Smoothie Week

In the spirit of my New Year’s Resolutions, we’ve been trying to incorporate more fresh foods into our diet. We have been doing pretty well with portion control and watching our sweets. We have not been doing well with eating more fruits and vegetables. I decided to turn that around this week by declaring it Smoothie Week. All the fresh fruits and delicious fiber you can fit in your face. I was inspired by Kellie’s post about walking to work with her smoothie breakfast. I even went to BBBY and bought the same to go cup that she uses (in pink of course). Thanks Kellie for your inspiration!

Here’s the breakdown:

Monday

(Why yes, that is a hot lid on Mr. Wonderful’s new Bruins cup. Shopping fail.)

The thing I was most worried about with Smoothie Week was being hungry in 30 minutes. When I found this recipe for Strawberry Oatmeal Breakfast Smoothie, I decided to make that my number one choice. Oatmeal is filling, right? I also decided to add scoops of protein powder and flaxseed to make the smoothie extra thick healthy. OMG was this thing thick. I had to water it down when I got to work. The recipe didn’t call for ice, but I think it could have used it. I liked the idea of drinking oatmeal, but man was this hard to choke down. I was definitely disappointed in my first smoothie.

Nevertheless, Tuesday

Kellie suggested trying a smoothie with spinach for an extra nutrient boost. I used this recipe because it also included blueberries, which is my favorite. I added frozen cherries but I could barely taste them. This smoothie was remarkably less thick than the one before it, which made it much more palatable. Even though I liked this one better, I admit that I don’t love bananas. I’ve never really eaten a banana before this week and for good reason. I thought that the banana would be covered up by other flavors, but no. Bananas are overbearing. It’s essential for smoothies to have a binding agent. I might have to find an alternative binder. And no, you can’t taste the spinach.

Wednesday

This one is called The Orangeman because if it was called the Yellowman, no one would drink it. It probably could have been called the Bananaman too, but then I definitely wouldn’t have made it. Orange juice is yummy, but it’s all calories. The most fiber here came from the flaxseed. Flavorwise, this was the worst smoothie of the week (even thought I thought it would be one of the best).

Thursday

I didn’t really have a plan for Thursday, so I kind of adapted this fruit smoothie substituting frozen mixed berries for raspberries. I think this might have been my favorite recipe of the week. It also had the most calories at about 515. As you can see, it was the biggest serving as well. It was kind of a “kitchen sink” recipe where I just kept dumping stuff in.

I also had a bonus smoothie in between boot camp and house hunting. Mr. Wonderful was nice enough to make it for me while I was at class. It was definitely banana-y, but I really liked the spice that the green tea brought to the table. I’m definitely going to look up more green tea smoothie recipes.

Friday

I saved the mint chocolate smoothie for Friday. It didn’t have much nutritional value, but it was tasty. I love love love chocolate mint, but this was a little weird for me. I should have run the York Peppermint Patties through the food processor first. I think the next time I want a chocolate fix, I’m going to make a chocolate cherry smoothie instead.

All in all, smoothie week was a success. I got some more ideas from friends about new things to try, so maybe there will be more smoothies in my future. I am nearly positive that I ate more fruit this week than ever in my adult life. I kinda like it.