Veggies for Breakfast: Green Smoothies

After living without a proper blender for upwards of 4years, I finally received one for Christmas from my  beloved brother and sister-in-law (and baby niece).  Now the word of smoothies is finally open to me (No longer shall I be held captive by Smoothie King andPlanet Smoothie).

My favorite new smoothies to make are green smoothies.  Green smoothies are pretty much just like regular smoothies but with the addition of green vegetables.  With the right balance of fruit to greens, it tastes pretty much just like a regular smoothie but you get all those lovely  vitamins and minerals that green veggies are high in! (High in vitamin C,vitamin E, vitamin K, fiber, iron, calcium, lutein, folate, carotenoids)

Here is my recipe:

1 cup almond milk

1 tbsp honey

1 banana

½ cup frozen peaches

1 cup fresh spinach (loosely packed J )

Blend and enjoy!

So far this is my favorite green smoothie.  Of course, you can use whatever you like, really. I’ve seen a few that have green tea and kale, so I might try that next.Well..maybe next week actually, because right now I’m stuck on peanut butter banana smoothies! (perhaps a future post…)

Tip: When making green smoothies, avoid darker colored fruits like berries because when they mix with the spinach your smoothie comes out brown.  It still tastes okay, but it is not particularly beautiful to look at. Besides, when it is brown I expect it to taste like chocolate and when it doesn’t I am sorely disappointed.

BY THE WAY...

You should go check out my friend Isaac's blog.  He just started it and it is going to be sort of like a manly version of my blog.  Click Here For The Link!

Overnight Oats = Easy Delicious Breakfast

I read food blogs from time to time, and I’ve been reading for a while now about this breakfast phenomenon called “Overnight Oats”.  Now, sometimes I catch trends a little late so forgive me if this is old news to you.  This is what I've been eating for breakfast all this week- I really like this! I love oatmeal but sometimes it's just too hot for oatmeal here in the peach state!

Basically, to make overnight oats you combine oats, milk, yogurt, and maybe some honey and dried fruit.  Then, you cover them up and pop them in the fridge overnight, add some fresh fruit in the morning, and there you go.  A delicious, nutritious breakfast all ready and waiting for you!

I’ve seen recipes that call for equal parts yogurt, oats, and milk.  I sort of like a higher oat to liquid ratio myself so my recipe has almost as much oats (as many oats?) as it does yogurt and milk combined. You can play with it, it’s not an exact science. Here’s what I did the other day:

I used microsoft publisher to make this.  That's right. PUBLISHER. Artists everywhere are cringing.

½ cup oats

1/4 cup lowfat vanilla yogurt (want to make your own yogurt? check out my old post HERE)

¼ cup unsweetened almond milk

A drizzle of honey

Sliced strawberries

Combine the first 4 ingredients; store covered in the fridge overnight. Add berries in the morning and then enjoy!

Of course, you could use whatever milk, yogurt, and fruit you fancied.  This is just what I had on this particular day.  I’ve used regular milk as well, I was just feeling almond-y that day.

Here are some other great recipes for overnight oats:

Overnight Oats at The Weekly Bite (I'm a big fan of The Weekly Bite)

Overnight Oats at Kath Eats Real Food

Tastes better than it looks, promise.