Veggie Packed Green Smoothies That Taste so Good I Have One Every Morning

A little over a year ago I ventured into the land of Green Smoothies and failed miserably, learned from those lessons,

and continued to up my smoothie game. Goal: cram as many vegetables and nutrients into a breakfast that still tastes like something I can drink and actually fills me up. These are some pretty lofty expectations but I've reached something (after lots of fails) that is working out so well that I actually look forward to my morning smoothies!

A few disclaimers about this recipe:

1. I make my smoothies at 6 a.m. For the last 6 months I have been meaning to measure out exactly how much of each ingredient I use so I can give measurements more technical than "handfuls", but alas, tasks like this are not possible for me pre-coffee.
2. I finally caved and got a re-furbished Vitamix and while it hurt at the moment, it's the only thing I use every single day for probably more than 1 meal each day (it's a food processor and juicer also), and it has a 5 year warranty so I am justifying it. My friends and family also love their Ninjas and Blendtecs which can be a little less costly. I like my new blender better for these smoothies because it really gets the chunks out. And can blend the sh*t out of hard veggies (I once threw a beet in there. A beet.) and fruits.

Serving: 1
Prep Time: 10ish mins

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Unsweetened Cashew/Almond/Soy Milk 
• 1/2 banana
• 1 Handful Broccoli (frozen or fresh)
• 1 Cup Mixed Frozen Fruit (I buy this giant bag at Wal-Mart and it lasts a little over 2 weeks)
• 1/2 cup various leftover veggies (recently I've been adding in carrots and/or beet stems, I even threw in a few brussel sprouts the other day)
• 1 handful of greens (I use Kale + leftover beet greens. Spinach works too)
• 1/2 lemon of lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons Ground Flax Seed aka Flax Meal

Put everything in the blender in the order listed and blend on high until everything is smooth (if using Vitamix put it on blender setting).

Ok also full disclosure: immediately after taking this picture, I screwed the lid on my smoothie- the lid of the container that is made to hold liquids, set it in my bag, my bag fell on the floor, and the smoothie exploded everywhere. Everywhere including my winter coat, Harrison's suit jacket that was sitting out ready to be worn, all over the carpet, every.freaking.where. SCREWY ON LID CONTAINER, YOU HAD ONE JOB. ONE. JOB. I cried (I was so hungry/hangry), and was 30 minutes late to work-not just because of cleaning up the mess, but because I sat and researched screw-on-lid tupperware and ordered 4 on Amazon. 

What are your favorite smoothie ingredients?