Breakfast Smoothies

When I started doing the Insanity workouts again, I started thinking about protein drinks, etc because Shaun T always says at the end of the workout, make sure you drink your recovery formula....aka Shakeology from team beach body....which is over $100 for 30 days I think, maybe it's 60 either way a lot of $$. Then I have been hearing success stories from Facebook friends about the Vi Shakes. I found the 30 day bag for $45 on Amazon, tried it once and wasn't much on the taste so I gave it to my co-worker who is having huge success and dedication to it!

Anyway I thought I would make my own breakfast smoothie packed with protein. So here is the recipe for the first one I made:

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

1 cup skim or 1% - I use 1% milk...I've come a long way from whole and just can't do skim yet
3/4 cup or 6 ounces non fat vanilla (or plain) yogurt
1/2 of a banana
A few strawberries, depending on the size

Put all ingredients in a blender, blend, pour and enjoy :)

Calories are about 230 ish I would say

I had this one for a couple days and ran out of yogurt (if you know where I live, the store is not close at all!) so I decided to use ice instead....fyi use LITTLE ICE - I found out it spreads...a lot...
Ice is not my favorite because it is more frothy to me, I prefer yogurt.

A couple days later I ran out of strawberries so I invented another smoothie and OMG is it good, I'm addicted! And I love it even more because I came up with it on my own!! It has more calories, but you should have a big breakfast because it's the most important meal of the day! Here is the recipe:

Chunky Monkey Smoothie

1 cup skim or 1% milk
3/4 cup or 6 ounces of nonfat vanilla or plain yogurt
1 banana (I slice mine up while adding it just to make it easier to blend)
1 package of Breakfast Essentials (chocolate) -I get the Rich Chocolate, Sugar Free
2 HEAPING tbsp of crunchy peanut butter - crunchy=chunky, love the chuncks of peanuts and I use JIF, you can use regular peanut butter if you prefer no chunk :)
                                                                     
Add all ingredients to blender, blend, pour and enjoy!

Calories:450 (you can lower it to 355 by only doing one tbsp of peanut butter)

This is more calories but it is packed with more protein because of the peanut butter which keeps me full during the morning at the office.

Here is a picture of the breakfast essentials incase you haven't seen it, it's packed with vitamins, calcium, protein, etc. The directions for this is to just mix with milk but it's soo good in a smoothie. I like to think of it as my "healhty chocolate" a packet has only 60 calories!
You can do all sorts of variety with smoothies, the possiblites are endless!!!

You need :

Base: Yogurt or Ice
Liquid: Juice (all kinds) or Milk
Fruit: any kind
Veggies??: you can always add spinach to any smoothie to get your greens in and fiber, I hear you cannot even taste it at all ( I plan to try this soon-I'll let you know).
Sweetners: you can use Splenda or even Honey
Add ins: peanut butter, breakfast essientials, etc

So after my Insanity workout, I make a smoothie and stick it in the freezer while I'm getting ready for work (about 30 minutes). It's the perfect cold temperature when I grab it on the way out the door for work.

Happy Friday, hope everyone has a great weekend! Mine is packed with fun and busy - like usual :)