Smoothies

We've been having smoothies for breakfast every weekday for quite some time now.  They are so good and provide a healthy amount of fruit and/or vegetables to start the day.    Here's what I typically use:

Bananas
Frozen berries
Frozen mango or other mixed fruit
Spinach (frozen or fresh)
Yogurt
Juice

In a week we will go through about a 32 oz container of yogurt, 1/2 bag (or so) of spinach, 5-8 bananas, about 3 pounds of frozen fruit, and about 1/4 gallon of juice.

I start with the yogurt, banana(s), and spinach.  Add juice and frozen berries while blending.  Usually add some ice cubes too.

Those nights that I'm thinking ahead I'll put this in the blender and stick it in the fridge for the night.

This makes 2 medium/large smoothies for Rob and I and a small for Avery.

I've also added tomatoes, avocado, oranges, apples, pears, grapes.  Basically anything that is in need of being used, is on sale, etc.  I know there are other great add-ins like flaxseed, oatmeal, etc. but I haven't experimented with those yet.  If you're really watching calories and/or sugar you could omit the juice and sub milk (soy, coconut) or even water.

This takes about 7-10 minutes to make in the morning.  It might take a little less time if I didn't  *ahem* have a helper who insists on controlling the buttons, adding one berry at a time, trying to run away with the banana, and so on.

I've been getting pretty much all my ingredients at Aldi for a while.  You simply can't beat their prices on frozen and fresh fruit.

For example, last week I got:

Bag of spinach .79

Bananas     1.00

2 lb frozen mango  3.29

1 lb frozen mixed berries 3.00

1 lb frozen blueberries 2.50

Yogurt  2.00 

(I didn't need any juice and I didn't use all the blueberries)

=

$13.00/5 days=$2.70/day for 2.5 smoothies/day=a little over $1/smoothie

Not a bad price! Certainly beats Jamba Juice or Smoothie King!  Also convenient and easy to drink on the way to work.