Smoothies! Smoothies! Smoothies!
Merry Christmas to me…
For Christmas, my parents bought me a Vitamix. If you have one of these babies…you know how I feel right now.
I never knew how much I needed/wanted/desired/craved/adored a blender until this little gem made its way into my kitchen. Yes, they’re very expensive (which is why I never bought one for myself) but now after using mine every single day for almost a month, I can testify that they are absolutely amazing. They’re unlike any blender you’ve ever had before. People…this thing can make everything from ice cream to hot soup. Yes! It has a freezing and a heating mechanism! And the best part, it self cleans.
Yes. That’s right. Self cleans.
As in…you hit a button and it cleans itself. No hand washing or dish washing. Ever.
If my house catches on fire, you will find me across the street holding my children in one arm and my Vitamix in the other (hopefully, Andrew will remember to get the dog…).
Every morning when I make my smoothie, I have been snapping quick little picture and jotting down the ingredients. From time to time, I will post my little concoctions here for you guys to make too. Since it’s 6:15 am on these days, these aren’t fab photos, they’re quick i-Phone pics…so be warned.
I’m totally loving the smoothies right now!
I add a lot of ice to my smoothies because I like them really cold and the consistency of a milk shake. But if you want your smoothie to be more like a liquid you could drink through a straw, eliminate the ice or just add a piece or two. Other tips at the bottom!
Layer 1 scoop of Vanilla Whey Protein, 1 handful of spinach, 1/2 a frozen banana, 1 handful of blueberries, 1 Granny Smith Apple (cut into 4 chunks without seeds), a big splash of almond milk and a cup of ice. Blend.
This one was so good that I drank half before remembering to take a picture :). It’s one scoop of Chocolate Whey Protein, 1 heaping tablespoon almond butter, 1/2 a frozen banana, a big splash of almond milk and a cup of ice. Blend.
1 cup of frozen blackberries, 1 frozen banana, a big splash of almond milk and ice. Blend.
1/2 cup fresh pineapple, 4 big slices of cucumber, 1 celery stalk, 1/2 a frozen banana, a big splash of almond milk and ice. Blend.
4 slices of cucumber, 1 stalk of celery, 1/2 cup pineapple, 1/2 cup frozen coconut, a big splash of almond milk, and ice. Blend.
1 scoop of Vanilla Whey Protein, 1/2 cup of frozen blackberries, 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries, 1/2 a frozen banana, one big handful of spinach, a big splash of almond milk and ice. Blend.
I like adding a big scoop of Whey Protein (found at GNC, Vitamin Shoppe and other places like that) to my smoothies because it adds great flavor and wonderful protein. However, sometimes, I’ll eat a piece of toast with almond butter and have a veggie smoothie on the side instead.
Freezing bananas is a great way to keep them for longer periods of time! When I get home from the grocery store, I cut each banana I have in half and place it on a parchment paper lined baking sheet in my freezer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, I put all of the frozen banana halves in a big freezer bag and keep them in the freezer all week for smoothie making. They last up to two weeks in the fridge!
Frozen and fresh fruit work well in smoothies. Some fruit like blackberries are just staples in my freezer while others like strawberries and pineapple are staples in my fridge. Mix and match them according to what your family will eat. I love, love, love frozen coconut! It’s right there in your freezer section at the grocery store.
I really don’t eat a lot of dairy. And if I’m going to have some…I want it in my latte or as cheese on my supper…so when making smoothies I use almond or coconut milk instead. Both are delicious! They both come flavored (chocolate, vanilla, etc) but I find that the basic unflavored versions works best for smoothies because it doesn’t compete with the other flavors.
Let me know what you like to throw in your smoothies! I would love to know!!
Happy drinking!
Love this post! Have to try them all! My go to is spinach or kale, frozen banana and pineapple, lemon juice, cucumber, coconut water or almond milk (whichever I have)! So good!
The fact that it cleans itself! So amazing!!!
These look amazing! What brand of Whey Protein do you use? I need to find one that does not taste chalky! 🙂
This sounds amazing – it's really made us want to get making some healthy smoothies for the summer!
Eve & Faye x
Sugar Spun Sisters – A blog about cosmetics, clothes & coeliac disease
Do you drink this as breakfast?
I'm new to the whole smoothie, but would love to add them in our diet. If having one in the morning, is this your whole breakfast?
Love your blog even more now! I can't wait to try the frozen coconut! I got my Vitamix a year ago and it’s worth every penny! Thanks, Shay!
Ooooooh! SO FUN! I LOVE using frozen mangos!
Rereading your recipes and want to know if you freeze the bananas peeled or unpeeled?
Unpeeled : ). The peel is hard to get off once frozen. Learned the hard way. Ha!
Peeled : ). Getting the peel off a frozen banana is not easy…or fun. Learned the hard way. Ha!
Love our Vitamix! We've had ours for 3 years and I can honestly say, it's the most used appliance in our kitchen!
Our grocery store sells the beat up/brown bananas in a huge bag on Saturday & Sunday mornings for 89 cents. It's perfect because it doesn't matter how brown they are for a smoothie. I simply peel them and throw them in a ziplock bag (I skip the pre-freezing) and they last for at least a month in the freezer!
My standard smoothie is frozen banana, strawberries, mixed berries, pineapple, kale, & almond milk. When we're hungry for ice cream, we take 2-3 frozen bananas and blend them with almond milk and a tablespoon or so of maple syrup. YUMMY!
Thanks for the wonderful ideas.
I want one!! I do have a ninja. I've only ever made strawberry banana smoothies with it. I should try some of these and see how the ninja does!
I have a smoothie almost every morning. (From my Ninja blender…I REALLY WANT a Vitamix!) I always do a scoop of vanilla whey protein powder, ususally alongside 1/2 frozen banana, handful of spinach & up to a cup of almond milk. Sometimes I add 1/2 cup greek yogurt in there. Recently I have also been adding 1 cup of coffee to the mix and I enjoy it. Cheers from VA! 🙂
I have a green smoothie most mornings (love them!). My go to is a banana, granny smith apple, kale spinach and chard mix, chia seeds, frozen mango & water. It makes two smoothies and either my husband drinks the other or I save it for the next day. I'll have to branch out and try some of these!
I have a green smoothie most mornings (love them!). My go to is a banana, granny smith apple, kale spinach and chard mix, chia seeds, frozen mango & water. It makes two smoothies and either my husband drinks the other or I save it for the next day. I'll have to branch out and try some of these!
We are smoothie fanatics over here too. We have a Blendtec though (absolutely amazing for those who want a slightly cheaper blender…very smooth shakes). I have these on my blog, but here is one of my favorites – PB Banana Smoothie:
-1/2-1 scoop vanilla Whey protein powder
-1/2 cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
-1/2 cup milk
-1 fresh banana (or frozen)
-1 tbsp ground flaxseed (optional)
-a few ice cubes
-1 Tbsp PB2 (it's a healthy substitute for peanut butter, comes in powder form). I can only find it at Market Street. Of course you can use peanut butter instead.
I LOVE adding Greek yogurt to my smoothies…it gives it a creamy texture!
For my strawberry/banana smoothie I use this same concoction, but use OJ instead of milk and strawberries instead of PB2.
Thanks for these recipes, I'll have to try them!
I've been doing smoothies for breakfast for years and I love them! And they're very convenient to drink on my way to work in my car. 🙂 I'm lactose-intolerant and have acid reflux 🙁 so I can't use whey protein (most have lactose even if they say they're dairy-free) and I can't use pineapple. I use to juice pineapples every week and use the juice in my smoothies. Now I use almond milk and either peanut butter or almond butter for protein. I'd like to find a good lactose-free protein. My favorite smoothie has banana, spinach, fresh strawberries, almond milk, ice, and flax or chia seed.
I have a question about the Chocolate Almond Butter smoothie. Is 1/2 cup correct? A 1/2 cup of almond butter has about 750 calories in it! Thank you!
Yumm!! I totally need a vitamix. My favorite smoothie is Cherry Almond: 1 cup each of almond milk, Greek yogurt, and frozen dark sweet cherries plus a teaspoon of almond extract and tablespoon of agave or honey!
I am curious to know…how is the taste of the smoothies? Really curious on this since I am not a veggie smoothie drinker. It sounds like the spinach and cucumbers would not taste that good although the almond milk and coconut added in would neutralize the taste. Curious about your candid opinions on this.
Thanks!
I LOVE my vitamix! It was a birthday gift last year, but after using it every day I would totally spend the money on it myself. One of my favorite smoothies (aside from the classics) is cantoloupe, pineapple/banana and pomegranate seeds. I also make sunflower seed butter in it and it's really yummy with a bit of coconut oil/honey. Have fun!
Shay, Can you talk more about the self-cleaning function? What happens to the Vitamix after you hit the button? How does it clean itself?! We're likely going to add a Vitamix to our registry, and I would love to know more about this function. Having to wash the blender is usually what deters me from making my morning smoothie when I'm feeling lazy. Thanks!
Love the Vitamix. No other blender even comes close! Just as an FYI, I saw your comment about trying to avoid dairy. Whole Foods have some vegan protein powders as opposed to using whey protein, which are really good. They are hemp or quinoa/veggie based and blend well in a Vitamix. Thought you might want to check them out.
Wow! You guys are in to your smoothies!
First of all, yes! Everything tastes fantastic! Love it all!
Second, we buy our protein at GNC, Vitamin Shoppe and such.
Third, yes, I add a big ole scoop of almond butter to my smoothie. I don't count calories. I pay attention to sugar and protein more than anything. Just reduce the amount if that's too much for you!
Thanks for the ideas and suggestions!! Keep them coming!
Love my smoothies: 1 cup of fruit (whatever you want), splash of OJ, 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt, 1/2 banana, 1 C of Spinach, and 1T of Chia seeds. fills me up and I don't get hungry until lunchtime!
Do you use chia seeds? Great addition to anything.
Thanks for the great recipe ideas! Which one is your favorite?
I've been making green smoothies for years and years but the Vitamix changed everything. It makes them so smooth!
I'm not a fan of "milk" (dairy or otherwise) with my green smoothies so my combo includes:
Fresh spinach (that I keep in the freezer), frozen berries, chia seeds, scoop of vanilla protein powder, an apple, and some carrots for sweetness.
This week I removed the protein powder and added fresh ginger, kale, a half a lemon, and some cucumber. Life changing! It made it so bright and yummy.
Oh, and a splash of water. Instead of ice, I just uses frozen fruit and spinach.
I just made a smoothie today with…
spinach
kale
frozen pineapple, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries
orange juice
greek yogurt
and topped it off with some flax seeds
yummy!
My daily smoothie consists of cucumber, kale, apple, frozen mango, banana, a little bit of almond milk, and water.
Hi Shay,
I love your blogs (all of them). Thanks for the smoothie recipes!
Do you ever juice?
Also I'd love if it if you did a blog post about what you eat and drink on a normal day as I am always looking for healthy ideas for myself!
oh I just love your blog!
Thinking about your other blogs too – was wondering if you have pregnancy tips (how did you survive, must haves, keeping those stretch marks at bay, etc.) or even parenting tips for babies too.
Thank you so much for all your posts !
I've just become enamored with the idea of smoothies in the morning, and hope to buy a blender soon. The fact that you told me this one can clean itself pretty much sold it to me. Birthday wish list! <3
blushingbiddies.com
Oh I'm so glad for this post! I love my VitaMix too. Smoothies are what I use it mostly for. I feel like I sometimes get stuck in a rut so it's nice to see others' smoothie recipe combos! Thanks!
Why do you use almond milk over, let's say, skim?
Yummy! My favorite smoothie is :
1 cup of spinach and/or kale
a handful of frozen mango chunks (buy them at Trader Joe's)
frozen banana
1/2 an avocado
1/2 cup coconut milk
up to 1/4 c water, if needed
Ice, if desired
I keep almost all my ingredients frozen, except for the coconut milk. Everything lasts longer and it's just as good. For that reason, I never add ice to mine.
I don't use skim milk because I try and limit my dairy. I notice that I feel better with less dairy (that's just me).
I need one of these! I also like to limit my dairy so I use unsweetened coconut almond milk by blue diamond! Great in coffee! I'm a chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie lover so I use light chocolate silk, yum! My wimpy blender can't handle a giant frozen banana so I slice it up before I freeze and that works fabulously! 🙂
I'm assuming that you don't peel the bananas before freezing?
I do peel the bananas first! Then you'll just pop your frozen banana half in the blender when you're ready to go!
Thanks Shay.
These look so yummy! And this post was originally posted on my birthday hahah. Just wondering, is there an alternative to using the whey protein? Like another fruit or something to substitute it with on some days? I can't wait to try these out! 🙂 thanks for sharing! xo Dani