Breakfast smoothie

January flew by in a whirlwind of post-holiday sickness, long days at work, and snow, lots of snow.  But I'm now ready to emerge from my brief period of blogger hibernation with pent-up recipes to share and some New Year's resolutions to follow through on. One of my resolutions? To add more variety to my diet. After eating bowls upon bowls of oatmeal for breakfast, I decided to change up my morning routine today with a fruit smoothie.  Smoothies are really fantastic, like eating a dessert you can actually feel good about. And the combinations are endless.  Here's one I threw together in a matter of minutes in my Magic Bullet.

Berry Banana Smoothie 

1 cup 1% milk

1/2 cup frozen mixed berries

1/2 one large banana

1 tsp honey

4-5 almonds

One key trick I learned from Gus's dad (Big Gus) is to use frozen bananas.  Freezing bananas at the peak of ripeness preserves their full flavor and sweetness. Plus the frozen texture gives the smoothie a milkshake-like consistency without using any ice or yogurt.

You can add variety in a number of ways.  Some basic mix-and-match suggestions are below, and links with yummy, inventive smoothie recipes to follow.

Mix-and-Match
Bases: soy, rice, almond, or chocolate milk; fruit juice
Textures: ice, yogurt, frozen yogurt, sherbert, peanut butter
Fruits/veggies: Anything goes, but you might try experimenting with grapes, passion fruit, guava, avocado, carrots, or kale for something a little more unconventional 
Fiber/nutrients: granola, nuts, oatmeal, wheat germ, ground flax, flax seed oil
Sweeteners: honey, molasses, maple syrup, vanilla extract, apple juice concentrate, fruit nectar
Flavors: ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, fresh mint, cocoa powder, chocolate syrup, coffee


Smoothie recipe links
SmoothieWeb.com: "the #1 smoothie recipe site," broad range includes recipes for alcoholic smoothies, each recipe is curated with additional information
SmoothiesRecipe.com: a huge database of smoothies, broken out by various categories with user ratings
AllSmoothieRecipes.com: cute blog with a broad yet not overwhelming selection. Includes recipes for celebration smoothies and feel better smoothies