When I’m not at work or writing, there’s a good chance I’m in the kitchen chopping, blending, roasting or dehydrating some kind of vegan meal or dessert. Back when I worked at LNP, I occasionally wrote for “The Press Table,” a weekly column featuring a recipe and the story behind it from rotating staff members. I loved both reading and writing the column, so even though this isn’t a food blog I’ve decided to share some recipes here from time to time.

A few years ago I reported on a lawsuit for which the preliminary hearing was held in Easton, PA. While there, I frequented Greenmouth Juice Bar for multiple meals. So many vegetarian juice bars have a predictable menu of smoothies: the strawberry banana combo, the chocolate PB banana with “monkey” in the name, something with blueberry, and so on.

Not at Greenmouth. With smoothie names like “apple streudel,” “strawberry cheesecake” and “bee’s knees,” I knew these would be worth a try. Afterward, I took the to-go menu with me to recreate some of the smoothies at home. This is one of the results — my take on their Thin Mint smoothie. It’s chocolatey, minty and so delightful amid the holidays, when most other treats with these flavors are full of sugar and corn syrup.

As with any smoothie, the ingredients and amounts are flexible. Feel free to play around!

Vegan Thin Mint Smoothie

Serves one.

Ingredients

1 cup coconut water

1.5 frozen bananas

2 Tbsp hemp hearts

1.5 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp spirulina

1 tsp maca

4-10 mint leaves (depending on size) … or 1/8 tsp mint extract

Instructions

Simply add all ingredients to the blender and mix until smooth.