Monday Morning Blast - aka Cinnabun & Coffee Smoothie

Okay, stay with me, alright? This is going to sound a little unconventional, so just bear with me for a minute.

I always have leftover coffee in the morning that I want to drink, but microwaving it is NOT always my first choice. I think about making a blended iced coffee, but then I feel like I should be blending a smoothie instead. So I just recently found an awesome new secret weapon in my world of making veggie smoothies... an AWESOME whey protein that has nearly no carbs and tastes incredible! ...I think it's better than even the shakes at the health clubs. Today, Hyvee had 10% off the health food section so I bought a bunch of different flavors of NNW 100% Healthy Whey protein powder because I loved the samples I had tried.

(samples- $1.97)

The kids have been LOVING these too. I thought the Cinnamon Bun sounded really good, so I thought I'd experiment.

(medium bags- $12 something)

Here's what you need:


coffee (I'm not sure how much I added, but maybe 12 oz? Cold coffee would be best) (10 cal)
1/2 frozen banana (50 cal)
big handful of kale, maybe 3 leaves, no stems (36 cal)
heaping tsp of flax seed (17 cal)
quick pour of liquid sugar free vanilla creamer (30 cal)
2 Tbs of Cinnamon Bun protein powder (50 cal)
2 splendas
Ice as desired
(less than 200 cal, roughly)

First blend the coffee, powder and flax seeds to pulverize them, there's benefits to this which I'll talk about further, but there are also benefits to eating them whole, so if you don't mind drinking the seeds whole, that's really okay too.
Then add the other ingredients and 6 cubes of ice, then add more ice until it's to your desired thickness.

This tasted like a cinnamon roll flavored coffee frappucino, SO good.

But here's why I really liked it, especially for a Monday...
I really need a super boost on those mornings, so the coffee is a great addition to my smoothie (two birds with one stone) the kale and the flax is an awesome way to sort of detox after a weekend of kids' birthday cakes and eating out for social stuff, which usually makes me feel pretty horrible by Sunday night. The kale is fantastic for digestion and the flax seed is amazing for taking care of your lower system after a rough weekend. (I'm trying to put this gently : ) You know what I mean. I didn't add any fruit besides the banana so the carbs are good and low. I only use 1/2 the serving suggestion on the protein powder package just because I think 1/2 is enough and the stuff is a little pricey, so I want to make it stretch. I saved a bit for my husband and he even liked it. Really, give it a shot, it's good! and really good for you!

Lunch Combo with Watermelon Smoothie

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been crazy busy with work plus the kids' camps and activities are all over now, so they're home 100% of the day. Be patient with me, blogging is a privilege for me.... I haven't read a book without pictures since before my 5 year old son was born, if that tells you what kind of "free time" I have with working full-time from home.

I just had this yummy lunch combo and had to share. You never know what might spark an idea for someone else : )

I typically eat lighter lunches since I have to cook pretty large dinners to fill my husband and son. (the ultimate bottomless pits!) We're having veggie lasagne and that will be pretty heavy for me. So, I made a smoothie, had low fat cottage cheese and a seedy crunch bar from the Wichita Farmer's Market last weekend. (it's filled with sesame seeds, coconut, pepitas, sunflower seeds, etc. probably brown sugar, not much holding it together)

The Watermelon Lime smoothie:

• 1 1/2 C. watermelon chunks (some seeds still in- these are actually good for you! plus my Blendtec pulverizes them)
• 1/3 frozen banana
• lime wedge with 1/2 the peel left on
• big handful of fresh spinach leaves (maybe 3/4-1 C?)
• a few blueberries 15-20

This came out more like an agua fresca than a thick smoothie because the only thing frozen was the banana, so I poured it into a frosty mug and added a few cubes of ice. I'm sure there's enough for nearly two mugs, I put the rest in the freezer until I finish this mug, then I might just drink the rest! I call it Watermelon Lime because that is mostly what I taste. Refreshing, summery-- yum-mee!

Hope this inspires you. If you have a great smoothie combo you've discovered, please share, I'd love to post it!

New Favorite Site for Recipes

I'm always looking for new smoothie recipes. I stumbled onto this site that has an "app" built into the web (you can also download for your iPhone/iPad here: Visit the App Store

http://greensmoothiesblog.com/recipes/index.php?view_page=categories

You can categorize by recipe, ingredient, or type of recipe by the navigational tools at the bottom. Check out these great webshots:






If you find a great recipe source, please share in the comments below! I would certainly love it if I could find one site that had them all!

Celery Smoothie!

....whaaa???? It's good. And this coming from the girl who has hated raw celery since I was born. I would hide it in my mouth and spit it in the toilet, bury it in my mother's house plants, conceal it in my napkin to throw it away... ANYTHING to avoid swallowing it! I don't mind it cooked in stuff, but it's one of only maybe two or three vegetables I cannot stomach. So when my daughter decided today that she had changed her mind and no longer liked it raw either, well, I couldn't really say too much. I had only bought it because the kids said they had it at camp and she liked it. Jack has never liked it either.

So I looked up celery as a keyword at the Vitamix recipe site and tried this one:
1 celery stalk (about 8 inches)
1/2 frozen banana
1 orange, peeled and quartered
3 baby carrots
1/3 C dried cranberries
1 C ice
(a bit modified from the original with more carrots than called for and dried cranberries since I didn't have fresh, and frozen banana, not raw)

It's good! Really didn't expect that. Perfect amount in my frozen mug. And even the kids liked it. Cheers!

Nectarine Smoothie

Today I had a yummy green nectarine smoothie with 1 fresh nectarine, 2/3 of a frozen banana, 3/4 cup almond milk, a fistful of spinach, pinch of cinnamon and just a quick squeeze of honey plus 3 ice cubes. It was refreshing and perked me up at lunchtime.

Tip of the day for good smoothies.... try to use a frozen mug to keep it cold and don't dilly-dally drinking it. It's sweetest at the beginning and flattens out as it oxidizes. I've read that it's great to chew it if you can because the saliva really helps to absorb the nutrients better when it hits your stomach. So I use large smoothie straws.

enjoy!