Sunday, September 9, 2012

Quick Smoothies for Busy Mornings


I really like green smoothies and I think they are a FANTASTIC way to start the day and a nutritious addition to my diet.  Unfortunately, I have to be at work at 6am and have a 45-minute, one-way, commute.  This means that if I don't want to wake up at 3am, or spend $6 for a smoothie at a store, I have to be very efficient with my time in the mornings. 


Breakfast is very important to me and I NEVER skip breakfast.  For me, it's like a foundation to my day.  The few times I've skipped breakfast, I've paid for it with nausea and some pretty intense irritability.  Anyhoo, I wanted to start making green smoothies as a breakfast instead of a snack or something after dinner, but was concerned about the time to assemble, wash, cut, and put away all the different things I like to put in my smoothies.  Then I had a lightbulb moment: **light**  Why not take the time on Sunday to assemble my smoothies in separate containers?  That way, all I'd have to do in the morning is dump the container in the VitaMix, and be done.  I really felt like a genius at this point.  Not that I think that I'm the only one whose thought of this, but that I felt pretty smart for finding a great solution to my problem. 

So, I got out 5 containers along with all my smoothie-makin's and took about half an hour to get it all together and clean up after myself.  Here's a picture of the process:


In these smoothies, I was inspired by Katherine Natalia's Green Thickies.  I used spinach, collard greens, oranges, carrots, celery, a tad bit of broccoli, grapes, almonds, cooked quinoa, and flax.  First, I have to say that I think my veggie to fruit ratio was a bit off since these were very veggie-esque, even when blended with yogurt and orange juice.  I think I was a bit over-excited about how great this was going to be and how healthy I was going to feel.  Next time, I'm going to add more fruit. 

What worked out great is that when I came downstairs to make my breakfast, I dumped the container's contents into my VitaMix, added a bit of yogurt and juice or water, blend, pour, and enjoy.  I could even take it with my on my drive when I was REALLY running late.  So, all in all, I think this is another preparation that I'm going to add to my repertoire of things that make eating healthier easier. 



What do you do to make eating healthy easier and better fit your life?


Featured At:

Cherished Handmade TreasuresChicken Scratch NYI Gotta Try That




Shared At:  Make a Move Mondays, Meatless Mondays, Creative Corner Hop, This Week's Cravings, The Bulletin Board, Monday Mania, Make it Pretty Monday, My Meatless Mondays, Melt in Your Mouth Monday, I Gotta Try That, Frugal Tuesday Tips, Anti-Procrastination Tuesday, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Fat Tuesdays, Teach Me Tuesdays, Tempt my Tummy Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesdays, Show Me What Ya Got, Traditional Tuesdays, Slowly Natural, Healthy 2Day Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, Works for Me Wednesdays, Earning My Cape, Penny Pinching Party, What's Cooking Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Raising Homemakers, Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, DIY Thursdays, Thiriving on Thursdays, Tastetastic Thursday, Keep it Real Thursday, What's Cluckin", Homemaker by Choice, Foodie Friday, Little House in the Suburbs, Frugal Friday, Foodtastic Friday, Rattlebridge Farm, Friday Food Fights, Creative Thursday, Link It Up Thursday, Deep Roots at Home

25 comments:

  1. I love this idea, while I am blessed to be a stay at home mom, and homeschool my boys, I am not a morning person. You are a genius, I can just prepare all my ingredients the night before. Have you ever thought of adding chia seeds instead of flax seed, take a look at my for chia seeds.

    http://yourlife7.blogspot.com/2012/09/chia-seeds.html

    Followed you here from Creative Corner blog hop, new follower.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the idea, I'll have to try the chia seeds. I admire you for seeing your situation as a blessing. I am working to be able to stay home and homeschool, hopefully as early as next fall. :)

      Delete
  2. These look great! I think I"m going to have to put some together for my busy mornings. Might be able to sneak a few more veggies into my kids too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heck yes! My kids have no idea the amount of veggies they consume unknowingly... mwah ha ha!! I call it "stealth parenting" :)

      Delete
  3. You inspired me to go make a breakfast smoothie I've been meaning to try, thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Athena, thanks for visiting my blog It's Your Life. One thing about chia seeds is that they have no taste, but will enhance the flavor of what ever it is added to. Maybe once you try them in your smoothie you will share in a blog?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Groovy, so maybe my mistake was that I added them to something I didn't think tasted good. Since I enjoy the taste of smoothies, sounds like chia seeds would be a great addition. Definitely have to give it a try. :) Thanks!

      Delete
  5. Wow! That is so amazing and efficient. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. When I was a teacher and got up a 5am smoothies were the best breakfast you really don't want solid food at that time. Really healthy looking... thanks for sharing them on foodie friday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They really are fantastic for breakfast. And if you put protein in them, they will stay with you all morning. :)

      Delete
  7. I have been making and freezing my smoothies - http://calmhealthysexy.com/feel-calmer-and-be-healthier-in-the-morning-grab-and-go-breakfasts/ Your smoothies look very healthy - I need to give them a try.

    Found your lovely blog through the "I Gotta Try That" link party.

    Gaye

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great idea!!! (Yummy, too!)
    Thanks for sharing with my Super Link Party! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for linking up at what's cluckin! You had a top link, stop by tomorrow for your button!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Brilliant idea Athena! I love my daily green smoothies too, but never thought about assembling them ahead of time. Super simple, yet incredibly effective!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It has saved me sooo much time in the mornings! :) My only "hiccup" is that it doesn't work well for frozen fruit, so if I want to add that, i have to do it in the morning. :)

      Delete
  11. That is such a great idea! My kids love smoothies but they can be pretty time consuming in the morning. This is definitely a time saver!

    Thanks for linking up and sharing at Friday Food Fight!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My kids love smoothies too, little do they know they're eating veggies!.. mwah ha ha! :)

      Delete
  12. Perfect for my busy mornings. We love smoothies around here. Thanks so much for linking up to Creative Thursday. Can’t wait to see what you share this week! Have a wonderful week.
    Michelle

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Athena. Thank you so much for the mention and I'm really glad my Green Thickies inspired you. Now I have to say, you've inspired me! I often make my green thickies a day in advance to save time but this results in a loss of nutrients. I don't know why I've never actually thought of preparing all the ingredients the night before and just making them up first thing in the morning. Genius! I'm glad you're liking the quinoa option too. I have a very sweet tooth so like lots of fruit in my smoothies.
    You've really given me some good ideas now!
    Katherine

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It seems so simple, I don't know why I didn't think of it before. I don't like it when smoothies sit for more than a couple of hours, so this works out really great. I'm glad I could return the inspiration favor!! I love your thickies :)

      Delete

Thank you for your comment!

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...