On weekends, I love a big breakfast of eggs benedict or something similar, but on weekdays, I try to go for something a little lighter. Enter: the smoothie. Mine usually includes frozen berries, orange, banana, plain yogurt, ground flax seeds, cinnamon, maple syrup or honey, water or almond milk, and (this is where it might get weird for you) kale leaves. This is results in a not-quite-green smoothie that tastes nothing like kale and everything like deliciousness, but still makes me feel like I’m eating a leafy green vegetable. Sometimes I’ll also add half an avocado (I know, weird again), which makes it super creamy and smooth.
I came across this “smoothie pack” tip on Budget Bytes via Pinterest, and wanted to share it here because I think it’s such a great idea (I wish I could take credit for it, but I definitely can’t). When I make a smoothie, inevitably I’m either missing something (berries, bananas) or I get the proportions of fruit all out of whack and then end up having to add more of everything else, and then my “smoothie for one” ends up becoming “the smoothie that ate New York”. Assembling all the necessary ingredients (ie, the fruit part) in little bags (reusable freezer bags, of course!) that you can just pull out of the freezer and dump in the blender solves both those problems, and it’s a time saver. This is important for busy mornings! Plus, these little bags are individually sealed, which cuts down on freezer burn.
Because there is an abundance of fresh fruit in the store at the moment, I took advantage of the “clearance” rack (that sounds so unappealing, but what else do you call it?) and bought a bunch of berries that were on the verge of being too ripe and needed to be used RIGHTNOW. I washed them and cut them up and froze them overnight on cookie sheets, and for my efforts I saved a few bucks. But these smoothie packs could be made even more easily with bags of frozen fruit, especially if it’s on sale.
And then, all you do is portion out your frozen fruit and bananas into little freezer bags.
For each smoothie pack, you will need:
3/4 – 1 cup of frozen fruit (I used strawberries, blueberries, and three-quarters of a peeled orange)
1/2 a peeled banana (which I did not add to these ones because I am currently working through my giant stash of overripe, already frozen bananas that I keep for baking, which require a quick thaw in the microwave to get the peel off before being smoothie’d)
When you have a hankering for a smoothie, you just chuck the contents of one bag into the blender along with some kind of liquid and whatever else you want, and you’re good to go! My current favorite smoothie formula looks like this:
Strawberry-Blueberry-Orange Smoothie
Adapted from Budget Bytes
In a blender jar, blend until smooth:
1 smoothie pack containing strawberries, blueberries, orange, and banana
a large dollop of plain yogurt
a spoonful of ground flax seeds
a few kale leaves, de-stemmed
(half an avocado, optional)
enough water/unsweetened almond milk (vanilla or plain) to make it blendable (~1/2 cup)
Once it’s all blended, add:
a pinch of cinnamon
a little maple syrup or honey (optional, to taste)
Blend again. Makes enough to fill one large glass.
There are some great ideas here! This is inspiring for those of us who want it all… to be healthy, to able to operate on a tight schedule, and who ALSO want food to taste wonderful. Thanks!
Yes to all of those things!
I love the kale and avocado idea. And having the last of the winter’s kale and the first of the spring’s on hand in the garden right now… 🙂
Does Kale freeze well? I’m thinking of taking it one step further and putting the kale and ground flax seed in the freezer bag with the fruit.
I was thinking about doing that too, but I’m not sure how well kale would freeze… I know you have to blanch certain vegetables (shock them very briefly in boiling water) before freezing them or they turn to mush, and I think kale might be one of them… but it might not matter with a smoothie! Try one with frozen kale and let me know how it goes 😉
Kale is a very hardy plant with quite thick dry leaves, that survives through very cold frosty winters, so I doubt it would get mushy with freezing.
If you pick kale while it is frozen though, it gets mushy when it thaws… but again, this might not matter in a smoothie!
Nothing beats fruit or smoothies for me – everything looks and sounds heavenly – great ideas 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Korena thank you so much! this is a brilliant idea.
I tend to go down the road of the smoothie that ate NY far too often, this is a brilliant idea!
You’re welcome! I hope it works for you – it definitely cuts down on the monster smoothies coming out of my blender 😉
Great idea! Smoothie ready in few minutes – I really like that! 🙂
Like I said, I wish I could take credit for the idea 😉
Well, you took time to write about it, take pictures and share it! Thanks for that! 🙂
My pleasure 🙂
This is an excellent idea! I think my smoothies have been getting pretty boring.. time to add a few of your ingredients!
Thanks Barb! I would recommend adding avocado if you haven’t tried it – it makes for an awesome smoothie 🙂
i do this tooooooooo!
Such a good idea, hey?!
Great post. I will have to try that bread. I am making strawberry rhubarb jam this weekend. Love Jamie……
Heh, I love him too…