Get yo' greens! (Banana and Kale Smoothie -- A 'Sundays with Joy' Post)

Let's talk kale, shall we?  I had no idea what this stuff was until I was 25 years old and I spent a summer in Brazil with my future-at-the-time-in-laws.  Every once in awhile my mother-in-law would make this dish of a kind of bitter, but very delicious, green stuff.  That man of mine loved it.  LOVED it.  When I asked what it was the answer came back as couve.  So then I asked what it was in English, and the answer came back the same, couve.  Interesting, I had never heard of couve before...

A few years later, after the wedding bells had rung and the thought of cooking didn't intimidate me so much, I set out to find couve.  Lo and behold, it was something so simple to find -- kale.  Once we figured out that we could find it here in the States, my husband practically begged and pleaded for me to make things with it, as it is no doubt his favorite vegetable.  Sauteed kale with garlic, kale and potato pancakes, chicken and kale casserole... I graciously gave him what he asked for.

I bet he never thought I would turn it into a smoothie, though!

Yes, that's right.  This weeks recipe as we are working our way through Joy the Baker's cookbook (which you should totally go buy!) is kale and banana (and other stuff) smoothies.  Yes, a little odd, I know... but odd is not always synonymous with "bad", right?  Sometimes odd is "just right".  In this case, it means the latter.

I had the privilege of watching Joy at the Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend a few weeks ago, and guess which recipe she shared?  This one.  Along with two others that I will share with you when the time is right.  She made a great suggestion -- peel and freeze bananas to put in smoothies so you don't need ice.  Brilliant!  Later the night I went home and made this smoothie with soy milk and guess what?  Instant healthy goodness.  So good you actually don't even realize it is healthy... Actually, it just tasted like you were eating a banana with peanut butter.  All you moms out there, here you go -- time to be sneaky ;)

And that lover of kale that I am married to?  He liked it so much he even asked me to tell him how to do it so -- get this -- he could make it himself. 

WOW. 

That must mean it was good ;)

Cost: $1.70    Cost per glass (2): $0.85

PS - In Brazil they call smoothies just as "vitamins"  I could never figure out why, but today I put the ingredients into a nutrition counter and holy cow -- this thing is basically equivalent to a multivitamin!  221% of the daily recommended amount of Vitamin A?  Tons of other vitamins and minerals represented?  NOW I get it.  Drink your greens and live long and healthy!