Rock that exam smoothie

This week has been a little nuts.  And by a little, I mean insanely mind-bendingly, sometimes I just want to cry nuts...  In the past week and a half I've had 3 exams.  My brain hurts.  My eyes are tired.  Heck, everything is tired.  But now - IT'S DONE!!!  And I survived.  Thanks to this smoothie.

tricked you, I'm not a shamrock shake

Those of you that know me know that I am a HUGE coffee person.  I have to have my morning coffee or I can't function by 10 am.  My roommates once got me a giant coffee pot with a timer on it for my birthday - BEST. PRESENT. EVER.  As much as I love coffee, it can make me a little jittery, crazy feeling even.  I figured that those jittery and crazy feelings would be exacerbated by my nervousness for my exams and would most likely be less than helpful.  So I had to find something else that would give me enough energy to focus for my tests.  This little green monster baby was born.

I realize that it looks like a shamrock shake, however I assure you this contains no added sugars, trans fats, or fake green dye.  It does have loads of beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, calcium, protein,  fiber, omega-3s and brain powering deliciousness.  If you've never had a green smoothie before don't be scared.  When the "green" is all blended up you can't even taste all of the nutrients, just the wonderful-ness of acing your exam.  Greens FTW!

Ingredients

• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2 c frozen mangos and strawberries
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (optional)
• 1 c orange juice
• 3 kale "stalks"
• 1 T chia seeds
• 1/3 c rolled oats

say hello to my antique osterizer, Oscar

Directions

-Blend banana, orange juice, chia seeds, oats, protein powder and fruit on high in blender (I recommend doing it in this order so the oats and chia seeds don't splatter all over the sides of the blender and get stuck)

-Add a little more OJ if necessary to get the blender going

-Once all of the fruit is blended well and there are no more chunks of fruit or oats, peel the leaves off the stem of the kale and put them in the blender, push them down into the mixture to make sure they all get blended 

-Blend on high until there are no more bits of kale floating around (unless you like to chew your smoothies)

-Watch as your smoothie goes from blah to GREEN

-Enjoy in a fancy glass, or take it to go to freak out all of your classmates or coworkers - fun!