This Piña Colada Smoothie is sweet and creamy enough to taste like dessert, but healthy enough for breakfast or snack. Make it with fresh greens to add vitamins and minerals.

Things I can’t get enough of this summer:

• The new Red Hot Chili Peppers (have you SEEN the Carpool Karaoke with RHCP yet? It’s just too good. Anthony Kiedis is life)
• The Maddaddam Trilogy by Margaret Atwood 
• These Patagonia Baggies 
• These re-useable glass straws for all my sipping needs
• Smoothies.

Smoothies. Essential part of my day these days. Come 10:30 to 11:00am, I crave my mid-morning frozen fruit beverage like no other until I quench it good. Because I knee-jerk into autopilot with most things in life, I’m pretty boring with my smoothie ingredients (hello blueberry, banana, almond milk snooze) unless otherwise stimulated by an outside source. My friends Faith Gorsky from An Edible Mosaic and Alyssa Brantley from Everyday Maven wrote the e-cookbook, BLEND: Healthy + Indulgent Smoothies a few years ago, which has been a continual inspiration for mixing up my daily smoothie.

The book includes a plethora of tips and tricks for creating super unique and flavorful smoothies for any time of year. It includes suggestions for various liquids, natural sweeteners, and fruit and veggies that are perfect for smoothie-ing to step up your beverage game, along with 35 recipes. I especially love that the ladies dedicate a full chapter to indulgent dessert-like smoothies that you’d never know are 200% sin-less.

Take this Piña Colada Smoothie for instance. Tastes sinful, like you’re drinking a tropical milkshake, yet it includes all-natural all-healthful ingredients. I’m made this smoothie at least 4 times, and haven’t tired of it yet. Each time, I make it a little bit different each time, depending on whether I want it to be creamy dreamy and dessert-like, or lighter and “greener.”

Method 1 for this recipe is as it’s shown in BLEND – a combination of coconut milk, fresh pineapple, ripe banana, lime juice, and honey. Method 2 is to simply add greens, such as baby spinach, kale, or a superfood powder. I like adding the Vital Proteins Beauty Greens Collagen powder I told you all about last week in my Peach Green Smoothie Bowl post for some extra nutrient oomph. You can also add some protein powder if that tickles you pink.

I’ve made it my mission to try all 35 recipes in the book, but top on my priority list are:

• Peachberry Freeze
• Maple Walnut Coffee
• Kiwi Lime + Kale
• Vanilla Fig
• Brownie Batter Swirl
• Butterscotch Pecan

This particular smoothie recipe is super forgiving when it comes to alterations and additions. Because it’s creamy, tangy, and sweet, it’s the perfect candidate for turning into a green smoothie, and/or for adding various protein powders.

Recipe change-ups:

• To make the smoothie ultra creamy, use full-fat canned coconut milk instead of light coconut milk.
• For a milk-shake, use coconut milk ice cream and coconut milk.
• Add your choice of greens, superfood smoothie powder, or protein powder.
• Toss in some rum and you’ve got yourself a true piña colada

For your year-round smoothie inspiration, check out BLEND: Healthy + Indulgent Smoothies.

Can’t stop (<- RHCP reference, you’re welcome).

Piña Colada Smoothie (Two Ways!) + Cookbook Review

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 1 large smoothie

Author: Julia

Recipe adapted from BLEND: Healthy + Indulgent Smoothies

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Ingredients

• 3/4 cup canned light coconut milk* 185 ml
• 3/4 cup cubed pineapple 4.5 oz/125 g
• 1/2 medium banana peeled and frozen
• 6 large ice cubes
• 1 teaspoons to 2 agave or pure maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• Pinch sea salt optional

Optional Add-ins:

• leaves Handful baby spinach or kale
• 1 scoop powder of choice such as Vital Proteins Collagen powder
• ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Add all of the ingredients for the smoothie to a high-powered blender. Blend until completely smooth. Pour into a glass and enjoy.

Smoothie lover? Try these out:

• Healthy Gut Smoothie
• Cherry Coconut Smoothie Bowls
• Peach Mango Coconut Chia Smoothie
• Beet Berry Apple Chia Smoothie