So, if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you have probably seen my numerous pictures of my breakfast smoothies! I have been obsessed lately. It all started with Booster Juice (there’s one at my Uni campus), but paying almost $10 a drink was killing my budget, so I decided to just buy my own blender and make my own. I’ve had previous blenders, but I recently bought a single-serve blender by Hamilton Beach strictly for my smoothies. Best purchase I’ve made in a long time! It was around $20!! It is perfect because it is compact and easy to clean (granted, I only use it for smoothies.) I have it sitting on my kitchen counter and I use it almost everyday.

I have subbed in a super yummy smoothy every morning instead of a coffee (yay!). It gives me so much energy, keeps me feeling full (I hate feeling hungry an hour after you eat breakfast), and it contains so many fruits, fibre & vitamins. I don’t think I’ll be getting tired of this anytime soon!

Smoothie Tips:

• Freeze your own fruit – When my bananas (or any fruit, really) get a little too ripe, I cut them up and put them in freezer bags for the freezer. That way, they are ready whenever I need them. This is also a great way to save those too-ripe strawberries that you haven’t eaten.
• Have your smoothie ingredients handy – I have my smoothie tools (including the blender) on my kitchen counter and ingredients in my fridge, ready each morning. This saves me so much time – I never have to rustle around looking for where I put my flax seeds, etc.
• Experiment! You can literally put whatever you want in your smoothie. Don’t be afraid to experiment and throw in whatever you feel like! Use different types of fruit (my favourites are blackberries, avocado & papaya (new fave)), or different types of milk or juice (almond milk, soy, pomegranite juice, & coconut water). I’m going to start experimenting with green smoothies soon! You got any good tips for that? Share them, please!

How To Make Maria’s Smoothies:

Put in blender in this order:

• Frozen milk or juice (I put this in an ice cube tray the night before in place of ice cubes. I don’t like watery smoothies! You can use different types for this if you’d like: soy milk, almond, chocolate almond milk (that’s what I used for the banana-chocolate up there.))
• Frozen banana (I use half every morning – this makes the smoothie super creamy)
• Fruit(s) of your choice! (but be sure to cut them up into smaller pieces to help your blender)
• 1 Tbsp of ground flax seed
• Low-fat Greek yogurt with honey (I like this because it is a little sweet and tart.) I use about 2-3 big scoops with my tablespoon, but see what you prefer. Experiment with different flavours of yogurt! I prefer Greek yogurt over regular yogurt because it is high in protein. Perfect for breakfast.
• Cold milk  (cover about half of the ingredients in your blender)
• Pulse your blender until it becomes uniform in colour – usually 4-5 pulses, and then just blend until it’s totally smooth. Taste to see if you want to add anything else and that’s it! You’re done!

Try making this one morning and see what you think! I bet you’ll want to keep making them and trying out different flavours! I’m beginning to have a pretty good list of smoothie recipes I’ve tried and loved. (Shall I do a favourite smoothie recipes post?)

The one above is the ‘basic’ and very flexible for experimenting. If you have a killer smoothie recipe, please let me know! I want to try your favourite :)