What’s in your morning routine? I make my bed, splash my face with cold water, drink a giant glass of lemon water, and try to forget about the giant bag of dark chocolate chips I’ve been meaning (and failing) to hide from myself. I try my best to start things off well, with some clarity and conscious eating… that’s because it’s easy to reason with my relaxed morning brain. By the time dinner rolls around it’s nearly impossible to talk my brain out of popcorn, wine, and handfuls of chocolate chips. Morning is my power hour. Dinner looks like a breakup rom-com where a heartbroken girl eats her weight in everything ever.
It’s a new Monday. It’s a new week. Let’s start things off feeling great! The morning is on our side in three major ways.
I love that three completely different smoothies can come from this display of ingredients.
It’s all about color! We’re talking about the deep green of kale, bright yellow of pineapple, pretty purple blackberries, and beets that are just dying to stain your fingertips magenta.
Our constants, our rocks, our anchors in the storm will be frozen banana chunks and cold Almond Breeze Almond Milk.
I’ve coaxed you into putting greens in your smoothie before, haven’t I? This Kale, Spinach, and Pear Smoothie started this whole green smoothie kick in my kitchen.
Pairing pineapple with kale really brightens the flavors and makes the smoothie feel like a tropical kale vacation. Wait. That doesn’t tempt you? Don’t worry. This smoothie doesn’t taste like a salad in a blender. The kale flavor really mellows when pulverized in the company of pineapple and vanilla almond milk.
Kale, Pineapple and Almond Milk Smoothie
makes 1 large or 2 small smoothies
1 banana, sliced into chunks, frozen is ideal
1 heaping cup fresh pineapple chunks
1 giant handful of coarsely chopped kale leaves, center rib removed from the kale
1 cup cold Almond Breeze Almond Milk
1 tablespoon honey (optional, but nice for added sweetness)
Remove kale leaves from their rough center stalk and coarsely chop. In a blender, combine banana, pineapple, chopped kale leaves, almond milk, and honey (if using). Blend until smooth and no big kale bits remain. Add more almond milk if the smoothie is too thick for your taste. Enjoy immediately.
We’ve gone down the green road, now let’s talk purple.
Blackberries are both tart and sweet. They’re moody, and I respect that. I paired blackberries with a vanilla goat’s milk yogurt, and oat flour. Oat flour is made by placing old-fashioned oats in a small spice grinder until pulverized into a powder. It helps make me feel full and totally eases any belly unrest. An extra kick of vanilla from the almond milk, and pure vanilla extract really bring home the vanilla and berry theme.
Vanilla, Blackberry, Oat and Almond Milk Smoothie
makes 1 large or 2 small smoothies
1 banana, sliced into chunks, frozen is ideal
1 heaping cup frozen blackberries
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt (I used goat’s milk yogurt)
1 cup Almond Breeze Almond Milk
2 tablespoons oat flour (old-fashioned oats ground in a spice grinder)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
In a blender, combine banana, blackberries, yogurt, almond milk, oat flour, and vanilla extract. It’s easy. Blend until smooth. Add more almond milk if the smoothie is too thick for your taste. Enjoy immediately.
Did you think for a minute that I’d leave you a smoothie with strawberries and bananas and call it a day? Noooo way. Not around these parts. I’ve added roasted, cooled, and peeled beets to this smoothie. It’s added fiber, folate, and major magenta coloring. I’ve also thrown in freshly ground flax seeds for some good omega action.
This smoothie is packed with good, but doesn’t taste like drinking a beet salad. It’s sweet, pink, and filling. It’s totally my new favorite.
Strawberry Beet Smoothie
makes 1 large or 2 small smoothies
1 banana, sliced into chunks, frozen is ideal
1 heaping cup sliced strawberries, frozen is awesome
about 1/3 cup steamed beets (I used two about half a large beet)
1 heaping tablespoon flax seed meal
1 cup Almond Breeze Almond Milk
In a blender, combine banana, strawberries, steamed and cooled beets, flax seed meal, and almond milk. Blend until smooth. Add more almond milk if the smoothie is too thick for your taste. Enjoy immediately.
Sponsored by Blue Diamond Almond Breeze.
[…] Kale Blackberry Beet Almond Milk Smoothie by Joy the Baker […]