Recipe: Kale and Berry Smoothie

If anything good is to come out of today, it’s that my first recipe disaster is officially behind me. Well, not quite yet. It’s still mocking me from its plate on the coffee table.

Word to the wise: don’t buy eggplant and fennel if you don’t like eggplant and fennel. This holds true even if the eggplant (aptly named the Fairy Tale variety) looks too good to be real.

So what to do when every inch of counter space in the kitchen is covered, the fridge is strangely empty, and it’s too hot to turn on the oven again? Two words: kale smoothie. Don’t knock it till you try it. I happen to love the glaring green color, mostly because it freaks out my roommate Angie. But if you can overlook that minor detail, it tastes like any other berry smoothie and is chock full of Vitamin A and other good-for-you things.

Ingredients

6 oz. fat free vanilla yogurt

Bunch of kale, leaves stripped from stems

¼ cup orange juice

1 cup frozen berries (mix of strawberries and raspberries)

Recipe

First, a quick note on the berries. I buy mine fresh, wash them, lay them on a cookie sheet, pop it in the freezer for an hour or so, then transfer them to a freezer bag. This eliminates the need to dilute the smoothie with ice later on.

To make the smoothie, add the yogurt and orange juice to the blender. Fill the blender with loosely packed kale and blend on high until the mixture is as smooth as possible. Add additional O.J. or water as needed. To finish, add the berries and blend until you’re happy with the consistency.