritional stats:
350 calories, 10g fiber, 21g protein

I know it looks kind of gross, but just try it, you’ll be shocked how good it is! 🙂

Moving on to lunch, I’ve been trying to find new options to make our mid-day meals more interesting without using grains or dairy. Cam is a big fan chicken salad, and I’m obsessed with avocados (seriously, they are one of my all-time favorite foods!) so when I stumbled across this Avocado Chicken Salad recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had to give it a try. And I love that the avocado, with all it’s good-for-you fats, makes the salad so creamy with out any mayo!

Avocado Chicken Salad
Recipe From: Becoming Betty

chicken, cooked and
shredded
(I used two chicken breasts and I boiled them for about 20 minutes until they were cooked all the way through…then I used this handy Pinterest tip which worked like a charm: I put the warm chicken breasts in the bowl of my Kitchen Aid Mixer with the paddle attachement on medium for about 20 seconds and I got perfectly shredded chicken!) 
avocado
(I used 1 1/2 avocados because I love them…but you could probably get by with one avocado for every two chicken breasts) 
mayo, just a little (I omitted this)
 green onion,
sliced
(I used one small bundle of green onions) 
cilantro
(Cam hates cilantro, so I left this out) 
lime juice to taste
(I used one lime) 
salt/pepper to taste

I also added some chopped celery, and then Cam put some walnuts and red grapes on his as well!

*Sorry
there aren’t any measurements. I just asked what was in it and then made it to
my liking. I probably had 2 cups of chicken and then just threw the rest in
until it tasted good. I only used 1 avocado but if you really love avocados,
you could use more. I loved the lime juice, so I kept adding more of it little
by little. You definitely need a little salt, but the pepper is just if you
want to. I used a lot of cilantro and a moderate amount of green onion.
Probably 2-3 of them. You can serve this in pitas or just eat it with chips.
We loved it and it was really good leftover, too.*

Those were the original instructions, and honestly, the recipe is super simple. Basically just combine everything until you have chicken salad. I only made a small batch because I wasn’t sure how well it would keep, but the avocado didn’t brown at all overnight and I totally wished that I would have doubled the recipe. I had my chicken salad on a bed of mixed greens, but if you’re not going the Paleo route it would also be delicious on a wrap or with pita chips!

So there you have it, two green recipes to bring a little bit of tasty nutrition to your table! I’d love to hear from you…what are some of your favorite ways to use fresh produce? I’m always looking for new recipes!

Have a fantastic Wednesday everyone! Xoxo

PS: Speaking of green….

The polish adorning my nails this week is Jade Jump (Sally Hansen Insta-Dry)…I love how spring-y it is! 🙂