Vitamix

My amazing husband spoiled me so much this Christmas and as a result I am now a very proud owner of a Vitamix!  Over the last two years we have been daily green smoothie drinkers (with the exception of the first 4 months of pregnancy - damn you pregnancy sickness), so having a Vitamix is going to be a game changer in this house.  Every morning I would struggle with our old blender as it jammed up with frozen pineapple and never fully pureed everything. I drink my smoothies in the car on my way to work and find it easier and safer to use a straw -- this was problematic with all those darn chunks (first world problems are such a bitch!). Since arriving home with our new Vitamix 3 days ago, we have consumed 4 smoothies each and made a batch of squash soup. I think it's safe to say we are obsessed.  I've posted a few different green smoothie recipes on my blog but this is the one we are currently digging' and have for a while now -- it has a four food groups and a crapload of protein. Enjoy!

Yields: 2 large smoothies

Ingredients
2 cups unsweetened Almond milk (vanilla or original - we alternate)
1/2 frozen banana
1 1/2 cups of frozen fruit (pineapple, mango & strawberries are our mixture of choice)
1/2 cup fat free Greek yogurt (plain, honey, or vanilla - we alternate)
1/4 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
2 huge handfuls of fresh spinach (apparently you shouldn't eat frozen spinach raw...)

*to be honest, I eyeball everything so you may have to add more almond milk. Tomorrow morning I will measure everything out and make any necessary changes to this recipe.

Method
I found adding spinach first followed by almond milk and everything else on top to be the most successful order to get a good blend flow going without having to use the plunger. Turn Vitamix to variable 4-5 for about 10 seconds, crank to 10 for 10 more seconds and end on high for 10 seconds or until it looks like all the chunks are gone.