Morning Boost Smoothie!

For starters...I won't be doing a '5 on Friday' tomorrow. :( I will be in Arizona with Kevin picking up his grandpa to bring him back to Texas!  Please pray for our long drive back!

I've been drinking smoothies for breakfast for about 3 or 4 years now and I LOVE it!  I don't have a super fancy blender, but I've always been fine with what I have.  I started with a really cheap one in college and then an Oster that my dad bought me and honestly, it was great!  Now I have the Ninja NJ600 Professional Blender and it's been great!  I just wish it'd clean itself like a Vitamix!  I'm not sure I'll ever spend that much money on a blender though!

Here's the deal...I cannot drink the same smoothie every morning.  I need to change it up often so I've experimented with many recipes.  When I'm in a hurry, I just make an Advocare meal replacement shake.  I have the berry, vanilla, chocolate and chocolate mocha ones.  They're pretty filling and taste great, but I prefer to not spend that much money so I don't have one every day.

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite smoothie receipes with you!  It wakes me up and gives my body a ton of nutrients!

Morning Boost Smoothie

 

 

1/2 frozen banana

1/2 cup frozen grapes

1/2 avocado (peeled and seeded)

1 handful of fresh spinach

1 handful of fresh kale (remove stems)

2 tablespoons chia seeds or ground flax seed

1 1/2 cups chilled green tea (photo shown with almond milk instead)

1/2 lemon, juiced

agave nectar, if needed

ice, if you like a thicker smoothie

 

Blend all of the ingredients together in a blender to your preferred consistency.

 

Recipe adapted from Skinny Ms

 

This smoothie really does wake me up and gets me through the morning.  Let me know if you try it!  I hope you enjoy it!

 

And just for fun...here are my kale chips I had last night with shrimp for dinner...

 

 

I just cooked those on 300 degrees for 15 mins with a little extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt and pepper.

 

Have a great weekend!





Holiday recipes!

You know what?!  I totally forgot about some recipes that I used since I last posted!  I apologize!

I made two pies for Thanksgiving: Chocolate Chip Pie and a traditional Pumpkin Pie.

 

Chocolate Chip Pie

 

This pie was definitely a hit!  Everyone loved it.  I will say...I had some trouble with it.  It took waaaaaayyyyyy longer to bake than what the recipe says.  It may have been my fault though.  I ended up with 20 sticks of margarine after my wedding because of an error on my part so I used that instead of butter.  I think that was the mistake.  My pie was a bit more doughy than this picture looks but it still tasted great!

 

 

Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie

 

I made this traditional pumpkin pie and my husband and I loved it.  I just added a little nutmeg and the egg white of one more egg.  It baked perfectly!

 

 

Gingerbread Pancakes

 

A week after Thanksgiving, we had an ice storm and were stuck in our house for days.  I had a box of spice cake mix so I made these pancakes!  I didn't make gingerbread ones though...Kevin doesn't love gingerbread so I left the ginger out which made spice cake pancakes!  They were actually amazing!!  I also added some chocolate chips into them which was extra amazing!  I think I'll add the ginger in next time to see how it is!

 

This Thursday evening, we'll be hosting Kevin's work Christmas party so I plan to make a few desserts and dips then.  I'll let you know how they are!  More holiday recipes to come!