My kids love smoothies so I'm always looking for something new, healthy and kid friendly. We love the balance of OJ, strawberry and creamy, vanilly goodness that is in this Sunrise smoothie.
I was inspired by this delicious Skinny Strawberry Orange Julius from Classy Clutter. We just adjusted it for our taste. If it's just for the kids, I will swap out the water for more milk because neither of them drinks enough milk.
On a side note, I have issues with drinking waaaay to much smoothie because they are soooo good. To work on my portion control, I've started serving up my smoothies in my kid's Take N Toss cups with the straws. It may sound cheesy, but they hold the perfect amount for a snack sized smoothie or for when you want to have a smoothie WITH breakfast and not INSTEAD of breakfast. This recipe makes enough for three of those cups or 2 regular sized smoothies.
In blender layer:
6 ice cubes
(mine are moon shaped for reference)
1/2 c. frozen strawberries (heaping)
2/3 c. milk
1/2 c. water
3 Tbsp. frozen OJ concentrate
1 tsp. vanilla
Stevia to taste (I started with about 2 Tbsp and added another after tasting.)
Blend until smooth and frothy. Add additional sweetener if needed. Serves 2.
Fall and winter are my favorite seasons, mainly because I love bundling up in layers of clothes and blankets, sipping steaming hot beverages from my favorite mug and cuddling with my boys.
This winter I wanted to make my home more visitor friendly which isn't easy when you have a 3 year old with cabin fever running loose. However, a quick Pinterest search led me to find some simple hot chocolate bars/stations.
My little brain started churning... what about a winter drink station where you could have something for everyone? Since I had been craving spiced Russian tea (recipe below), I knew I wanted to incorporate that. Hot chocolate was a no brainer, but I decided to use packets for simplicity. For holiday parties, we definitely needed to add coffee.
I liked the idea of the tiered storage because it kept from cluttering up my counter top and felt more organized. I've had that basket thing for years and it finally has a good use!
The hardest part was figuring out what to use to store all of the mix-ins. I needed something with a lid that didn't cost a lot, so when I saw a box of a dozen Wal-mart brand jelly jars for only $8, I was sold. Now I could keep my station set up all winter.
The mix-ins that I used were marshmallows, crushed candy canes, chocolate chips, cinnamon sticks and coffee creamers. You could use all kinds of things. You might be surprised at what you already have around the house that you could use... caramels, Hershey kisses, white chocolate chips or cinnamon.
I finished it off with a little wire basket from Wal-mart to old my hot chocolate packets, a thermos that I can quickly fill with hot water whenever we have company, a super cute sign that I got for free here and my coffee pot. If you have a Keurig or something similar, you could skip the packets and the coffee maker.
And the recipe for the Russian tea. I tried several variations of this recipe before finally settling on this one. I like it sweet and orangy so this was perfect. I am completely addicted to this so I trimmed back a few calories by making a few sugar free substitutions.
The last 2 months have been extremely challenging for me both physically and emotionally. Because of this, I allowed my diet and exercise regime to slack off quite a bit. OK, I basically threw it out the window and feels as though my body has turned into an exhausted pile of mush.
After polishing off the last of the donuts yesterday, I put together a healthy eating plan for this week. You know how once you eat a donut for breakfast, the idea of eating healthy for the rest of the day is thrown out the window? Therefore, I ate the donuts for the sake of my diet. It was a win-win.
Anyway, to start out the week the kiddo and I made Tropical Oatmeal Smoothies inspired by this recipe on AllRecipes.com. We opted for the tropical fruit mix that we had in the freezer with pineapples, strawberries and mangos. You could use whatever fruit blend you have on hand. Adding the coconut extract gave it that extra bit of island flare.
Now I realize that oatmeal may seem like a weird ingredient and yes you do taste it in the background, but it adds extra thickness to the smoothie. I don't know about you, but I like my smoothies thick so that they take longer to enjoy. You also get the added benefit of more fiber.
My 2 year old was running around the house saying, "Good smoothie... mmmm... very good smoothie." I think he's hooked. He drank his and then part of mine.
This smoothie ranks in around 210 calories. I had it along with one of my Sausage and Egg Breakfast Muffins made with egg substitute and my total breakfast calories were about 300. It was healthy, filling and gave me all 4 food groups.
Recipe Adapted from: AllRecipes.com
1/2 c rolled oats
1 c fat free milk
4-5 ice cubes
1 medium banana, cut into chunks
1 c tropical blend frozen fruit (about 14 chunks of fruit)
1/2 tsp coconut extract
1 Tbsp Splenda
Pulse oats in blender until powdered. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Adjust sweetness to taste.
OK, sooooo technically it's 103 calories, but we'll pretend like we burnt off 3 of those calories lugging the blender across the kitchen. Maybe lift it over your head a few times for good measure. ;)
I doubt there is a right or wrong way to make this frappe, so adjust it to taste- add more coffee, less coffee or use liquid creamer and less milk instead of powdered creamer. Just remember to adjust your calories along with your ingredients. You could also use frozen coffee cubes to give it more coffee flavor as it melts.
Fight your urge to urge to spend $4 and several hundred calories on a frozen coffee from McD's or Starbucks and make one of these 100 calorie treats. Not only will enjoy your frappe, but you won't feel guilty after you finish slurping it down!
If you come up with another version, I'd love to hear it!
Recipe
1 Tbsp instant coffee
2 Tbsp sugar-free powdered coffee creamer
1/2 c fat free milk
6-10 ice cubes or frozen coffee cubes
Dash of cinnamon
Your favorite zero calorie sweetener to taste
Put everything but sweetener in blender and pulse it until smooth. Taste and add desired amount of sweetener. The creamer adds a decent amount of sweetness, but adding a little Splenda makes it taste even more decadent to me. Adjust the amounts of ingredients to suit your taste.
