I’ve never been a big breakfast eater, which all nutritionists will tell you is a very bad thing. (Weekend stops at IHOP excluded! Come to me hash browns… ) In the past, I was content each weekday with a big ol’ mug of coffee until about 11 a.m. when I suddenly felt starving and grouchy. Bad Kate, very bad!
We’ve all read how important it is to jump start your metabolism in the morning, so I started making smoothies in the a.m. and they’re now a big hit around the house – I crave them, Matt loves them, and the kids slurp them down too.
One of the challenging things about a daily smoothie craving is keeping the fresh ingredients around, and also the assembly, it takes effort! I saw at the market that Jamba Juice sells individual smoothie packets and I’ve purchased them a few times but then I decided I wanted to make my own version at home where I could control the ingredients and have them ready to go each day.
SuperFood Berry Smoothie Ingredients:
– 2 cups fresh or frozen berries (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries)
– 3 frozen cubes nonfat yogurt (vanilla, plain, or fruit flavored)
– 5-6 spinach leaves
– ½ banana
– ½ cup cranberry juice
– ½ cup nonfat milk, almond milk, or soy milk
– ½ scoop SuperFood Berry powder
For convenience, I started freezing most of the ingredients, first the yogurt in ice cube trays for easy portion control.
Then the berries, ½ banana, yogurt cubes, and spinach in ziploc bags…
My kids caught me assembling these bags the other day and when they saw the spinach leaves their eyeballs got big, then they winced, then they gave me the stink eye, in that order. Tricked ya munchkins!
In the blender, I add whatever liquids I have, but I found my favorite is ½ cup of cranberry juice and ½ cup of skim or almond milk.
Finally in the blender, I add ½ scoop of this stuff…
Green Berry SuperFood is available at Whole Foods, at the Amazing Grass website, and on Amazon. If you add the full scoop recommended, the smoothie can taste a little gritty so I stick to ½ and no more than ¾ scoop. #babysteps! Not a sponsored post, I just like the stuff!
Blend all of this goodness together for a minute and yum is what you get!
Never you mind that it’s totally healthy for you.
Makes one large or two small smoothies.
Printable recipe HERE.
Do you have a favorite smoothie recipe or smoothie ingredient?
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Looks great, Kate! I make something similar about once a week, packing in as many of our CSA fruits and/or veggies as I can. Feels good to start off the day with a bunch of nutrients. And if I make too much, I pour the excess into popsicle molds to enjoy as a frozen treat later in the week.
Love that your kids spotted the spinach “trickery.” :)
Good for you for taking care of yourself. Yes I think breakfast every day is a key, and this one looks delish. Thanks for sharing!
My go-to is an entire tub of greek yogurt, a tbsp of honey, a bunch of berries and spinach, and blend! then I pour into a jug in the fridge and i just pour out a cup for breakfast each day. Because I use nothing frozen, it keeps just fine and the yogurt makes it very thick and creamy!
I make smoothies for the kiddos all the time. (And there is always some leftover for me!). I know what you mean by keeping the fresh fruits around all the time so I use frozen berries. I buy several bags at Trader Joes (mango, mixed berries, strawberries, whatever they have) and throw them in the freezer. I take usually 1-2 cups of the berries, about a cup of milk and a cup of OJ or some other fruit juice, which we always have in the house, a big huge spoonful of greek yogurt, throw it all in the blender. If I have a banana, I use that too. Bananas make them nice and thick. I’ll have to try the “green superfood” and fresh spinach leaves. Seems like something else that would be easy to throw in.
I love berry smoothies, but my husband will only go for chocolate/PB versions. For his smoothies I use skim chocolate milk, a banana, a scoop of organic peanut putter, some ice and a scoop of Greek yogurt. Then I always add ground flaxseed to either smoothie for added nutrition! My least favorite part is cleaning out the blender. You have to do it immediately or you’ll be in for quite a battle against the grime later on! Yuck.
I have been buying the Jamba Juice smoothies kits, which can get a little pricey. I am not a big breakfast eater especially if its not waffles with strawberries or hash browns. Have you tried your smoothie with apple juice instead of cranberry, me and mr. cranberry are not friends?
I’ve been drinking a similar smoothie in the mornings for a while now and feel great for it. At the moment I’m using frozen red berries with a fresh pear and banana as berries are really expensive in the UK during the winter time. Adding a little warm water before blending takes the chilly edge off it. I add ground flax seed to supercharge the mix, and a little bran for fibre. I usually accompany it with a couple of small breakfast muesli bars, otherwise my stomach’s grumblig by mid morning. Love your idea of freezing the yogurt into ice cube trays, thanks for the tip!
I just jumped on the smoothie bandwagon, too. Mine includes…
water
spinach
frozen peach slices
frozen strawberries and blue berries
a scoop of vanilla protein powder
I was using almond milk but find that I prefer it with just water. Initially I was using raspberries and blackberries but I couldn’t handle the texture of the seeds. I’m on the lookout for frozen pineapple chunks now! I’m also interested in trying it out with cranberry juice, or perhaps even grapefruit.
Looks good! I often make a similar smoothie but hadn’t thought of freezing yogurt into cubes. What kind of blender do you use? I use a fancy BlendTec, and even it sometimes struggles when I use so many frozen things.
This is mine every morning:
1/3c Trop50 OJ(its sweetened w/ stevia)
2/3c Almond Breeze unsweetened
1 pkt stevia
1TBL ground flax
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
70gr frozen strawberrries
35grm frozen blueberries
35grms frozen mango or pineapple
throw in handful of fresh spinach, blend and enjoy!
I’m really excited about trying this! Thanks, especially, for the tips on assembling them. One question though – do you freeze the ziploc bags of all the ingredients together (including the frozen yogurt pieces, fresh fruit, and spinach)? Or do you stick that in the fridge? Thanks!
Mmmmh, yummy! Looks delicious! I would prefer it without the spinach leaves, too, though – I guess your kids and me are on the same page ;-)
Crazy coincidence – I just started making smoothies this past week in the Ninja we got as a wedding present.
I am using a really similar recipe but I love using frozen berries + pineapple chunks + orange juice! Oh my goodness, so amazing!
I love smoothies. I tend to stick to yogurt, strawberries and bananas with a little juice (orange or apple) tossed in, sometimes a little milk. I’ve been seeing all the stuff about Almond Milk and I keep looking at it. I know my husband won’t use it, so I’m trying to figure out if I can use it enough to make it worth buying. Suggestions? Unsweetened, sweetened? So many choices and having never tasted it, I’m lost. I’ve made some changes here too…the exercise is actually giving me more energy and I deleted all the mindless games off my iPad and have all this free time to blog again. I never liked games at all…then along came the iPad and I got hooked. When I started seeing the games in my sleep, I decided it wasn’t healthy for me at all!
Love smoothies! Being not a fan of fruit with seeds, I tend to stick to pineapple, peaches and a few blueberries *for the good stuff they have*. I use almond milk and OJ. I also use a Ruby Reds mix and protein powder, flax seed, homeade granola and a few other things. To tell the truth this is probably the most healthy food I get each day.
The leftovers in the blender go into those little frozen pop thingies and are eaten as a healthy icecream or popped back into my next smoothie.
Thanks to you I will be freezing my extra yogurt.
Every morning I make my green machine smoothie. It’s 1 banana, chia seeds, greek yogurt, almond milk, peanut butter and 2 cups of spinach. Very yummy not to mention super healthy for you.
Thanks for all the great new recipes everyone, I’m going to try a few of your ingredients and mix it up!
This is my favorite smoothie recipe – actually made without any dairy, though adding yogurt would also be good. I’m going to look into that powder you’re using … might be a good addition to my usual!
http://www.examiner.com/article/start-your-day-the-healthy-way-fresh-fruit-dairy-free-smoothies
This looks divine! I love it..so pretty!!
My smoothie recipe is similar, but I rotate the fruit and liquids depending on what I have on hand.
Makes 2 good size servings
1 1/2 cup of Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze
1 banana
1/3 cup Diet Cranberry juice
1/2 scoop of Muscle Milk Vanilla Light
2 cups of Frozen berries, or Frozen Strawberries
Subsitute cocunut water for the diet cranberry juice and frozen mango and pineapple for the berries and you have a new tropical version.
There is an app by Martha Stewart that has some amazing & unique smoothie recipes. I personally love the flavor of berries, but can’t stand the seeds! I tend to stick with cherries, peaches, mango, pineapple, and bananas. Coconut milk is a yummy addition, but high in fat so I only use it once in awhile. Plain Greek yogurt makes it so creamy without making it overly sweet. LOVE the idea of pre-packaging the ingredients in ziplock baggies for easy morning blending! I am going to incorporate that idea ASAP.
Mine is a lot more ‘wing it’ than yours, but it works well, and the kids are happy drinking it. Basically I fill the blender with:
1 banana (sometimes, I’ll throw a frozen overripe on in, one from my banana bread making stash)
a couple of handfuls of frozen mango
a few dollops of plain low fat yogurt (likely around half – 3/4 cup)
a couple of handfuls of spinach (I stuff in as much as I can)
a tsp of maple syrup (if the banana isn’t quite ripe enough)
enough water to fill up the rest of the blender and the bits in between the fruits/veggies
and then I whiz it up.
I also add hemp hearts and flax seeds to my personal smoothies. I love having crunchy smoothies! And sometimes I’ll add some crushed fresh ginger for flavour.
I mix it up with frozen wild blueberries or strawberries and sometimes with other fresh veg that we have lying around. Zucchini works, as does kale (in small doses), peas, red peppers, carrots. Kids know it’s going in and aren’t bothered. Well, they were in the begining, but they’ve got used to it. it’s a yummy way to start the day (plus it builds up fluids as well, something I get short on while I’m in the middle of projects during busy days)
I really like making smoothies and yours is a bit different than mine but looks and sounds yummy!!! I am going to try your recipe next time.
Thanks for sharing
YUM!
This is my recipe I drink it every morning: 3/4 cup light lactose free milk or soya milk, 3 scoops low fat natural yogur, 1/2 tbs stevia or light sugar, 1 cup frozen berries (mix of blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and raspberries) handful of fresh spinach. Easy and simple It tastes really nice. Nex time I’ll try the cranberry juice.
For fruit smoothies, instead of spinach I like to add cold cooked carrots–super high in vitamin A plus they are sweet and mild. Your kids will never suspect they are getting a serving of vegetables! I’ve been making breakfast smoothies for years; I strongly recommend an immersion blender as an alternative to a countertop blender. I love my Cuisinart one, (<$30! and in lots of fun colors)
I have switched to a low-carb eating plan (it's working!) so most fruits and juices are out (except in small quantities-I sure miss my daily banana!). Tofu is mild, very smooth and creamy with lots of rib-sticking protein. I add a scoop of soy/whey blend protein powder which is sweet enough to fool me. Plain unsweetened coca powder has almost no carbs and once you add ice, the whole thing is very milk-shakey!
I use skim milk and/or greek yogurt as a base, and a handful of ice to "make it big".
I have been doing the same thing but with Greek yogurt! So good!
My smoothie making is much more haphazard. Each day’s smoothie is a little different. My cousin taught me to save all the annoying leftover parts of fruit that little kids don’t eat: that half a banana left from lunch, apple slices, etc. Rather than throw out perfectly good food, I cut off the nibbled end, then cut the still-good remaining parts into chunks and freeze in a bag for my smoothie. Into the bag also goes the apple slices tossed with cinnamon that wouldn’t fit into the pie shell, over-ripe bananas, spinach leaves, roasted beet chunks: whatever is fresh that there is too much of.
For a smoothie, use some frozen fruit from the bag, some Greek yogurt, a scoop of vanilla protein powder and milk or juice. Add in some spices according to the fruit mix you used: ginger, cinnamon, coconut milk and honey are all good. I use a handblender in a large pyrex measuring bowl and it works just fine if your fruit chunks aren’t too big. Thin as needed with more or your liquid of choice and enjoy.
I really like the idea of saving the leftovers in a popsicle mold! I’m going to give that a try next time.
Just in case anyone should try to visit my blog (JennyExplainsItAll.blogspot.com) by clicking on the header in the above comment, FOR SOME CRAZY REASON YOU’LL GO TO SOME OLD ABANDONED BLOG named Jenny Explaining It All. THAT’S NOT ME! There are a handful of blogs I follow -not all- where that happens and I am unable to fix it. I’m so sorry! I hope you can find me through Google or just Copy/Paste.
Mine, almost daily:
1. 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder.
2. handful of frozen or fresh blueberries
3. 1/2 banana
4. Other frozen fruits if on hand: pineapple, strawberries, etc.
5. Handful of either kale or spinach.
YUM!
My husband makes a morning smoothie for both of us. I’m not sure the exact ingredients but I know there is an apple, an orange, lime juice, 1 cup of spinach, 1/2 cucumber. It has a lot of pulp and fiber to give the appearance of a smoothie but there’s no actual dairy. I had to get used to it at first but now I can’t do without it!
Greensmoothiegirl.com has a great book of recipes for smoothies! I love her blog! (I’m not associated with her…just a fan..)
LOL “Come to me hash browns..” made me laugh. And I’m not a breakfast person either so smoothies are my go-to as well. Yours look delish! I’ll have to remember to add some spinach to mine.
Great job!!! Exercise always gives me energy, and I LOVE a fruit smoothie in the morning, especially when it is warm outside. So many different ways to make a smoothie too. And I LOVE that you are putting spinach in there! I don’t think it is noticeable in the taste at all. However, when I have tried kale, it was noticeable.
Thanks Crystal, yep I’m trying to get healthy first, fit next… used to be a runner and now I’m back in the swing, added weights to my routine too, feeling great! Thanks for the tip on the kale, ick! But you’re right, you can’t taste the spinach!
Kate
This looks so yummy! I never thought of adding juice to mine, I’ll give it a try :)
The smoothie powder I use is “Shaklee 180” which will help to loose or maintain weight but will keep my muscle mass, have you tried it before??
xo,
Marcela
Kate, So enjoy seeing your website. I always check it out. love your decorating ideas and the way you can create a beautiful room without spending a lot of money. but friend I have to say I think you have a sugar addiction. I would be sound asleep about an hour after eating one of those concoctions. rock that sugar Kate!
Ha Kathy, funny! And I don’t have a sweet tooth! I stay on my toes with projects, tasks, and chasing my kids and busy so no sugar crash so far :)
Kate
I’ve made the following smoothie a lot. My girls (ages 5 and almost 3) love it:
Buttermilk
Frozen banana
Frozen strawberries or other fruit
Nonfat plain yogurt
Honey
Flax seed
hi Kate! what a timely post! I have been into smoothie as well! I put
frozen banana
frozen pinapple
frozen blueberry
some sort of green vege
water
That’s it!
One thing I wanted to note though is that green leaf vegetable, as much as they are super good for you, I was cautioned to rotate among different kids of leaves like spinach, kale, lettuce, mustard green etc… apparently lot of green leafy vegetables are high in alkaloid which can be poisonous, but rotating can help you avoid being poisoned. I’m sure someone else can explain this better, but just wanted to caution you especially if you are planning on being on this diet for a long haul! but yeah, smoothie is awesome!
Thanks Reese, I’ll check out that “rotation” tip!
I love smoothies in the morning but agree, it takes effort. My favorite smoothie is a container of plain greek yogurt, one banana, a cup of frozen mangos, and for sweetness, two teaspoons of sugar free orange jello powder. Tastes like a creamsicle! Thanks for the spinach tip. I’m going to start adding that.
I luv a smoothie for brekkie and have one most days. I haven’t tried spinach in mine so I might give that a try. I also pick up frozen berries so you can just throw in a handful and there is no chance of me throwing bad fruit out at the end of the week. Lisa xo
brilliant idea!! i juice frequently and this would save me so much prep time!! :D yey!
My husband and I have been doing the smoothie breakfast for almost 2 years now. We got the recipe/idea from Alton Brown. Neither of us ate breakfast regularly because we were both lazy and didn’t want to get up earlier enough to do it. This was a quick, on the go, healthy breakfast.
Combine all frozen ingredients and juice in the blender carafe at night and put it in the refrigerator. In the morning, just add soy milk, yogurt and protein powder and blend.
Frozen strawberries
Frozen blueberries
Frozen peaches
One banana
~4 oz juice (we like pomegranate acai but any juice will do)
Yogurt
Splash of Soymillk
Scoop of protein powder
Believe it or not, 2 years almost every day and still not sick of it. :)
Great tip Abbey on the “night before” assembly, it doesn’t get mushy? I love that idea of prepping ahead!
Kate
I love how you are DIY in all aspects of your life. Making it yourself saves money and allows you to really show your true colors. We love smoothies at our house, though I haven’t added any greens before. I think I’ll give it a try. A few green leaves must be healthier than none! Thanks for the great tips, especially freezing the yogurt!
Sue, try the Almond Milk, I like the unsweetened, straight out of the box it’s a little “nutty” but in a smoothie not so much. Yum!
The great thing about smoothies is you can add just about anything and it just all gets blended in.
I always put Bee Pollen and tofu in mine. I live in Ontario Canada so smoothies are a summer “sport” for me. In the winter I’m all about cream of wheat and steel cut oats.
I made myself a smoothie today for the first time in I don’t know how long and I sat down to sort my inbox and there was your smoothie post! I couldn’t believe it…I was actually ahead of the game. Yours looks really good and I like the idea of portioning everything ahead of time. I froze whole small bananas last time I bought them (anticipating my smoothie making). I used one cup fresh strawberries, 1 cup frozen blueberries, 1 whole small banana (frozen) and 1 cup vanilla organic yogurt. I cut up the banana and peeled it (I recommend peeling before freezing). I put all of this in the blender and blended away. I love the taste and it was really thick, like a shake. The strawberry seeds are a little gritty, but I can live with it. It made enough for 2 large smoothies or 4 small ones. :)
Bless you for using Brown Cow yogurt!! I love the stuff and it’s getting harder and harder to find!
I love a smoothie and drink one everyday. One that my husband and I both love is the late afternoon “frappuccino” without all the calories! Two scoops Vi Protein powder, (which I do sell but would recommend to anyone regardless!) unsweetened Almond milk, 1 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder and a TBS of instant espresso. Add some ice and blend up to be the perfect coffee “fix” that is energy filled and won’t leave you on a sugar high. We also like to do chocolate with a TBS of peanut butter powder. You can get it at Whole Foods or other places. PB without the added fat. Tastes WONDERFUL!
Love your blog!
We love smoothies here…I work them into the breakfast rotation at least once a week in summer and perhaps once every two weeks in winter (hey, it’s cold in WI — a warm breakfast is much better!) One of my favorites is a bit of greek yogurt (for the probiotic), a banana, some unsweetened almond or peanut butter, a dash of vanilla, a few tablespoons of Nutella (or substitute a tablespoon of cocoa and a little honey) and milk of your choice (whether coconut milk, almond milk or whole milk.) Blend with ice and yum-o!! Almost makes me forget about missing my hashbrowns….almost. =)
oh my – this drink looks awesome. What a brilliant idea to assemble all the goodies in ziplocs and freeze!! Thank you so much for sharing!
This looks delicious! Just like you, my family was having trouble getting in a good breakfast until I started with the shakes! Like the previous post I use the Vi Protein Powder as well (and yes, I sell it too but I highly recommend it regardless as well). Smoothies are the perfect way to get great stuff (and great tasting stuff) into the kids too! I always made them with the juice, fruit and yogurt (never thought of sneaking in spinach!) when my kids were little and now that they’re teenagers running out the door each morning, these shakes are an easy way to make sure they’re still having a great breakfast. My favorite right now is Strawberry Banana; 2 scoops Vi Protein powder, 5 sliced strawberries, 1/2 banana, and 10oz of Almond Milk all blended together. My kids love the Snikerdoodle; 2 scoops Vi Protein powder, 1 TBS Honey & 1 tsp of cinnamon, 10 oz of Almond mild. Delicious!
Thanks for such a great blog! You inspire my creative side every day!
thar sounds awesome, I will def try it and that powder sounds interesting. I have my go to green monster smoothie from Annie eat’s http://www.annies-eats.com/2011/05/02/green-monster-smoothies/ and then also my favorite chocolate delight– 1 cup almond milk, 1 ripe banana, 1/4 cup almond butter, 1 tablespoon honey, 1/2 cup ice, 2 tablespoons unsweeten dark cocoa and 2 tablespoons honey….I call it my energy drink with all the protein it packs!
Smoothies in the morning (or anytime) are a great way to get a whole lot of nutrition in at once. May I suggest to you that you can make it even better by using organic unflavored Greek yogurt since the ones you use in your picture are full of sugar and other unnutrious things. Same thing for the fruit juice-be sure to read the label to make sure there are no added sugars or other ingredients and that it is 100% the juice that it states on the label. You will be surprised at reading the ingredients how many juices actually contain other fruits and “flavors”. By adding honey nor agave yourself, you can control the sweetness. Coconut water, acai berry and goji berry juice are good substitutes because you get even more health benefits. A third suggestion is to simply to try substituting coconut milk in place of the almond milk for even more nutrition. Almond milk is better than the dairy stuff, but coconut milk is packed with even more nutrients and antioxidants. You can also substitute kale in place of the spinach to make it more nutritional. Smoothies are such a great way to sneak in veggies like carrots and celery. The Amazing grass superfood products really are amazing! We all need to be aware of what ingredients are in the foods we buy and that is one company you can trust. I encourage everyone to start reading the ingredients list and avoid buying anything that has an ingredient you can’t pronounce.
Smoothies are a great way to start the day! I find when I start the day out right, the rest of the day meal-wise is healthier too. Great discovery for you and your family. :) My favorite is with coconut milk, pineapple chunks, mango chunks, sometimes a 1/2 banana, and protein powder. It’s like a pina colada a for breakfast! :)
If you like chocolate and coffee AND being healthy this one’s for you! One of my favorite smoothies – a Healthy Mocha Smoothie – is one that I really don’t think I could ever get tired of. It’s like a dessert, it’s so good! I tweaked it from what I believe was originally a weight watchers recipe – I think I might have made a little more yummy and a little more healthy though!
1 cup soy or almond milk (I prefer Silk Soy with DHA/Omega 3 added, it’s extra creamy for some reason), 1 frozen banana broken into pieces, a scoop or two from a fresh avacodo (don’t skip the avocado – it makes it even creamier and gives it a thick shake-like consistency not to mention it’s a superfood!), 1 tbsp agave nectar, 1 tbsp cocoa powder, 1 packet single serve instant coffee like Starbucks Via or (much cheaper) Taster’s Choice, and if you have it a heaping tbsp wheat germ and a tsp or two of ground flax seed. Throw everything in a blender and blend until thick. Delish!
Oh we all love smoothies! Thanks for the great idea of having the ingredients frozen and all ready to go! I often buy fresh spinach then it goes bad before we use it…now I will just make up baggies of smoothie ingredients so even my DH can easily throw them in the blender & is good to go.
Comments offer a lot of great ideas for others – I am definitely going to start having one of these a day, and get the family to have a shake instead of other sweets.
We are all on a mission to lose weight & become healthier…we are even having our own Biggest Loser competition, and these smoothies are a great way to help our efforts!!! Love it!!
Do the bananas turn brown when you freeze them?
I always add a scoop of Udo’s Choice Wholesome Fast Food Blend into our morning smoothies. The extra bump of fibre helps to keep our sugar levels regulated for the majority of the day. You’ll be surprised at the change in your kids’ moods. I myself NEED it so that my hunger levels normalize. When I don’t have it, I feel hungry all day and end up binging.
Love the smoothie!
Actually, just this past couple of weeks (since I am trying to get back on track with my diet), I have learned that eating breakfast in the morning is NOT the most healthy or should I say, fat burning idea! You can read about it yourself online, but the gist of it is this: if you eat dinner arond 6 p.m. and not after, your body goes into fat burning mode around 2 a.m. and continues to burn fat until you put the next morsel in your mouth. You should exercise in the morning on an empty stomach to continue the fat burning process. Eat after that — in the late morning. The cycle then repeats itself. My doctor told me this and he told me to read about it online and there are many articles about this fact! So my not being a breakfast eater is actually good for me! If only I could get that exercise in there somewhere, that would be ideal.
Sugar shake
Thanks Kate! We are just about to move to Hong Kong and my boys will have to leave for school by 630am. That will be quite the challenge with 2 teenagers and a younger one who is never in a hurry! A great way to get a nutritious breakfast in that will last them a while. Banana’s are cheap and plentiful there so will definitely add those.
Shakes are all the rage these days! They are such a great way to pack vitamins and minerals into a meal and they are also very pretty ~ so many different colors!
Your ingredients look yummy and I’m sure it’s delicious. Thanks for sharing!
xxL
My favorite protein smoothy is a lovely shade of green: 1 granny smith apple, handful of green grapes, frozen pineapple, 1 banana, handful of spinach, 1 or 2 heaping spoonfuls of Shaklee protein powder, orange juice, a handful of ice cubes and plain greek yogurt. My Vita-mix is a workhorse and makes this up in a flash! i don’t bother measuring and it always tastes wonderful.
Drink a smoothie every morning for the past few years- frozen mixed berries, greek yogurt, vanilla protein powder, chlorella, chia, hemp seeds, flax, almond milk and milk. Yummy and so good for you. I notice if I don’t drink it, my energy levels get low and I eat too much at lunch. I’m probably grumpy too!
After re-reading the ingredients, I would like to make a suggestion. I would suggest that if you have any thyroid issues or are perimenopausal, menopausal, or post menopausal, please, please, please do not use soy milk or soy in any form for that matter. Soy wrecks havoc on your thyroid, will throw off thyroid tests horribly, and will interfere with bio-identical hormones or even birth control pills. I have learned this the hard way and confounded my endocrinologist until she finally asked by chance if was consuming any soy. She said that she now regularly ask patients that question. She said that doctors didn’t even know about this just a few years ago, some probably still don’t.
Thanks Jackie on the comment regarding soy products. I have Hashimoto’s and have to be careful of how much soy I consume, which is hard because it’s in everything nowdays!
I love breakfast but am usually not hungry first thing in the morning so lately I have been making a smoothie in the morning and drink it while I get ready. My favorite is a strawberry banana smoothie.
4-6 frozen strawberries, 1/2 banana, 1/2 cup of nonfat yogurt, 1/2 cup water (or milk) and a handful of ice . On days that I do a tough workout I’ll add some vanilla protein. Enjoy!
If you want to get really healthy, then I recommend getting a high end juicer and making the mean green drink (google it) everyday, it will make a huge difference in your health and skin, but the downfall is the time involved in constantly getting fresh vegetables to juice. I also make a drink similiar to jamba juices razzmataz. I use a pack of frozen rasberry’s, orange juice, ice and some sugar. My kids love it too.
Your smoothie recipe is very similar to one I’ve been making for years. Last year I made the leap to using kale instead of spinach at the suggestion of a nutritionist friend. Apparently kale is the most amazing food I never knew about. So try swapping the spinach for a handfull of chopped kale. (If you’re worried about the kiddos noticing, my boyfriend, who is basically a large man child and the pickiest eater I know, doesn’t even notice the kale.
This is a great post – love everyone’s ideas. I’ve never been a smoothie drinker or a breakfast eater but recently did a lot of research on smoothies in order to boost my energy level (65 and flagging). I agree with the poster about using coconut milk (unsweetened) instead. With the fruit in there you’ll never really notice. Plant-based protein powder (pea and brown rice) and absolutely no soy. I also add flax seed. I’ve only been drinking these for a week and already notice an increased energy level so I’m happy!