Day 250 in 365

What's for breakfast? Smoothies

I’m not really what you would call a morning person. I like being up early, I just don’t like getting up early, and once I’m up it takes me a considerable amount of time, and at least one cup of coffee, to really find my feet. So on weekdays, when Jon needs to get out the door to work and our own morning subjects are calling us, we want breakfasts that are quick to make, and easy to clean up. 

For a long time that placed us securely on the cereal with milk and fruit team, but I always felt a measure of guilt about that. We avoided the traditional sugar cereals and I scoured nutrition labels to find the highest protein, lowest sugar options, but we were still starting the day heavy with carbs and were often hungry before the first hour was out. Various egg dishes solved those issues, but were more time and energy than we had on our busiest mornings. Then smoothie recipes started popping up on my Pinterest feed. Problem solved. 


Easy to make, quick to clean up, sugar free, high in protein, and surprisingly filling—smoothies, some of them at least, hit all my check points for breakfast necessities.

To speed up the breakfast routine, I assemble several smoothie bags that we keep in the freezer. On each bag I write the smoothie name, the ingredients that are in the bag, and the ingredients that need to be added (we wash and reuse the bags to cut down on waste). In the morning we add the liquid, the yogurt, and the bag contents to the blender. Breakfast!

 
To keep costs down we buy our frozen fruit, bananas, and spinach from Costco. Sometimes I buy overripe bananas from the regular grocery store.

Everything except the liquids and yogurt go in the bags. I slice the bananas to make things easier on the blender.

Clean up is as easy as running a squirt of soap and hot water in the blender, popping our glasses in the dishwasher. 

Our three favorite recipes:

Banana Bread Smoothie (adapted from Gimme Some Oven)
Servings: 3
In the bag:
2 1/2 bananas
1/2 cup oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
pinch salt
Added in the blender:
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cup plain Greek Yogurt (I use non-fat)
1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Breakfast Energy Smoothie (adapted from deliciouslysprinkled.com)
Servings: 3
In the bag:
2 cups mixed berries
1/2 cup oatmeal
2 handfuls spinach
Added in the blender:
2 cups good orange juice
1 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt (I use non-fat)
1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Blueberry Power Bowl (adapted from tastesbetterthanscratch.com)
Servings: 3
In the bag:
1 1/2 bananas
2 cups blueberries
3 handfuls spinach
1/2 cup oats
Added in the blender:
2 cups good orange juice
1 1/2 cups plain greek yogurt (I use non-fat)