Most mornings I can’t stomach breakfast. I tend to be drawn to sugar for that first meal. I’m guessing my sleepy tummy prefers something easy to digest. Unfortunately, I’m also overweight and often trying to avoid processed sugar. A while back I discovered a recipe for a homemade smoothie. I modified it according to my tastes and nutritional preferences and for months had it for breakfast every day. Then, I came across Cafe Cyan’s post about a green smoothie and started to pack in some green leafy veggies as well.
- 1 frozen banana
- 1 C frozen strawberries
- 1 C frozen Nature’s Three Berries (I get this from Costco, but any mixed berries will do.)
- 1/2 of an orange
- 1/2-1 scoop Spiru-Tein Tropical Fruit protein powder
- 1 scoop ground flax seeds (I can usually find this at Costco)
- 1 C homemade yogurt
- 1/2 C juice, milk, or Rice Dream
- a dash of acidophilus
-
a handful or two of spinach and/or spring mix
-
Add everything to a blender
- Blend 🙂
I do vary the recipe. I only add an orange when I have them around. I often use yogurt from Costco if I haven’t had time to make my own.
These days I can’t do dairy because I’m breastfeeding my son who has a dairy sensitivity. I don’t do smoothies as often because the non-dairy alternatives are so expensive, but I’m glad the options exist. I was able to find cultured coconut milk at Whole Foods and it works great in place of yogurt made from cow’s milk.
I use whatever juice I have on hand, but prefer orange juice. If I don’t have juice, I use milk or Rice Dream. The purpose is really just to thin it out a bit.
A few times I added a square or two of Trader Joe’s Pound Plus Dark Chocolate. I wouldn’t do it regularly, but man is it delicious.
I find this smoothie is a handy use of old bananas. I like to keep bananas around because they make for an easy healthy snack when I’m in a hurry, but I hate how fast they go bad. In order to avoid waste, I peel and freeze them once they start to develop spots. Then, it’s easy to pop them in the blender later or thaw them for other recipes, like banana bread.
I’m definitely not a morning person, so you know it has to be a quick and easy recipe if I was able to make it before work most mornings. It’s so versatile, you can modify it to suit your needs and tastes without too much effort.
Do you have a favorite smoothie recipe? What would you suggest adding to this one?
A little bit of wisdom 
I’m also a fan of the morning smoothie – it’s been my daily breakfast most days for the past 6 months or so. My recipe (taken from Alton Brown) has a few less ingredients but is still pretty tasty.
1 frozen banana
1c frozen berries (either berry mix or just blueberries)
1/2 c juice (I’ve been using either the V8 fusion pom-blueberry or pom-acai juice if it’s on sale @ whole foods)
1c soy milk
Between the fiber in the fruit & the protein in the soy milk, I’m full til lunchtime. And it’s nice to start the morning with something sweet, not corn pops. Will def have to try adding greens to change things up. Thanks for the tip!
I love smoothies! They are a great way to add fresh fruits and veggies to your diet.
I wanted to add that I’m pretty careful about the produce I add to my smoothies. I try to stick to the “Organic Dirty Dozen” and both spinach and strawberries are on the that list.
I personally don’t much care for berries, so I make mango smoothies all the time. I get frozen mango and pineapple from Trader Joe’s. Mmm…
Is it ok to add the acidophilus before blending? I have some in granule form at home and the directions say to “FOLD do not mix into applesauce or other soft food.”
That’s a good question, Lucy. I’ll have to ask my father-in-law (president of UAS labs) about that.
Hey Lucy,
I checked with my father-in-law and he said there’s no problem with blending the probiotics. Not sure why the directions would say that? Maybe it’s something specific to that brand?