Gotta Hankering for Avocados? Try these 3 Fun Smoothie Recipes

I've always enjoyed avocados, but here lately I've had quite the hankering for them.  In fact, we've almost gone through 2 bags (of roughly 7 avocados each) of them in about two weeks.  I don't know about you, but we typically don't purchase them that frequently.  I'm going to chalk it up to the 22 week old baby who has taken up residence in my uterus!  Avocados are a great source of fiber, potassium, and they are loaded with heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acids!  Not only do we enjoy the taste of them in our household, but we also enjoy how versitle they are!

​We've made ice cream with avocados in them, salad dressings, and smoothies.  We've also cut them up and put them in salads, eaten them as sides, and put them on sandwiches.  From this short and varied list you can clearly understand how truly versitle avocados are.

​Today, I decided to try a Green Gorilla.  Now, before you get the wrong idea, this smoothie has absolutely NOTHING to do with canibis!  When I BINGed Green Gorilla on-line for an interesting image to use, I quickly learned that a Green Gorilla doesn't translate the same to everyone.  Go ahead, you BING Green Gorilla and see what comes up.  But you know what I've found, that I'm generally not a big fan of BING.  As a matter of fact, I have no idea why I haven't changed my automatic search engine settings because BING usually brings up some strange stuff and I much prefer Google which, of course, always comes up when I browse in Chrome. 

​Back to my Green Gorilla.  This recipe literally took me 7 to 8 minutes to prepare and complete and only has 4 ingredients.  I didn't have any romaine on hand so it probably turned out a bit thicker than it would have if there were romaine lettuce in it AND I mistakenly used a whole avocado instead of only half ;-).  If you'd like a more pudding-like consistency, throw the whole avocado in there!

​Green Gorilla
Total Time: 8 min.
Prep Time: 2 min.
Cooking Time: None
Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients:
1/2 avocado
1 banana
​5 ounces romaine lettuce
​5 ounces baby spinach

Preparation: In a food procesor or high-powered blender, blend the avocado with the banana, then add the lettuce and spinach.  Blend until smooth and creamy.  I just dumped everything into my Vitamix and it creamed up very nicely!

Per serving this bad boy packs: 5 grams of protein, 24 grams of carbohydrates, 8.3 grams of good fat, 1.6 grams saturated fat, 64 mg of sodium, 8.8 g of fiber, 6,512 ug of beta-carotene, 55 mg of vitamin C, 104 mg of calcium, 2.9 mg of iron, 272 ug folate, 100 mg of magnesium, .9 mg of zinc, 1.6 ug selenium!
​Recipe from Eat to Live Cookbook

​Mint and Avocado Green Smoothie
The two magic ingredients in this green smoothie are creamy avocado and mint.  This one is sure to fill you up in the morning or get you through an afternoon energy lull. A scoop of creamy Vanilla Shakeology and a handful of green spinach make it a super healthy snack you’ll more than likely be coming back for more for!

Total Time: 10 min.
Prep Time: 10 min.
Cooking Time: None
Yield: 1 serving

Ingredients:
1 cup almond milk
1 scoop Vanilla Shakeology
½ cup raw spinach
¼ medium ripe avocado
2 Tbsp. fresh mint leaves
1 cup ice

Preparation:
1. Place almond milk, Shakeology, spinach, avocado, mint, and ice in blender; cover. Blend until smooth.
Recipe fromteambeachbody.com

​Boston Green Smoothie
Total Time: 10 min.
Prep Time: 4 in.
Cooking Time: None
Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients:
​2 ounces Boston lettuce
2 cups fresh or frozen pineapple cubes
3 kiwis
1/2 avocado
1 banana
​
Preparation: In a food procesor or high-powered blender, blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy.  Once again, a Vitamix will do it all in a jiffy! 
​Recipe from Eat to Live Cookbook
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