My New Fave Breakfast Drink....And It's Not Green Juice!

Those of you (and there were many) who cringed at my green juice drinking self will love this purple recipe It's the best smoothie I've made. EVER. And, candidly, I like to think of myself as a smoothie connoisseur.

It's a berry banana smoothie with a twist and the key to its fabulocity is something that Stars center Brad Richards turned me onto drinking: almond milk. He told me about almond milk while we were shooting a story on his near-perfect nutrition habits. I had always seen it in the aisle, as I had been a soy milk girl for a while. I picked up a carton of it and have been hooked ever since.

I have always made smoothies using orange juice as my liquid base, enjoying the citrus flavor and bit of bite it provides. The vanilla flavored almond milk by Almond Breeze that I use adds a wonderful, light creaminess and vanilla-y flavor without being too milky or shake-like, something I personally don't enjoy.

Ingredients for my latest smoothie obsession

This smoothie is also the easiest thing in the world to make. Simply pour eight ounces of Almond Breeze (the brand I personally use) vanilla into a blender. Add a big handful of frozen mixed berries (I buy a big ole bag from Costco) and 1 medium banana chopped up. You can frozen bananas or fresh berries, it really doesn't matter. I typically use a mix of frozen and fresh because I like the consistency of the smoothie when it's frozen. Some mornings, I get frisky and add chia seeds or some whey protein.

Costco berries

This smoothie has a huge nutritional bang for the buck with all the wonderful antioxidants from the berries and potassium from the banana. The almost cooler thing is that it doesn't have a ton of calories while being wonderfully satiating. The almond milk has only 40 calories (w/ no sugar!), the berries contains 70 calories per cup and a medium banana about 100-120. That's between 210-230 calories! The chia seeds add 70, the whey protein about 110. Still a bargain!