Banana Berry Smoothie

I've been experimenting with different protein drinks/smoothies - trying to come up with something that I like, is good for me, and doesn't upset my delicate digestive system, LOL.

It had to be non-dairy, which also meant no whey protein powder.

That left me with rice, hemp, or pea protein powders. I've tried rice in the past - one word - ick. I wasn't thrilled about the hemp and pea powders either because their biological value isn't that great (that's how much of the protein can actually be utilized by the body). Then I discovered that the liquid egg whites that I use for my scrambled eggs are pasteurized and can be used in drinks! And they have a biological value of 1 - which means the body can use all of the protein; they don't leave a chalky taste in smoothies; and because they're already liquid, they mix well.

This is what I made today:

I really like it, so I'll share the recipe with you.

Banana Berry Smoothie

1/3 c. blueberries

1/3 c. strawberries

1/2 banana, mashed

1/4 c. "All Whites" liquid egg whites

1/3 c. water

1/3-1/2 c. almond milk

Add fruit and water to blender. Mix until fruit is pureed. Add liquid egg whites and almond milk. Mix until smooth.

My notes:

1. I bought fresh fruit and froze it to make the smoothie a bit thicker, but you don't have to freeze the fruit - you could add ice cubes instead.
2. I use Almond Breeze vanilla unsweetened almond milk
3. Please don't use raw egg whites! Use either a pasteurized liquid or powdered egg white product.

As closely as I can calculate, the nutritional info is as follows:
Calories - 142
Total fat - 1.5g
Sodium - 164 mg
Total carbs - 24.8g
Fiber - 4g
Protein - 8.3g

Enjoy!!

Healthy smoothie

I'm really trying to eat/drink better. I rarely drink pop - I'd say I never drink it, but occasionally I will have a little swig. I've even cut back on the Starbucks sweetened black tea! My latest obsession is water with lemon. Yep, that's it. It's so refreshing - and no calories, no carbs!

I've been looking for a recipe for some type of drink that I can use for breakfast or a snack. No dairy. I came across a recipe for a blueberry smoothie - from one of my favorite bloggers, Amanda at iammommy.

I made a few modifications because I didn't have frozen blueberries and also because I wanted to use my Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Machine to make the smoothie, LOL. So my version is as follows:

Blueberry Smoothie

1/2 large banana, peeled & sliced

2-3 kale leaves, removed from stems

1/2 c. baby spinach, stems removed

1/2 c. fresh blueberries

1/2 c. water

4-5 ice cubes

Blend in Frozen Concoction Machine until well-blended.

You can see the original blog post/recipe here.

The ingredients looked so pretty in the blender! All nice and green and leafy with a little splash of blueberry - very healthy!!

This certified organic red kale was STINKY!! I cleaned a bunch of it and left it in the colander on the counter - it made the whole kitchen smell bad. Ick. I don't know for sure about the taste because I really couldn't taste the kale or spinach in the smoothie. Which is a good thing.

Um, it was really, really ugly. It reminded me of barf. The color, not the taste. I recommend drinking it out of an opaque glass so you can't see the icky color. If you looked at the pictures on Amanda's blog, her smoothie was all pretty and blue/purple. I don't know why mine is swamp monster green/gray. Luckily, it tasted like blueberries and bananas and not swamp water.

I bet this would be good with strawberries in place of the blueberries, too!