Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Summer Smoothies

I've recently become addicted to smoothies (much to everyone else in the house's disdain for the noise of the blender early in the morning).  It is a combination of the hot, humid weather here in Jersey and my daily reading of (never home)maker's blog.  This woman is incredible, 24 weeks pregnant and still staying active an healthy.  I wish I could currently run as much as she can now at 24 weeks, it is super impressive and inspiring.

Anyway, back to the main point of this post.  Last week her blog was all smoothies and what luck, I had already been making my typical smoothies and was looking for something different and filling.  So when I saw this recipe on (never home)maker's blog I knew I had to make it and boy was I happy I did.  It was DELICIOUS and FILLING.  

What is different from this than my normal summer smoothies? The addition of OATMEAL.  Why had I never thought to add that before?  It adds some great texture to the smoothie and thickens it at the same time.  This left me feeling full for much longer than my normal breakfasts and I've been adding it to most of my smoothies since then.  Also, I've never used almond milk before and I am so happy I did.  It adds just a little bit of sweetness to the smoothie and has a lot less calories than skim milk. Sweet!

I followed the recipe to the T the first time I made it and while delicious, my blender had a hard time processing it.  So the next time I changed the following measurements:

1/2 cup Greek yogurt to 1/4 cup
1/2 cup almond milk to 3/4 cup
1/2 cup rolled oats to 1/4 cup
3/4 cup frozen strawberries to 1 cup
1/2 cup ice <- I prefer measuring in cubes, I used 4 large cubes

I also made this smoothie with 1/2 cup frozen strawberries and 1/2 frozen blueberries.  While it was still delicious, I think the all strawberry smoothie tastes the best.  The longer you let a smoothie with blueberries sit, the more I feel the skins from the blueberries travel to the bottom which does not make for the most delicious ending to a smoothie.

Anyway, I highly suggest that if you like a cool, refreshing and filling breakfast that you try this smoothie!