Breakfast smoothies tips and recipes

The husband and I are trying to start the year out right and go the gym and eat healthy, like everyone else. One way in which we are doing this is upping our fruit and veggie intake. The easiest way for us to do this is first thing in the morning with a smoothie. Once you get the hang of smoothies they are very easy to make and manipulate.  You can add anything to a smoothing and in the right proportion it is fantastic. My method is usually to add frozen fruit and anything else I am trying to get rid of in the fridge.

A few smoothie tips:

1. Have a good blender- We registered for a Ninja blender which blends, dices and purees things so fast. The better the blender the easier your smoothie making will be.
2. Use as many frozen fruits as possible– this means you don’t have to water down your smoothie with ice. You can find an assortment of frozen fruit at the grocery store that is perfect for throwing in smoothies.
3. Add vegetables– why not! A handful of fresh spinach or leftover raw vegetables are perfect for smoothies, the taste of even bitter vegetables is masked by the fruits.
4. Ugly fruits and vegetables work too- I have never met someone that didn’t have some ugly fruits or vegetables that are starting to go bad in the fridge. Bananas starting to brown, dried out carrots, apples with bruises and soft spots, wilted lettuce/spinach. Smoothies are a great way to get rid of those items that you may not want to eat alone.
5. Freeze ahead for quick smoothie prep-

 

This morning, the husband got his first taste of my crazy smoothie recipe:

• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1 cup frozen mixed berries
• 1 cup raspberry lemonade (we need to go to the grocery store)
• 2 bananas
• 2 handfuls of fresh spinach
• Left over raw carrots and celery from this weekend’s pot roast
• ¼ cup chi seeds
• This made a lot (almost too much), but I wanted to make sure that we had plenty for both of us, and I will likely grab another when I get home after the gym. I only had this smoothie for breakfast, by including the chi seeds kept me feeling full until lunch. And the husband didn’t even see me add the celery or carrots.