Green Smoothies (Samoan Style)

One thing I've missed in Samoa is my morning green smoothie. We have some friends here that brought their Vitamix with them from the States. Every morning they have a smoothie with papaya, banana, niu, oatmeal and almonds. I don't think it would have been worth the weight and space in my suitcase to lug a Vitamix to Samoa, but some mornings I wondered...

A shout out to  Beth Hunt. She is, among other things, a retired school principal, counselor, teacher and head librarian, a Talking Matai, an institute teacher and our volunteer secretary at the dental clinic in Pesaga. Most import to know about her though is the fact that she heard me moaning about my lack of a blender several weeks ago and generously offered to let me borrow a Ninja that she wasn't using.

 HALLELUJAH!

Now that I had the blender, the biggest problem was what to use for greens. There is a vegetable called laupele that people grow in their back yards here. It's supposed to taste a little like spinach. Since it grows kind of wild and no one really likes green vegetables that much in Samoa anyway, you can't find it in the stores. Unfortunately I don't know anyone that has laupele in their back yard. That only left me one leafy green to use that you can find at every market here in Apia. Bok choy. It wouldn't be my first choice, but after some experimentation I developed my Samoan green smoothie.


It contains:
1 small head of bok choy (chopped)
1 cup of coconut water from a fresh niu
1 cup of papaya
1/2 a lime (peeled)
2 misi luki bananas (peeled)
1 cup of yogurt
Green Smoothie Girl's Green Light powder and Tri-omega Superfood.

I'm showing a picture of the yogurt because this stuff is smooth, creamy gold. It costs 23 tala a container, or over $10 US. Sometimes Farmer Joe's will mark it down to 5 or 10 tala a few days before it expires (depending on what mood they're in. Fa'a Samoa). We snatch up a few cartons whenever we see it marked down. Otherwise Mark grumbles all week if I pay full price.

My green smoothie is ready to drink. The Ninja doesn't blend as smooth as a Vitamix. I end up with crunchy bits of bok choy.  At first I hated it because they were bitter to chew. Now I've gotten used to it and actually love my smoothie each morning. One good thing about the crunchies is that they give me a reason to chew my smoothie.

It might be a little ironic that the only cup we have in our little kitchen that is big enough to hold my smoothie is a McDonalds' thirsty-two ounce soda cup that someone who lived here before us left in the cupboard!