SLUUUUURRRP!
Way back when I started writing this blog, I came up with the idea of doing Sunday Morning Smoothies. I like smoothies for a quick breakfast treat, and by making them at home I can be sure of what goes into them. In addition to costing about $4 or $5 for a medium (and costing you 400 to 1,000 calories a pop), a lot of the coffee shop smoothies contain dyes, artificial flavors and fruit-flavored high fructose corn syrup. If I'm going to drink a 600 calories beverage, it better pack a pretty serious nutritional punch. And they just don't, usually.
These days there are healthier versions of smoothies on the market - Starbucks actually has a couple pretty healthy ones (made without any of the nasties you find at other places) that run less than 300 calories for a 24 ounce drink, and contain around 15 g protein, 6 g fiber and between 1.5 and 4.5g of fat. If you're making this a meal, that's not a bad choice!
But me? I'm cheap. And I like to photograph my food - they look at me weird when I do that at the coffee shop. And I've kind of developed my own little formula for making a smoothie. I always start out with plain yogurt and a half of a frozen banana. Then I add fruit, milk or juice, and if necessary a little sweetener. I also might throw in some ground flax, wheat germ or even some sort of nut butter for a little extra protein. Throw it all into a blender, push the button, pour and enjoy.
I'm going to try to keep up this Sunday Morning Smoothie trend. I kind of stick to the same things for breakfast during the week, so it's nice to treat yourself on the weekends. BUT, I'm not ready to go so far as to bake something or make French toast. I've been tracking like crazy over the past two weeks, getting in a little more exercise and I even joined Weight Watchers on Friday - I'm down 4.2 lbs. since January 1st and got my first reward yesterday when I tried on a pair of jeans I had not been able to fit into for the past five years...and they fit! And fit well, I might add.
Here's this week's Sunday Morning Smoothie - it's about 320 calories, but there's 10g of fiber and about 7g protein. Looking at it as a meal, that's pretty good!
PINEAPPLE BERRY BLAST SMOOTHIE:
1/2 medium banana, frozen and sliced
1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup blackberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup pineapple chunks, fresh or canned and drained
3/4 cup skim milk (give or take)
1 tbsp. ground flax
Blend, pour and enjoy!
Then, it's off to do some housework. I have a few extra chores this week because yesterday was arts and crafts day at our house.....
Sorry, Elsa!
5 comments:
Mmmmm, I love smoothies, and so do my kids! I make them as a treat, but really like you said they can be pretty darn healthy!
We usually make green smoothies by adding either spinach or kale(whatever we've got... I even tried arugula once...), but they sometimes are brown if there are too many red berries! My kids will still drink them anyway though so it works for me!
and poor kitty! was that you or the little one getting creative?
Thames, I'm going to try a spinach smoothie one of these days! I did make an avocado one from AR and it was quite good!
Speaking of green, that was my daughter...I actually has to wipe some handprints off the woodwork and her "pawprints" off the floor. You turn you head for one minutes.... ;)
That smoothie looks really good! I would have to make it any day other than Sunday because that's the day we throw all the health and diet rules out the window and have whatever we want for brunch. Today was deep fried french toast! I promise, we don't eat like that any other day of the week!
Congrats on your impressive weight loss! I've dropped some weight over the past few weeks due to the Swine flu, I hope to be able to keep losing it once I'm fully recovered and can get back to exercising.
Willoughby, glad to see you posting! I hope this means you're feeling better! I know, even though it's horrible to lose weight through illness, when you start feeling better you kind of want to use it to your advantage! Take care!
Yay for fitting into skinny jeans! The smoothie looks so good :)
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