Smoothies!

Photo Credit: Caitlin

As suggested in my previous blog post, I have created two nutritious and delicious smoothies—okay so I may have gone a bit overboard and created more, so basically look forward to more smoothie posts! Smoothies are a quick and easy way to incorporate dairy, fruit and veggie servings into your diet. I also always make sure to add some ground flax seed to my smoothies to get the omega-3, fiber and antioxidant benefits that it provides (make sure it's ground to get these benefits!).

The first smoothie I made was a Green Fruit Smoothie. It has a bit more than one serving of dairy and two servings of fruit!

Green Fruit Smoothie

Photo Credit: Caitlin 

What you'll need...
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup greens
1 tbsp ground flax
3/4 fruit
1/2 banana

What you need to do...
Put it all into a blender of your choice, and blend!

Photo Credit: Caitlin

Because I'm lactose intolerant there is 1% lactose-free milk in the ingredient photo, but you can use whatever milk you prefer. You can use any frozen fruit you want, and any type of dark leafy green (I used a kale, spinach, and chard mixture). I also like to use Greek yogurt because it makes a smooth, creamy smoothie, but you can use any type of yogurt. I always make sure to use a plain low fat dairy to avoid unnecessary added sugars.

The next smoothie I made is more of a "treat" smoothie! It still gives you some fruit and dairy products, as well some protein from the peanut butter. While I would recommend drinking the green smoothie often, I would probably save this one for a "once in a while" occasion.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie

Photo Credit: Caitlin

What you'll need...
2/3 cup chocolate milk
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1 tbsp ground flax
1/2 tbsp peanut butter
1 banana

What you need to do...
Put it all into a blender of your choice, and blend!

Photo Credit: Caitlin

I chose to use a chocolate soy milk, but you can use any kind of chocolate milk. (Just as an aside, I bought this "Silk" brand of soy milk because it was on sale—I'm a poor student!—and it is not as tasty as the "So Good" brand, so I would recommend that one if you are in the market for a soy milk). This shake has a full serving of dairy and a full serving of fruit!

I really enjoyed this process—I especially enjoyed the taste testing and decorating the glasses—so expect many more recipes on this blog! A special thanks to my roommates for taste testing with me, and Caitlin for taking the lovely photos :)