Cucumber Avocado Protein Smoothie

Vegetable smoothies go wrong when they are 80 percent leaves and taste like a lawn. This one is built on frozen cucumber, which is almost entirely water and reads as cold and clean rather than green. Avocado and cottage cheese give it body, lime and mint make it taste deliberate, and the spinach plays a supporting role instead of running the show.

Ingredients

• 1/2 large English cucumber (about 6 oz), peeled, chopped, and frozen
• 1 cup cold water
• 1/3 medium avocado
• 1 scoop (30 g) unflavored or vanilla whey protein isolate
• 1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese
• 1 packed cup baby spinach
• 8 fresh mint leaves
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

Instructions

1. Peel the cucumber, cut it into 1 inch chunks, spread them in a single layer on a sheet pan, and freeze at least 3 hours. Freezing cucumber piled in a bag gives you one solid brick your blender cannot break.
2. Put the water, lime juice, cottage cheese, protein isolate, honey, and salt in the blender and run for 20 seconds until the cottage cheese curds disappear completely.
3. Add the spinach and mint and blend 20 seconds more. Leaves have to break down in liquid before anything frozen joins them, or you get green confetti.
4. Add the frozen cucumber and the avocado and blend on high for 30 to 40 seconds until it is pale green and pourable.
5. Taste for lime and salt, then pour over ice and drink within 15 minutes. Cucumber weeps water fast, and a smoothie left standing splits into a green layer and a clear one.

Tips

• Peel the cucumber. The skin is where the bitterness lives, and blending it into a cold drink concentrates that bitterness rather than hiding it.
• Cottage cheese blends perfectly smooth given 20 seconds alone in liquid, but never alongside frozen ingredients. Cold curds shear into grit and stay gritty no matter how long you run the blender.
• For a savory version, drop the honey, use unflavored protein, and add 1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin plus a few dashes of hot sauce. It lands somewhere near a drinkable gazpacho.

FAQ

Can I use fresh cucumber and just add ice?

You can, but it dilutes. Frozen cucumber chills and thickens at the same time, while ice only chills and leaves you with water as it melts.

Does this taste like vegetables?

It tastes like lime and mint first, cucumber second, and the spinach is essentially invisible. Go past 1 packed cup of spinach and that changes quickly.

Can I use Greek yogurt instead of cottage cheese?

Yes, half a cup for roughly the same protein. Cottage cheese is milder here, since yogurt tang stacked on top of lime can push the whole drink sour.

Why did my smoothie turn brown?

The avocado oxidized. Lime juice slows it down, but any avocado smoothie sitting longer than 30 minutes will dull, so blend it right before you drink it.

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