I know what you’re all thinking…

NOT ANOTHER #$%i GREEN SMOOTHIE POST!

But hear me out!

As vegans, do you ever feel like you’re always pushing smoothies onto everyone you know and/or harping on them to eat more fruits and veggies?

“Digestive issues? You need more fiber – go vegan, bro.” Bad skin? Your skin will be glowing if you go vegan.” Low energy? Always sick? Vegans are basically indestructible, bruh.”

I can pretty much accredit veganism as the solution to anyone’s problem or ailment. I’m THAT vegan.

Now factor in that I’m the only vegan at the gym I work at and the only female trainer. It’s safe to say that I’m regularly sharing my beliefs on health and fitness with my vegetable-hating, meat-loving, meathead male trainer brethren.

And remember my motto? I don’t preach. I inspire. 🙂

I roll up in my vegan bumper sticker-adorned car, strut around in my skin-tight, neon spandex and in-your-face vegan gym tanks and regularly bring in healthy treats for everyone to try (so long as they’re not full of cashews or gogi berries. We all know how expensive THAT shizz is!) 😉

Smoothies on the other hand, are very cost-effective and plentiful. They’re also delicious, nutritious AND a quick and easy way to incorporate more fruits and veggies into your diet.

In summer especially, I make a LOT of smoothies. I basically follow my own half-assed version of a raw vegan bodybuilder diet. In addition to smoothies, I dust off my juicer, spend hours cleaning the effing juicer, eat more salads, cook less and dehydrate more (I also do not own an air conditioner.)

I love that I can whip up a smoothie no matter how busy I am or how badly I need to get groceries. It’s so easy to just keep a big container of organic spinach in the freezer plus a few peeled bananas and a bag of frozen berries. These are my vegan freezer staples!

Then at any given time, I can throw these items into my blender with a scoop of Jacked on the Beanstalk chocolate or vanilla vegan protein and voila — instant meal that’s high in protein, low in fat, low in calories, full of fruits and veggies and delightfully refreshing!

And fine, I admit that I’m pretty much ONLY posting this recipe because I’m getting REAL sick of handwriting it out for peeps. 🙂

So here it is!

Perfect as an energizing breakfast, meal on-the-go or pre/post-workout fuel.

I usually drink coffee before workouts but as part of my half-assed raw vegan bodybuilder diet, I try to cut down on coffee and add a little matcha green tea powder to my smoothie instead.

Matcha contains polyphenols which are potent antioxidants and counteract the effects of free radicals created by everything from pollution to UV rays. And we all know how terrified I am of wrinkles so anything that’s all-natural, slows down the aging process AND gives me an energy boost, I’m ALL over!

I’m a big fan of CORREXIKO’s skinny matcha powder which is slow-grown and made in Japan. I feel like many of the cheaper, generic brands of matcha mass produce their powder and speed up the growing and leaf-drying practices which end up effecting the nutrient content of the powder. CORREXIKO is also 100% organic with a nice, light taste and much greener in colour than many other brands which tells me they gotta be doing something right!

Morning Matcha Protein Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 large handful of frozen spinach
1/2 cup frozen berries or half a banana (or both if you’re feeling extra fruity) 😉
1 scoop Jacked on the Beanstalk Vanilla (or Chocolate) Vegan Protein Powder
1 mini cucumber
1 small piece of fresh ginger and/or fresh turmeric (awesome anti-inflammatories)
1 tsp. CORREXIKO skinny matcha powder
A few sprigs of fresh mint leaves
1 cup unsweetened dairy-free milk of your choice (I do almond)
1 cup water (or less/more depending how thick you want it)
Ice

Method:

Pretty difficult, guys. Throw everything into your blender and BLEND! And just a heads-up, you might want to remove the skin on the ginger and turmeric before blending. But let’s be honest, ain’t nobody got time for dat in the morning so I usually just throw a nub of each in there and deal with the occasional “stringy ginger bit” that may appear in my mouth.

And that’s all there is to it, folks. Simple I know. But oh so delicious, low in fat and oh-so-high in nutrients.

-Sam, Jacked on the Beanstalk