I woke up on Saturday morning in the mood to run! My a cappella group was singing at the National Mall in the afternoon, so I only had time for a quick 2.5 mile run outside.

Fall is the only time of year I really enjoy running outside. It’s too hot in the swamps of DC to run outside for most of the summer, too icy and freezing in the winter to get my butt out in the cold, and I have terrible pollen allergies in the spring. I was glad to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather on Saturday!

After my run, I had to quickly get ready for the gig. I didn’t have enough time to slowly munch on a salad for lunch, so I multi-tasked and dried my hair while sucking down this smoothie:

I’ve tried Naked’s Green Machine smoothie before but didn’t really like the taste. And I always see bloggers’ green smoothies online but green smoothies look kind of gross, don’t they? But since they swear you can’t taste the added spinach, I figured what the heck.

The bloggers were right – you definitely can’t taste the spinach! My homemade Green Machine tasted like a regular chocolate milkshake. It’s magic.

Homemade Green Machine

Ingredients:

• 2 cups skim milk
• 4 ice cubes
• 1 scoop chocolate whey protein
• 1 cup fresh spinach

Directions:

Blend all of the above ingredients in a blender.

*****

The smoothie kept me full during the gig. It sure was a perfect afternoon in D.C.

What is your favorite healthy smoothie combo?

Do you put spinach or other veggies in your smoothies? What kind of veggies do you add?