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A few months ago, I began making some super healthy fruit and spinach smoothies for breakfast. I’ve held off on blogging about them because I was trying out lots of different combinations of ingredients. Most were delicious! Some were a little funky. Of course, my kids were my ultimate taste testers. If they approved, I knew I had a winner.
I have truly seen so many benefits after adding these smoothies to our diet. It’s incredible how much added energy I feel after drinking one first thing in the morning. Obviously, just knowing that my boys have a huge dose of fruit and veggies and all of their antioxidant power every day is awesome. The best part so far? With these smoothies, cutting down on my portion sizes on all other meals during the day and walking more, I’ve lost 12 pounds in a month! And that was over the holidays!!
So, to make your own smoothies at home, you can start with my simple recipe. If you’d like you can build on it to make your own variations depending on what it is that you’re trying to sneak into your diet.
Basic Fruit and Spinach Smoothie
2 handfuls fresh spinach
1 banana
1 avocado
3/4 cup frozen peaches
3/4 cup frozen mango or blueberries (the kids and I prefer the taste of mango)
Water to help blend
Just throw all ingredients in the blender and add water as needed to help it all blend. You’ll probably have to stop and stir it up as you go until it’s all nicely blended together. This makes enough for two big smoothies or three decent sized smoothies which is perfect for me and my two boys. My husband won’t even try it, but maybe I’ll convince him one day.
I don’t always add avocado to my smoothies, but I love the creaminess that it adds. It’s not as sweet as it would be if you left it out, but it’s full of healthy fats and other vitamins.
If you want to build on this recipe, you can do something similar to what I am usually blending up in the mornings these days.
Souped Up Fruit and Spinach Smoothie
2 handfuls spinach or kale (spinach has a milder flavor but kale is awesome for you!)
1 banana
1-1/2 cups frozen fruit such as peaches and mangoes
1/2 cup greek yogurt
2 Tblsp flaxseed (full of Omega3, fiber, and lignens which fight cancer, diabetes and heart disease! This is good stuff!)
Water and/or almond milk to blend
Again, just add all ingredients in a blender and add the water and/or almond milk until it’s a nice consistency. If using almond milk, I taste my smoothie as I stop the blender and stir it around. I love the flavor of almond milk, but it can be a bit much with everything else going on in here. If it’s perfect taste-wise but still needs more liquid, then I switch it up to water.
What I love about these besides the many health benefits is that it’s so easy to mix up the flavors with different ingredients. You can sneak in a lot of different things into your diet with these. Just be creative and don’t be scared to mix it up.
I’ve told a bunch of people that I make these almost every day and most people say the same thing: “Isn’t a pain to take out and use and wash your blender everyday?!”. Seriously? No. You just rinse it out when you’re done, dry off all the parts and put it back in the cupboard. You’re not making anything in it that really needs to be soaped up and scrubbed out, so it’s literally like a 3-minute clean up.
I hope some of you try this because I can’t say enough good things about the health benefits here!
Go………..create something beautiful today!
-Heather