A Little More Breakfast – Let’s Talk Smoothies

If you haven’t noticed by now, we do breakfasts and lunches a little differently than we do dinners. Instead of having a menu that we follow, we have a series of regular things that we eat and that we always have on hand. Because of how easy and nutrition packed they are, smoothies are by far what I have most often. My husband laughs when I talk about smoothie “recipes” because to him you just take whatever fruit you have on hand and sounds good at the time, blend it up, and voila! Smoothie.

While I agree, I have found that there are two “recipes” that I do rather consistently, and I always keep the ingredients on hand, so I thought I’d share them with you.

Smoothie #1: The Murky Monster (printable version of this recipe here)

– 1 tbsp flaxseed
– 1 banana (chop the banana and freeze it the night before, it gives the whole smoothie a texture like ice cream, yum!)
– 1/4 to 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
– 1/2 tbsp SunButter (You can use peanut butter, of course)
– 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
– 1/2 cup milk (or other liquid, I’ll discuss below)
– A big handful of spinach

If you are using whole flaxseed, throw it in a dry blender all alone first to grind it up a bit. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend, adding more liquid if needed. Pour into a glass and enjoy!

This smoothie is great if you have kids (or adults, or yourself) that aren’t that keen on the idea of spinach in a smoothie. Spinach has a mild flavor that disappears into the fruit flavors, and if you add enough blueberries the smoothie ends up a pretty pinkish-purple instead of green.

For the liquid, you can really use anything. Any kind of milk would work and you could even use water. Because I’m a hippie and make my own yogurt, I save the whey that I strain off the yogurt and I use that in my smoothies. Waste not, want not, right?

Smoothie #2: Gorgeous Green Ginger (printable version of this recipe here)

– 1 tbsp flaxseed
– 1 banana (frozen is best!)
– 1/4 of a fresh pineapple (chop and freeze the rest for next time)
– 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, chopped
– 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
– 1/2 cup milk (Or other liquid, see above. I’ve used coconut milk a few times and it was even more yummy!)
– A big handful of spinach

Blend the flaxseed all alone if using whole to grind it up. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend, adding more liquid if needed. This one ends up being a very bright, pretty green color. Don’t let that stop you from enjoying the yumminess, though!

A quick word on smoothies and kids. If you have picky kids that have a hard time with fruits and veggies, smoothies can be a great way to get in a big hit of nutrition rather painlessly. Somehow adding a bendy straw makes it go down easier, too. I will also make one of the above smoothies and pour it into popsicle molds, my kids think they are a wonderful treat that way!