Acai Berry Smoothie

It's been a bit of a week around here for no good reason other than I feel like I'm making everything harder than it has to be. Going to bed too late has a lot to do with it, I bet. 

I did want to share this smoothie because I've been making one most days. It's the best smoothie yet, and I feel like I've done a lot of smoothies over the years. 

I spent years hunting down frozen acai berry mix in freezer sections of grocery stores; I was never really successful aside from buying actual Dole Acai Bowls, which are kind of expensive and that's not a sustainable habit. 

I saw this powder a few weeks ago. It's absolutely perfect. I don't really follow the directions on the package because I keep bananas peeled and frozen in freezer bags...it tells you to mix everything and then freeze to the consistency you want. 

1 frozen banana

2 T. acai powder mix

1/2 cup frozen mango OR strawberries (those are my favorites to use, but you can use any frozen fruit)

1 T. collagen powder

1 teaspoon maca powder

1 T. cacao nibs

Unsweetened almond milk + coconut water to blend

Trilogy seeds (hemp hearts, flax, chia) for the top (sometimes I blend these in)

Mix everything in a blender, adding more liquid if you need to. This makes enough for me, a small cup for Wells, and I usually put, still, half of glass of leftover in the fridge for Scott. This has been my go-to after-school snack lately.

I think proteinr powder would be a great addition, but I love the flavor of of the acai berry, so I wouldn't want to change the flavor with protein. If you have a very mild protein powder that you use, it would probably work.

2021's Smoothie Recipe

 

Smoothies are back!

I used to drink a protein/spinach smoothie every single morning on my way to work for about 18 months. 

While pregnant, I couldn't stomach the thought of a green smoothie; not because it made me sick, but because it was just gross. I've never been able to get back into protein powder, and I've definitely tried. 

So now, after trying out some Daily Harvest smoothies this fall (too expensive but very good, generally) and reading The Postnatal Depletion Cure (where the author talks a lot about nutrition), I've hopped back on the smoothie train. 

The best part is that Wells loves them. He eats them like ice cream with a spoon. It's a fun part of the day, sharing a giant smoothie.

Here's what I've been putting into them for the last two months.

Coconut water. For hydration and a little flavor.

Almond milk. To serve as a blending liquid but, really, does this have any other purpose? Does anyone actually *like* almond milk?

Dole Fruit Blends. These aren't super cheap, but they have a mixture in them, usually including something green. It's usually about $8-9 a bag and will last a week. Still cheaper than Daily Harvest!

Extra frozen fruit. Mango, pineapple, blueberries, or strawberries are my favorites to use to bulk it up. I don't like raspberries or blackberries.

Sometimes half a banana. I'm not a huge banana fan. 

Sometimes spinach. It depends.

Acai berry. Sometimes, if I have it. 

Maca powder.

Collagen.

Chia/flax/hemp hearts. We buy this Trilogy mix and I put it on oatmeal a lot. It's fantastic if you blend it into a smoothie. 

Anyway, I don't measure anything. 

I try to make it thicker, rather than thinner, because Wells does get more out of it when he eats it with a spoon. I used to try so hard to get him to drink smoothies and, as it turns out, he just doesn't like to drink them. 

What's your favorite smoothie recipe or ingredient? I'm really on board with adding in my supplements, like flavorless collagen, this way. 

Breakfast suggestions, please.

I've been told (repeatedly by doctors) that I need to eat a certain way in order to reap the benefits of feeling good and maintaining the best physical state for me. I know this. I mostly ignore it because I don't like it. It's science, though, and it's just something I don't want to do because it's unpleasant.

Because I've discovered (through the forcible prescription of a high-protein diet) that I operate better on high-protein, low-carb, it's something I need to get back in the swing of doing. You see, back in May and for part of June, I was more or less forced to eat protein and only protein. I did this through protein bars and protein shots and protein smoothies. It was more or less awful and I hated it. I haven't been able to look at a smoothie since.

Since I was medically allowed to quit that diet and go back to normal life, I've been all over the place. In addition, my skin has been all over the place (I'm working on some changes on this front too) and I feel like I can't make good choices anymore about what I'm supposed to eat and what I'm not supposed to eat. So it's been a carb-fest for the last six weeks. And we won't even talk about the literally hundreds of Sour Patch Kids I've consumed this summer.

My plan was to go back to what I've been doing for the last year and just strayed from recently:

Protein smoothies
Greek yogurt
Cheese sticks
Bars with a lot of protein
Etc.

The problem is arising in the fact that I drank a protein smoothie every day for almost an entire year, and now I can barely choke them down. I don't want to make them, I don't want to smell them, and I certainly don't want to drink them.

I need a new breakfast option, something high in protein and more or less easy. What do you eat for breakfast? Any suggestions? I don't do hardboiled eggs so that's always a roadblock when asking for this kind of advice.

Any help is appreciated!

My Current Protein Smoothie

I went to the doctor back in June and he encouraged me to change my diet. My diet isn't bad (really). When I told a friend about all of his recommendations, she was appalled because I "eat healthier than anyone" she knows. I don't know about that, but I try not to eat processed food. I won't claim a perfectly balanced diet. I don't love vegetables usually and I don't eat a lot of meat. I'm a carb person, through and through. Even if I'm not eating loaves of french bread for dinner, I eat a lot of carbs.

Carbs are in everything, by the way. I will say that I've cut some things COMPLETELY out of my diet since then (I'm an abstainer, not a moderator): tortilla chips, bread (aside from the occasional sandwich thin), pancakes, and oatmeal.

But cutting out all carbs seems...difficult.

In the spirit of adjustment, I'm incorporating more protein. This really means that my diet has gotten to be extremely boring. I'm not eating pancakes for dinner anymore. I eat the same general things each day now, but I feel amazing, so it's obviously worth it.

I'm not tracking this anywhere (I learned long ago that I'm too OCD to track calories...it's not a good habit for me to fall into), but I'm keeping count of protein grams each day. I was "encouraged" to keep a carb count too. This is hard for me, so I'm just focusing on getting enough protein and then, if I'm full, I won't be tempted to eat chips and salsa for dinner. That's what this comes down to: not eating chips and salsa for dinner.

This smoothie has 30 grams of protein. My goal each day is at least 60 grams because you're supposed to be between 50-75 grams of protein every day. While I knew this on some level, I never considered it before. Yes, bananas have carbs, but half a banana is probably good for you, right?

Protein Smoothie

1 scoop of protein powder (whey OR casein powder is 24 grams per scoop)
1 small frozen banana (or half of a large one)
1 T natural peanut butter or almond butter (6-8 grams protein)
1 cup milk (I've been using unsweetened cashew milk)

Blend it all up and enjoy!

I have issues in that I can't put peanut butter and spinach together...it's really weird to me. Sometimes I leave the nut butter out and put in spinach and frozen mango but the peanut butter version is tastier and it keeps me full longer.

Pineapple-Ginger Smoothie + Recipe Recap

Recipe challenge, week twenty-four.

I may be really reaching with this one.  I've said that I don't like smoothie recipes because I don't want to meet the person who needs to follow an exact recipe to make a smoothie.  It's just something you do.  You can't measure out a smoothie. Smoothies are about ingredients, not measurements.  Like, do you measure out ingredients for a milkshake?  Not really.  You just keep adding ice cream and milk until it blends up nicely.  Same with a smoothie.

So, this smoothie has our current favorite ingredients: pineapple, ginger, and coconut milk.  I put in spinach because it's necessary to eat green food and I use half of a banana instead of a whole banana.  It's really just that the banana gives it a good consistency and helps it blend together.  This smoothie is really all about the pineapple.  Sometimes I throw in some mango too.  I buy frozen fruit in bulk so then I always have ingredients on hand.

Ginger has anti-inflammatory properties and we really like the health benefits and flavor.  Once I started putting it into smoothies (I usually split a giant smoothie with Scott...when he's around), Scott requested it again and again.  Now, it's just habit.  I buy fresh ginger root and keep it in a Ziploc bag in the freezer (Rachael Ray taught me that) and just shave some off for smoothies, stir-fries, or even desserts.

Sorry this post is boring.  Let's recap what I've made so far this year!

1. Baked Crab Dip
2. Mint Oreo Ice Cream Cake
3. 30 Minute Leek and Potato Soup
4. Company Chili
5. Cookie Dough Ice Cream
6. Scott's Salmon
7. Homemade Marinara Sauce
8. Homemade Naan Pizza
9. Crockpot Chicken Curry
10.  Steak Fries
11. Sort of Homemade Chicken Stock
12. Carrot Cake Blondies
13. Crockpot BBQ Pulled Pork
14. Mint Oreo Rice Krispy Treats
15. Basil-Oregano Pesto
16. Italian Couscous
17. Limeaide Margaritas
18. Burrito Bowls
19. Sausage Breakfast Bake
20. Maple Donut Muffins
21. Pumpkin Pupcakes
22. Maple Scones
23. Fajita Quinoa

So for this smoothie...you will need:

Pineapple-Ginger Smoothie

Pineapple chunks
Mango chunks
Half a banana (or a whole one)
1 t. to 1 T. shaved ginger (depending on how much you like the flavor)
3-4 strawberries
1 cup baby spinach (or thereabouts)
Coconut milk (or almond milk or regular milk or...you get it)

Mix it all together in a blender until you get the consistency you like.  I use frozen fruit, but if you're using fresh fruit, I'd throw in a few ice cubes.

Healthiness: Green Smoothie with Flax

We all need a super smoothie recipe in our arsenal, right?   Here's my new favorite.

Blue Diamond should sponsor me at the rate we go through this stuff.

Protein powder, flax, xanthum gum

My new love is ground flax.  I put it in oatmeal, regular and baked.  It's great in muffins and banana bread too.

It definitely adds a nice nutty texture to green smoothies.  I highly recommend it.  I've also tried this with wheat germ, so that's an easy substitution if you don't have flax.

Green Smoothie with Flax
makes 2 big servings (that's not all of it in the glass above)

1/2 cup blueberries
1 banana, frozen and cut into chunks
Optional: 1/2 cup other frozen fruit (strawberries, peaches, mango, mixed…whatever you feel like)
1 T ground flax (We use Bob's Red Mill.)
1-2 T vanilla protein powder (I like the flavor you get from it…I'd use more if it was before or after a cardio workout.)
Pinch of xanthum gum
1 cup almond milk (We use regular unsweetened.)
2 cups fresh spinach
Water, if needed, to help blend it

Blend it up!

{I'm not blind: I know it looks gross.  But it tastes so fresh and is very filling.  If it wasn't so much work to clean the dumb blender, I'd probably make 2 a day.}