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my favourite kale smoothie

Breakfast consistency is really not my thing. Mr GP and the kids are very happy to have cereal every day, with occasional weekend pancakes or almond croissants for a bit of variety, but I find it hard to stick to one thing. I like to take a seasonal approach, often eating porridge in winter, perhaps yoghurt and berries with a touch of toasted muesli, or combine them in Bircher muesli, in spring, and in summer – smoothies.

I’ve tried quite a few, mostly sticking to banana plus fruit plus milk or yoghurt variations – no bee pollen or açai here I’m afraid! (Though one of my favourites without banana is a cucumber and strawberry combination which is beautifully refreshing.) Generally I’m not terribly keen on the breakfast as superfood idea, but I’ve been working on more consistently getting my five-a-day, and one easy way is to eat vegetables at every meal – hence vegetable loaded smoothies.

kale, date, almond, coconut and ice

Of course, as with everything I post here, the decider is whether it tastes good, and this smoothie is almost addictively good – smooth, cold, nutty and barely sweet, with the kale providing an undertone of earthy greenness. Throughout summer I would happily drink this at least four mornings a week, and I start getting anxious when I get low on kale!

There are just a couple of key provisos. With a high speed blender, you get a beautiful smooth bright green drink. If you have a normal or stick blender I would not recommend you make this smoothie. The kale, almonds and coconut are too tough to break down properly and you will end up chewing a slurry instead! The other thing is that this is one case where more is not better – too much kale and the texture isn’t as good. To keep the amount consistent, I add the other ingredients, then add the leaves just to the four cup mark (making about three cups of kale), packing down lightly.

kale, almonds, almond milk, ice and coconut butter

Kale almond coconut smoothie

Adapted from a Remedial Eating recipe

  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, preferably chilled
  • 4-5 large curly kale leaves, or 7-10 Tuscan (lacinato) leaves (but see note above)
  • 2-3 medjool dates
  • 10 raw almonds
  • 2 Tbs flaked coconut
  • 6 -8 ice cubes

Wash kale well and tear from stalks, pit dates, and add all ingredients to a high speed blender. Blend for 60-90 seconds, until a bright green smoothie with no flecks of kale. Drink immediately or refrigerate. Makes one large or two small glasses.