Caramel Apple Green Smoothie

Caramel Apple Green Smoothie (www.healthfulpursuit.com)

Looking for a new green smoothie, I saw this and had to try. Made it today. Unhealthified it only a tiny bit and it is amazing! The texture of mine came out with bits of chewiness (probably from the dates or frozen apple bits) and I loved it, but you could probably blend it extra long to make it smoother (or get a better blender than mine!).

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 frozen apple
• 2 T sunbutter (I used peanut butter)
• 2 cups spinach
• 2 medjool dates, pitted (I used Deglet dates)
• splash of vanilla
• pinch of cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 2 ice cubes

Instructions: Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.

The apple: I was going to make this recipe last night, but didn't have a frozen apple, so I threw it in the freezer and made this for breakfast instead. I thought I could cut out the seeds and stem after frozen, but that was a joke. Instead I threw it in my blender alone (which worked well) and as it got smaller, I was able to cut it in half and remove seeds and remainder of stem. Funny story: I bought us each an apple at the farmer's market yesterday (yummy, BTW) and as Aspen chomped away at it in the car, I realized she left nothing uneaten... even the seeds and stem. yikes! Maybe she spit out the stem in some inconspicuous place... maybe not!

The sunbutter: this is like peanut butter but made with sunflower seeds and is natural with no added sugar. My Skippy peanut butter had added sugar, of course, and my resulting smoothie was plenty sweet with that and the dates.

The dates: In my research and taste testing, Medjool dates are slightly bigger, more 'caramel-like' on the inside because of the gooey texture and milder date flavor, and a bit more expensive. They are absolutely irresistable. Deglet dates are more common, slightly less expensive, with a bit stronger date flavor that is almost licorice-like. Both are delicious and similar enough to be interchangable. Dates are used often to sweeten 'healthy' foods. I almost added an extra date, but DO NOT; it is plenty sweet!

The cinnamon & salt: I totally forgot to add these- oops! Still good.

The texture: Aspen didn't like my chewy textured smoothie at first but when she drank it from my cup, it was miraculously so much better. Funny girl.