Super Smoothie

Smoothies seem to be all the rage right now in this months Eating Well there is an article by  Brierley Wright, about the great benefits of Smoothies read it here.  I have been playing around with smoothies for the last couple months including trying my first with spinach.  Yes the green leafy salad stuff.  If made correctly you can not even taste the spinach.  This week I tried the Iowa Girl Eats Green Monster Spinach Smoothie I LOVED it and so did my lil boys. To quote her " It dose not taste healthy at all!" This morning I was out of spinach so I looked to the next best superfood to replace it with Kale.  In order to mask the green so the lil boys would eat it and boost the superness of it I added blueberries then tossed in some chia seeds for extra vitamins.  Yup chia seeds the same ones that grow in clay pots that look like sheep or human heads.  Someone somewhere decided to take a look them and see if they were nutritious and guess what they are loaded with good things check out an article about them from Eating Well.  


1/2 c vanilla yogurt
In a blender pour in yogurt and milk the add banana in chunks then blueberries kale chia seeds and ice blend on high until smooth stopping scrape the sides down once or twice.

1/2 c milk
1 banana
1/4 c blueberries fresh or frozen
1 c kale rinsed and torn in to small peices
1/2 tsp chia seeds
6 oz crushed ice

 In this nutrition facts I used Yoplait French Vanilla yogurt and whole milk because that is what I had on hand.  You could easily make with almond milk and greek yogurt for a lower fat and calorie count. 

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 655 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 314 Calories from Fat 42

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 4.7g 7%

Saturated Fat 2.3g 11%

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 15mg 5%

Sodium 129mg 5%

Total Carbohydrates 63.1g 21%

Dietary Fiber 5.6g 22%

Sugars 36.3g

Protein 10.5g

Vitamin A 215% • Vitamin C 156% Calcium 23% • Iron 11%

Nutrition Grade A

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Nutritional Analysis

Good points

• Low in cholesterol
• Low in sodium
• High in manganese
• Very high in vitamin A
• Very high in vitamin B6
• Very high in vitamin B12
• Very high in vitamin C

Better Choices

So last night I whipped up this tasty smoothie to curb my sweet tooth. My lil guy loved it too. Is it the healthiest smoothie ever? Probably not but it was a healthier choice the eating an entire bag of oreos. Not that I am anti oreo in fact I love them! Maybe a little too much. Give it a whirl or tweak it your own way.

Blueberry Banana Smoothie
1/2c vanilla yogurt
1/4c milk
1/4c frozen blueberries
1 frozen banana pre cut in to smaller pieces
1 tbl honey or less
In a blender add milk yogurt blueberries and banana. Top with cover and whip on high or smoothie setting if you have one until all is mixed. Turn off remove lid and taste add honey if needed. Serve immediately