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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| Almond Breeze nutrition info |
