I'm dreaming of...

I've been on a smoothie kick for a little bit now and I thought I'd share the one I made this morning with you!  It's super tropical so I'm dreaming of beaches and the sound of waves crashing (yes, jealous of my parents in Puerto Vallarta)! This smoothie is called Tropical Fruit Green Smoothie. It involved learning/ youtubing how to crack open a coconut and get the meat out! Enjoy!

First you need to hollow out one of the 3 indentations. 

Empty out the coconut water. 

Next I whacked the nut on the edge of my counter to start a crack. I rotated the nut to get a large enough crack that I could pull it apart! 

 The next step I didn't take pictures of because it was so frustrating. On youtube the guy must have been a pro or I had the wrong type of knife or something. What is supposed to happen is you cut an inch sliver out. From the center point to the edge. That part was okay. Then the meat is apparently supposed to fall out with a little coaxing of the knife. Mine needed more than slight coaxing. It needed some serious angry love and it still didn't come out that easy. Needless to say I took 3/4 of the meat out and then threw the rest away!

Coconut, coconut water, one mango!

My date for the day!

End result! A super vibrant green that says 'I'm on the beach' in every sort of a way! 

I ended up altering the recipe as we snuck a few mangoes a couple days ago. The kids LOVE mangoes! 

Here is the recipe. (I'll put my changes in brackets!)

Tropical Fruit Green Smoothie

Water of a coconut

Meat of a coconut (3/4)

2 cups of water (1 c.)

2 mangoes (1)
2 pitted dates (1)
4 c. frozen pineapple (2.5 c.)
2 frozen bananas (1)
Pinch of salt
Dash of cinnamon
4 c. fresh spinach

Blend all items together, then taste. If it is to your liking add ice! If not, add more dates to make it sweeter, or more water if it's too thick, for example. For a batch this big I added two trays of ice. ENJOY! It is paradise! This makes 64 ounces or 8 cups!