Honeydew Pineapple Ginger Smoothie: A Green Smoothie Recipe

I used to be intimidated by smoothies. Silly, right? I would make them by following exact recipes, but I was scared to come up with my own. Which is crazy because some of my favorite meals have come from riffing off some recipe and creating something totally new. Why not do it with smoothies?
As I’m dealing with a second bout of TMJ (and therefore a mainly liquid diet), I’m getting more and more comfortable with creating new (and exciting! for me, anyway!) smoothies. I have the yogurt/tofu to almond milk/juice to frozen fruit to refrigerated greens ratio pretty much down pat, and nutritionally, well, if I’m putting all good-for-me things in there, the result is going to be healthful, right? The only part I struggled with was creating the right balance of sweet to tart to savory, and with my latest concoction, I think I nailed it.

Honeydew Pineapple Ginger Smoothie Recipe

This smoothie isn’t terribly sweet, but it’s really crisp and refreshing, which makes it an awesome post-workout breakfast.

Ingredients
Please keep in mind, I play pretty fast and loose with amounts. If you want a thick smoothie, use more yogurt and frozen fruit and less almond milk. If you want it thin, like a juice, well, you probably know what to do. Also, this generally makes a little more than I drink in one serving, which is perfect—it leaves me a snack for later.

• Honeydew melon: I chopped up two thick slices of fresh honeydew, but frozen melon would also be great
• Frozen pineapple: 1 handful
• Plain Greek yogurt: 1 cup
• Unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or, if you like a sweeter smoothie, go with sweetened): 1/2 cup
• Chia seeds: 1 big tbsp
• Protein powder: 1 serving (mine comes with a scoop)
• Honey: 1 tbsp or so
• Ginger: I used ground ginger from my spice rack, but I think fresh ginger would be SO much better. I probably used about a tablespoon of the ground ginger and it’s still not a strong flavor
• Kale: However much you can fit in the blender!

Directions
1. Blend until smooth, pour and enjoy!
When I popped this into My Fitness Pal, it came out somewhere around 500 calories, so although it has a crisp and fresh flavor, it’s not a light drink to consume alongside a sandwich. This is a meal, and it’s one that keeps me full and fueled for hours!
Have you ever played around with different flavors in smoothies? What are your favorite unexpected combinations? —Kristen