Smooth and Easy

So this morning I made two different smoothies.  I don't usually do this but I wanted to create a smoothie with kale and my husband isn't a big kale person....so two smoothies it is.

The smoothie I made for my husband is kind of our "go to" in smoothie making.

Basic Smoothie:

1/2 banana

3-5 frozen fresh strawberries (depending on size)

handful spinach

1-2 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt

1 scoop protein powder

1 tablespoon chia seeds (optional)

milk of choice

This smoothie is great with any type of berry or fruit.  Be creative with what you have on hand.

 Add all of the ingredients into your blender of choice and blend.  I use a Ninja blender and love that it has single serving smoothie cups. This makes it really convenient to make a one-serving smoothie.  My cups also indicate a "max fill" line where the ingredients, including the liquid, should stay at or below to avoid a mess.  I've learned this from experience that the "max fill" line is a fact not a suggestion.

Now here's the crazy part.....I use 2% milk.....GASP!!!!!  Yes, 2%. This is the milk that we use in our house and I will use almond milk sometimes but not on a regular basis.  So when it comes to using the milk in your smoothie use whatever kind you want and don't feel guilty about the choice you make.  Just because you don't use skim or almond doesn't mean that the smoothie is unhealthy and not delicious.

Another tip I do when having ingredients on hand for smoothies is buy stuff in season and on sale and FREEZE.  I will buy strawberries and clean them and remove the stems and put directly in the freezer.  It's a great way for fresh berries for your smoothies.  Simply Delicious

Now for my smoothie.  I like to think I created it but I can guarantee it's been made before but to me it's a new creation in MY kitchen.

Green Smoothie:

1/2 banana

Handful spinach

1 leaf of kale (cut away from the stem)

1/4 green apple

1/2 pineapple juice and 1/2 water

 Just like the Basic Smoothie put all the ingredients into your blender.  Then add pineapple juice to about halfway up and then water until it's to the "max fill" line.

 This smoothie is absolutely delicious!  It's really sweet and yummy.  Here's the only thing, this smoothie is water and juice based without any protein added.  So, this one is not as filling as the Basic Smoothie listed above.  This one is great for getting vitamins and flushing your system so because of this I also added the below protein bar to be part of my breakfast.

 Luna bars are great, well the flavors that I eat are amazing!  I love this peppermint one and I also love the chocolate dipped coconut ones.  If you are local (meaning Utah)  I bought these at Smith's for $1.00 a piece.  Great and easy to fill you up.  Another thing with protein bar, I don't stress about all the counts on the wrapper.  If it has some sugar I'll eat it.  It's probably why I like these so much. :)