Kale Cucumber Smoothie

Memorial Day weekend was delicious. I ate everything I had been abstaining from. Pizza, ice cream, soda, doughnuts, chips.. you name it. To counter it all I was determined to start the week on a healthy note.. So this morning I resumed my yoga schedule, ate a light breakfast, brisk walked in the campus, pushing my toddler around the place and for lunch blended this kale cucumber smoothie and later followed it up with two tablespoons of granola and some blueberries for dessert. Ahh... bliss ! It was so darn satisfying...

This smoothie has quite a bit of Indian twists in it and anyone familiar with the Indian cuisine, will immediately recognize its similarity with masala chaas or spiced buttermilk. Yes. I drew the inspiration for this smoothie from chaas. But it was not until my first sip, that I realized how well the flavors of yogurt ,ginger, green chilis and curry leaves blended with the kale and cucumber. I loved every drop of the smoothie. It was so refreshing and felt so healthy....

Kale Cucumber Smoothie

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Recipe by Tanusree 

Prep time: 5 minutes                                                             Total time: 5 minutes + chilling time
Yield: 1 ½ cup

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup yogurt (I used plain non-fat)
• ⅓ cup water
• ½ inch ginger, peeled and quartered
• 2 small green chilies
• ½ cucumber, peeled and quartered(about ⅔ cup)
• 2 big Kale leaves
• a spring of curry leaves
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsps lime juice

Cooking Directions

1. Put all the ingredients except the kale leaves and curry leaves in the jar of the blender and blend until smooth.
2. Add the kale leaves and curry leaves and blend.
3. Chill for at least 30 minutes and enjoy !