This simple Nutty Fig Green Smoothie recipe combines either frozen or dried figs with nut butter, banana, yogurt, greens, and unsweetened almond milk for a healthy breakfast.

Do you rotate your greens? Research suggests you shouldn’t rely on only one type of green in your diet {like spinach}. Instead, it’s healthier to eat a number of different varieties. Why? A few reasons – there are slight toxins contained in raw leafy greens; different greens have different vitamins; and your body needs nutritional variety {source, source}. I’m usually a spinach girl with kale thrown in a few times a month, but with this new knowledge I’m planning to make an effort to mix up my greens more often. This is easy to do with all the smoothies on my menu in the January Challenge. I currently purchase a large bag of spinach and a big bunch of kale every week and switch what I include in my morning smoothie every other day. Next week’s grocery list will also include Swiss chard, dandelion greens, and parsley.

Before we get to new green combinations {next week!} I have a new smoothie recipe to share tonight that has become my favorite drinkable breakfast. This smoothie packs a ton of flavor + good for you ingredients into one package. The star? Frozen whole green figs.

I discovered Trader Joe’s frozen whole green figs a few months ago, and I can’t get enough of this nutty smoothie. Adding one frozen fig results in a very creamy green smoothie and contributes a lot of extra flavor. My favorite way to enjoy this frozen fig add-on is with unsweetened almond butter along with the usual Green Smoothie Base Recipe ingredients. If you can’t find whole green figs or don’t have a Trader Joe’s in your area, you can substitute dried figs as well for the same delicious flavor.

Nutty Fig Green Smoothie
Makes one smoothie.

1 frozen fig
1 banana
1/4 cup plain yogurt
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
3+ cups raw spinach
1 Tablespoon peanut butter or almond butter {I use raw, unsweetened}

~OR~

3 dried figs
1 frozen banana {sliced}
1/4 cup plain yogurt
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
3+ cups raw spinach
1 Tablespoon peanut butter or almond butter {I use raw, unsweetened}

On the “no added sugar” part of the challenge, K and I are still going strong by eating no desserts and cutting out processed foods with added sugars. We successfully avoided a candy bar and what looked like delicious chocolate cake at a birthday party over the weekend. On my list for no-sugar motivation this week is to read My Whole Food Life’s Tips on Quitting Processed Sugar and watch the documentary Fed Up.