Ginger Mango Spinach Smoothie

Weather: 19 degrees, snow clouds
What I’m listening to: the sounds of kids home for Spring Break, my 6 year old daughter singing a rendition of Let It Go from Frozen.

March is National Nutrition Month. It is a month dedicated to encouraging the country to eat more nutrient-rich foods and to make healthier food choices. If trending food searches on the internet are any indication, it appears that 2014 will be a more nutrition-focused year than ever before, with keywords like “healthy” topping the charts.

Smoothies and juices made of whole fruits and vegetables are one of our favorite ways to eat more nutritiously at our house. My current obsession is adding a little bit of fresh ginger to my smoothies, especially smoothies with a base of pineapple or mango. In addition to adding a boost of incredible flavor, ginger is also a nutritional powerhouse, with health and therapeutic benefits – helping with ailments from motion sickness to coughs to arthritis.

Here in Alaska, where fresh fruit for smoothies can be expensive and sometimes hard to come by year round, we like to keep a stock of frozen fruit in the freezer (like blueberries, mangoes, pineapple, etc.). When bananas get overripe, I peel them and put them in a plastic freezer bag to use later for smoothies, too. We also love to add spinach to most of our smoothies (like my popular Blueberry Spinach Smoothie recipe), so we almost always have a big bag of baby spinach on hand in the refrigerator.

Ginger Mango Spinach Smoothie

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A healthy and delicious smoothie with fresh ginger, mango, banana, and spinach.

Yields: 1-2 servings

• 1 cup frozen* chopped mango
• 1 ripe* banana
• ½ cup fresh baby spinach
• ½ cup Greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
• ½-¾ cup vanilla coconut milk (from a box or carton, not a can), or milk of your choice

Add the mango, banana, spinach, yogurt, ginger and ½ cup of coconut milk to a blender. Whirl until smooth. Add more coconut milk if needed until desired consistency is achieved. Pour into a tall glass and enjoy.