My Special Smoothies

Today I'm going to share my special smoothie with you.  I drink one of these every night after I get off the treadmill.  Louie's been drinking one as well and I'll tell you, it's really cut down on our junk food snacking at night.

I make a blender full of smoothie and I have enough for a full glass each for Louie and I, as well as a Tervis drink cup that I stick in the refrigerator and Louie drinks the next morning for breakfast.  This is how much one blender full makes....

Let me first say that I am not endorsing any of the products I'm using.  I generally buy most of my ingredients in bulk at Costco and frankly, I usually buy whatever is cheapest. 

I start with 2 - 6 oz. containers of yogurt.  I favor banana, strawberry or vanilla but you can use whatever you want....

2 tablespoons of Flaxseed.  Flaxseed is really good for you and if you're not familiar with it, go read this.

I'm not much of one for measuring anything and I  just sort of eyeball it.  So I toss in 2 handfuls of oatmeal.  This is regular Quaker Oats oatmeal, not the instant oatmeal....

Do you eat kale?  I'll be honest, before now I never did.  But Tony was telling me how good it is for me and then my mom said she's been using it in her smoothies for a long time and she sent me this really interesting link.  Please take the time to go read it.  You will be amazed at all of the health benefits of kale.

I go to the store and buy 2 huge bunches of fresh kale.  I wash it really good, leaves and stems, and then just stuff it all in a plastic bag and stick it in the freezer.  When I need it for my smoothies I just grab 2 handfuls of frozen kale (remember, its not cooked) and toss it into the blender...

I also buy a giant container of fresh spinach and do the same thing - wash it good, stuff it into a bag and throw it in the freezer.  Grab 2 handfuls of the frozen spinach and add that to the blender also.  Stick with me, I promise you this is yummy.

Ok, now for the fruit.  You can use whatever you want.  We just happened to have bought a bag of frozen peaches and a bag of frozen blueberries.  But sometimes I use strawberries instead which I buy fresh when they're on sale and then wash and freeze.  Or bananas - as soon as they are ripe I break them into 3 or 4 chunks and freeze them too.  The other day I had some fresh mango and I tossed some of that into the smoothie instead of the peaches.  Use whatever you want.

But here I'm using 2 handfuls of blueberries.....

And 2 handfuls of peaches.....

Then I fill the blender with some fat free milk and blend it all real good...

And this is what you end up with!  Isn't that pretty?  The color will change a little depending on how much spinach and kale you use.  Sometimes it's more green. 

Now don't be turning up your nose at the spinach and kale.  I swear you won't even taste it and it's so good for you.  These smoothies are filling.  It takes me about 20 minutes to drink mine.  I don't gulp it down.  And Louie doesn't always eat breakfast, so he takes his Tervis cup with him when he leaves for work and drinks it in the truck. 

The point is - these are delicious.  They are filling.  They keep me from eating crap I shouldn't be eating.  And most importantly, I am eating a lot more fresh fruits and vegetables that I normally wouldn't be including in my diet.  You really might want to give these a try.

Hooking up with Sunny Simple Life and Obsessive and Creative.