Blueberry Muffin Smoothie

Well, it is the last working day in February. WOOT WOOT.. We had more snow on Wednesday and Thursday. It is also only 6 degrees today. Insane. I am wearing out my sweaters. I live in several layers of clothing...

If you were wondering, I still drink smoothies. I still look for smoothie recipes and I still LOVE my Vitamix. The best invention ever. Sometimes, I look back at all my posts from last year, Holy crazy girl. I still eat my overnight oats for breakfast, and eat my spinach salads for lunch. Smoothies are still fun. My Husband and I are on our yearly low carbohydrate diets. He is of course losing tons of weight and me.... pretty much nothing. That is why I did not give up my oats. They are so beneficial to me. He received P90x3 for Christmas. 30 minute workouts. It is condensed, but a power packed workout. I am mixing between P90x3, Piyo and Insanity. (I should really buy stock in Beachbody) I received a rowing machine for Christmas. Rowing is such a total body workout. I really love it. I also go to Crossfit twice a week. My core has leaned up and my muscles have developed more. It is a challenged. Yoga is still on my list. Once or twice a week..

This Blueberry Muffin smoothie is Delicious. My Husband and I were craving something sweet, but did not want to sabotage our hard work. This was so good. Blueberries are a super fruit and everything else is just the icing on the cake

Blueberry Muffin Smoothie
adapted from Jewel grocery store recipes

Ingredients
1 cup Almond Milk
1/2 cup Blueberries, fresh or frozen
2 tablespoons Whole Oats
2 tablespoons Cashew Butter
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 scoop Vanilla Protein Powder
ice

Directions
Add all ingredients into a high power blender and mix for 1-2 minutes, or until smooth. Add ice if you want to. Pour into a glass and drink up...

Just simple ingredients you can have in your pantry

I had forgotten how absolutely fabulous Cashew Butter is.

I did have a spoonful. OMG... sinfully delicious

I was liking the beautiful blue ~~ almost purple color

Coconut Overnight Oatmeal

So... Here I am ... strolling along, eating my same overnight oatmeal day after day.  I am happy, because it is yummy and does what I need it to do... BUT, I found another recipe... I have listed different flavors of overnight oatmeal on my blog and so has the rest of the blog community, but this recipe looked delicious. So, I opened my pantry and my frig, I was missing 1 or 2 things.. SO behold, I made a new recipe. IF and only IF you like coconut, these overnight oats are just amazing. The whole time I ate them this morning, I smiled. The flavor of coconut made me think of a warm tropical day. (ON a COLD Freezing day in January in Illinois) It was like eating oatmeal and pudding all on one happy spoon. I am trying to eat healthier and oatmeal fills me up for hours. THROW AWAY the Packets. They are gross. Make it yourself. This breakfast was loaded with all kinds of goodness. Totally happy.

Good morning.
The Oatmeal was smooth,
The Chia seeds were plump
and the Coconut flavor was throughtout

Coconut Overnight Oatmeal

Adapted from ME

Ingredients

1 cup Oatmeal

1 cup Coconut or Almond Milk

1 5-6 ounce container Coconut Yogurt

1 teaspoon Chia Seeds

1/4 cup shredded Coconut

Directions

In a container or jar, place oatmeal, chia seeds, yogurt, milk and coconut in that order. Stir thoroughly. Sprinkle with a topping of coconut on top and place in refrigerator overnight. In the morning stir and eat up.

5 easy ingredients. 

A great start for any next day breakfast

Add in your ingredients

Chia seeds are loaded with Omega 3's. 

Oatmeal is a healthy Fiber

and Yogurt contains Protein

I just like the look of delicious fun. I am very lame

It is already thick. The spoon is sitting on top

Topped with some coconut.
If you did not want it so thick, do not add the yogurt.
It was a much more filling meal with it in it. YOU decide..

Cranberry Smoothie

The diet is in another state...

I try to eat healthy everyday, but with the holidays come chocolate and sugar and butter and salt and and and ... I am still exercising, but I am barely maintaining. It is a huge losing battle. Over sized sweaters are becoming my new friend. They can camouflage anything. 

Since I love fresh cranberries, I decided to make a winter drink. It is a great way to get some protein and the benefits of cranberries. They are loaded with anti-oxidants. I really just love the fresh taste of them. I also made a loaf of cranberry nut bread. Should have posted that. It was just delicious.

The beautiful purple swirls of flavor

Cranberry Smoothie

designed by ME

Ingredients

1 cup Almond Milk

1 tablespoon of Vanilla Protein Powder

1 cup or so grated Cranberries

1 squirt of Agave Nectar

ICE

Directions

Place Almond milk and Protein powder in the high power blender. Mix. Add remaining ingredients and mix until blended. Because my Almond milk was sweetened, I needed less agave nectar. Suite to taste.

Raw goodness

How much easier can this get

This was a full glass of delicious flavors

If you wanted to strain, you could, BUT why..

Cherry Almond Overnight Oats

I should start the blog with a "goodnight". When I am done making this delicious breakfast at 12:30 at night, I am going to bed. The ready to eat pictures are my "good morning." Overnight Oats are delicious and so freaking easy. Throw away, in fact, DO NOT even buy that sugary over processed oatmeal packets. They are only a teensy bit easier than overnight. BUT.............. overnight oats are a 1000 times better. They are still real. So if you have fallen off your wagon, and need to hop on, this breakfast or snack will totally fill you up. There are prior posts about overnight oats, they are so healthy and filling. You will stay full until lunch. No vending machine breaks.

Good morning KIDS. 

I just went for a 4 mile run and I am sweaty. 

Pictures of the start to a great day.

WELL.... I am going to my day job. OK good day.

Just a disclaimer: Overnight oats can be heated up. I like them cold, but I think if I needed something warm inside me, these would be perfect.

Cherry Almond Overnight Oats

adapted from thecrepesofwrath.com

Ingredients

1 cup old fashioned oats

1 cup or 1 1/2 cups almond milk

1/2 cup dried cherries

1/4 cup slivered almonds

1 tablespoon chai seeds

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon Goji Berries

Directions

Layer in a glass, jar or container with lid.  mix together. cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, thoroughly stir, eat cold or warm up. Drizzle with honey if you want.

Just a few basic ingredients for something wonderful

Goji Berries are so good for you. 

They deserved a separate shot

Start by layering in all the ingredients

Once everything is added, stir well and put in the frig

Good  morning, you should really taste this.

This is how Oatmeal should be. 

This is not fattening, loaded with fiber and other goodness.

Let me know what you think. I really love it.

Green Peachy Cleanse

I am still drinking my green drinks, but I am starting to modify them. Granny Smith apple are a bit out of season and getting very expensive. SO.... move on to summer fruit. I can remember last winter (who could forget a Polar vortex), coming across recipes with summer fruits and melons. They are all my favorites, so let us commence with the summer recipes.

This recipe still has a green apple in it, but today was the last of the apples. It also contains a peach. I made this recipe twice, once with spinach and once without. (Believe it or not, the grocery shopper sometimes forgets her spinach.) Without the spinach, the color was slightly orange. With the spinach, all GREEN.

The peach gave the drink a bit of thickness. Full flavor. All the things I love

I am also working on drinking more Plain Water

Green Peachy Cleanse
adapted by ME
Ingredients

1 cup water
1 piece fresh ginger
1 peach, pitted and sliced
1 handful fresh spinach
1 green apple, cored and sliced
1 squirt Agave Nectar (Optional)

Directions
Place all ingredients in your Vitamix or high powered blender in the order listed. Blend until smooth.

My normal handful of fruits and veggies

My almost full blender. I just love this machine

This was such a good drink. 

The Peach really amp'd up the flavor

Green Orange Cleanse

I know, I know, I know.... I was super busy at Memorial day weekend, and last weekend I was all about no side jobs of any kind. I SO thoroughly enjoyed my weekend. A perfect weekend for hanging with friends and sun and fun. There was no baking at all.... and no writing. This week, I have been suffering from a horrible toothache. An old root canal and crown, got terribly infected. I went to the dentist, three prescriptions later and a referral to an Endodists, (expensive) and some soup and ice cream to solve my other problems, I am feeling better. The infection is draining (gross) and my gum is very sore. My teeth are becoming a huge hassle. I clean them better than anything and yet these problems continue on. Probably going to have to change dentists. SIGH>>>>>>>>

Ok, enough complaining. I do not want to read about it. So, since I am not eating salads this week, I have no lettuce in the house. SO, what to do. I tried just green apple, ginger, lime and avocado. Very good, thick and fun. But, as I stood in my refrigerator with the produce drawer open, I had a thought. ADD some carrots. I love carrots, (hard on my teeth currently) they are sweet and have a natural juice. Maybe I can save my eyes. Doubtful. Oh my goodness. Just delicious. I was wondering why I had not added them sooner. Have we heard that phrase before. Hmmmmmmmm

This drink does have one of those colors, that looks murky.

Green  -- orange -- kind of yellow. 

All I will say.... It was delicious

Green Orange Cleanse

made by ME

Ingredients

1 cup of water

1 green apple, cored

1 lime, juiced

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

1/2 avocado, peeled and pitted remove

2 dates, pits removed

1 piece of fresh ginger

Directions

Add all ingredients in the order listed above into the blender. Blend until very smooth. If you are drinking immediately, add some ice. 

Nothing crazy on the ingredients. 

I store the ginger in a zip lock bag in the frig, 

it stays good for a very long time

Just all rough chops. 

I cut the ends off the carrots. 

For me, it has been hard to find Medjool Dates. 

They taste really good. If you cannot find them, buy regular dates. 

The sweetness amps up this drink like you would not believe

I totally dig the avocado in this drink. Added a creamy layer, 

and just the right amount of thickness. 

I really like this drink. The carrots are fun.

AND fun is what summer is all about. 

Let me know what you think.

Green Cleanse - 9

I have FOUND IT..... I know, I like my green cleanse drinks. I am this freaky creature of habit. But I did something a bit different. THIS is the flavor I have wanted. I may never post another Green Cleanse drink. RIGHT.... until next week.

As we all know, I am a recipe junkie. I hope that someday, when I die, they will pass out my recipes... wait that is what the Internet is for.. I have read lately, that people are saying that Agave Nectar is just sugar. Well, it is and it is not. I am not even going to get into this debate. Crap, I used to use Splenda. I still like some Truvia once in a great while. I cannot bail out on the Agave. We are friends and I have a large bottle to use up first. Using Dates to sweeten and thicken shake and drinks have been part of my repertory for a while. So, I decided to give it a whirl. Why not. I liked everything I was adding to the drink anyway.

A lovely green color with a nice thick foam on top

YUMMY

Green Cleanse - 9 

adapted by ME

Ingredients

1 cup water

1/2 -1 fresh lime, juiced

1-2 cup fresh spinach

1 green apple, cored

4-5 dates

ICE - optional

Directions

Place all ingredients in the blender in the listed order, and blend until smooth 2-3 minutes.

I placed mine in the refrigerator overnight for a good chill, but you could drink immediately.

The Dates are the magical fruit that blow this drink out of the water

I always talk about "in the order listed", better for the blender

Looks fabulous on my table

I revamped my Easter centerpiece

I drank this for my late morning drink. 

Just what I needed. 

Strawberry Green Cleanse

I love green cleanse drinks. I drink them almost everyday. Definitely Monday - Friday. Weekends are always some kind of crazy for me. And this weekend will not be any different. I think the green thing is cleaning me out, and just giving me a great veggie - fruit kick. I feel full all day. My latest project is, I am making Kombucha. My Saturday morning yoga instructor gave me a starter with a Skoby. I am on my third batch. I have not quite perfected it yet. But, I am getting there. The MAJOR benefit to all of these drinks is, I am drinking more water type products. I feel fuller all day and I am helping my well being. The whole mental clarity thing is not happening, but some things just take longer..........

It is strawberry season around us. Or last week was Mother's day. Some dipped strawberries and and cool strawberry shortcake for customers. So what to do with all the left over strawberries. Let make a new drink.

This lovely tasting drink in a slightly pukey green color.

Strawberry Green Cleanse

designed by ME

Ingredients

1 cup water

1 cup cut strawberries

2 cups frisse, chou, kale mix (or Spinach)

1 green apple, cored and chopped

1 piece of fresh ginger

1 or 2 squirts of agave nectar

Directions

Place all ingredients in a high power blender in the order listed, blend until smooth. 2 minutes. Add ice if you want and refrigerate for the morning ride.

Just a couple of great ingredients
I like the Frisse, chou, kale mix. I cannot straight kale,
but this will work for me.

A couple of quick cuts and you are ready

Your piece of ginger can vary according to taste.
I LOVE Ginger

Lovely drink of nutritious goodness

No strawberry for decoration

PIna Colada Oatmeal Smoothie

Last night as I was making a Green Cleanse for today, I was thinking about something different for breakfast. If you choose not to blend the crap out of it, it can be an overnight Oatmeal. I made a drink. Even though I make all these drinks, I still like easy. Long drinks are not my style. Taking an hour just to drink your breakfast is not my style.

This smoothie just jumped out at me. Probably because it has been raining all week. We are at unseasonable cold weather. Will it ever get warm. Today is May, I have flowers, but I am not buying anything until is warms up significantly. My Mother is suppose to come home from Florida this weekend. She is just going to go into shock. It will feel like the Artic Circle to her.

Pina Colada Oatmeal Smoothie
slightly from oatgasm.blogspot.com
Ingredients
1/2 cup Almond or Coconut Milk
1 tablespoon Chia Seeds
1/2 cup Pineapple chucks and juice
1/2 cup Oatmeal
1 Banana
1 squirt Agave Nectar
3 tablespoons shredded coconut

Directions
The NIGHT BEFORE, Place milk and chia seeds in high power mixer. Let set for 5 minutes. Mix for a moment. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix on high for 2-3 minutes until smooth. Place in glass or cup and cover. Place in the refrigerator overnight.

** If you want a more oatmeal feel to this, DO NOT place the oatmeal in the blender. Mix the rest of the ingredients, when done, add your oatmeal. Stir until completely mixed in. **

In the morning, you can eat or drink this cold or warm in microwave to desired temperature.

Breakfast at work this morning.

This is an awesome way to start my day

These are all easy ingredients that I have on hand

Sorry, the Chia Seeds did not make the main photo...

I had my milk and pineapple in the Vitamix, waiting for seeds

The seeds are IN. I stirred them in so that they could start to thicken

I should have used a larger to go mug. 

Another story of my life.

 Oatmeal Smoothie, Green Cleanse, Kombucha.

I will post a recipe for my tea. Next week, my second batch will be ready

Including a large cup of Tea, this is the start of my morning.

Have a great day. Tell me what you think of the Oatmeal.