Blend-sasional Breakfast

Good Morning Bloggies!

Last night was a VERY late night for me, especially since I usually go to bed around 8:30 but I decided to be a big girl and I stayed up until 2 gabbing with a good friend and drinking wine (which I know I'll regret very very soon). It rained all day really hard most of the day yesterday and I'm not sure if you know anything about Texas rain but it's monsoon rain, you really can't even drive it in! After I got home it started to pour again and I woke up in the early morning to thunder and lightening. Thank god I was to out of it to know what was going on because I am TERRIFIED of thunder and lightening and then I woke up to a tornado warning message on my phone... so that was lovely. Now that I get up every day at 3:30 (am, gah!) for work I can't seem to sleep in past 8. Anyways, after such an eventful evening what better way to start my day then with a smoothie, which is coincidentally how I start every day.

First, I put about 2 1/2 cups of spinach at the bottom of the blender. I go a little nuts with the spinach. I swear to God every time I make a smoothie I put more and more spinach. I have yet to use kale or any other kind of green though :( I then peeled and chopped a medium sized Gala apple and tossed that it. Yes, this blender can actually blend an apple. After that I tossed in about 10 frozen grapes. (When the grapes start getting a little soft on the vine I toss them in the freezer for smoothie purposes, with the skins!) Then I put in about 7 frozen strawberries and one whole banana. I generally use about half of a juice box of Vita Coco
Coconut water (so about 8 ounces) per smoothie but I had a little left over from previous shenanigans so I tossed that in over the whole the delicious layers of fruit and veg (it was about 10 oz.)! I think I'm going to stick with only using half the box because this was a little to runny for me, more like juice and less like a smoothie. Then I blended the delicious mixture for about a minute. After it was all mixed together I realized I forgotten to add my chia seeds! I only add about a tablespoon of chia seeds to my breakfast smoothies because they help me stay full longer. You can't really taste them unless you bite into them which I don't like to do because I'm not a huge fan of the actual flavor. I would never put them in oatmeal or cereal which I know is also pretty common. :) Some people say that chia seeds help
you lose weight but most studies show that this isn't necessarily true. I like them because they expand in your stomach and keep you full. They also give you an energy boost and have a beneficial effect on your heart! I like to drink my smoothies with a straw because I'm an adult :) I decided to put a matching green straw in my cup. My concoction made about two tumblers full and I drank both of them because hey! why not? Sometimes eating just fruit for breakfast has a negative effect on my blood sugar and I find myself crashing but I think that the spinach and the chia help keep me fuller longer. I can't wait to start adding more greens to my smoothies like celery and kale. Since this post is so freaking long and the most important part is the actual recipe I'll post it for you. I will warn you though that I do not have creative names for my smoothies...

Wake Me Up Breakfast Smoothie

2.5 cups of Spinach

1 Apple (chopped and peeled)

10 frozen Brapes (with skin)

7 frozen Strawberries

1 whole Banana

10 oz. plain Coconut Water

1 tablespoon Chia Seeds

~ Blend until smooth and then serve (makes enough for 2, or one Annie) ~

You might be wondering about nutritional information. While I'm not a calorie counter (and never have been... darn math!) I do Weight Watchers, so I am a point counter! The best thing about eating fruit and vegetables without adding milk or yogurt to your smoothies is that you add nutritional value and more noms without extra points. The new WW program doesn't add points for fruit and vegetables (excluding corn and peas). I definitely thought that you'd be able to see read the ingredients in the picture below but oh well... Total, this smoothie cost me only 2 points, which you can actually see below. 1 point for the seeds and 1 point for the coconut water.  

If I had made this with Greek yogurt and milk or yogurt and almond milk I could have racked up as many as 10 points, no joke. Plus I think the coconut water adds sweetness so I don't need to put sugar or stevia in my drank.

What?! No added protein?!!
I am definitely a fan of the protein shake (especially with fruit and such mixed in) and the protein powder I currently have, Myogenix Myo-lean Evolution (in vanilla) is delicious, at least by protein standards. Mixed with vanilla-coconut almond milk (yum!) it literally tastes like the birthday cake ice cream from Cold Stone (with protein powder after taste), although it does still have that protein powder taste so I do have a hard time stomaching it sometimes... Unfortunately (again), it is a whey protein so it's made from dairy.. which is a no-no with ze vegan situation, so I'm looking to invest in a new protein! I've been wanting to try the Perfect Fit protein for a while. It was made by the Tone It Up girls, and ya'll know I'm obsessed with Karina and Katrina.  I've read a lot of reviews on it

 and while I really like that it's organic and gluten-free, it's also vegan, non-GMO, non-fat, low-sodium, sugar free, dairy free, as well as free of lactose, cholesterol, soy (yay! I don't eat soy!), corn, wheat, and allergens, I'm a little worried about what it'll taste like. I know that I'll never drink it plain, either with just water or almond milk, because I just don't do the plain protein powder thing but I definitely would cook with it and put it in my smoothies! I guess since I'm raving about it so much I should just break down and buy it! Alright then, it's decided! Next paycheck I'm grabbing myself some of this! (If anyone has any recommendations or has tried Perfect Fit just lemme know please :) )

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