Banana Date Smoothie

This one is a little more caloric than I normally go, but it's rich and delicious and almost tastes like dessert without any added sugar.

Banana Date Smoothie

1/2 cup lowfat yogurt
1 small banana, cut into chunks and frozen
1/3 cup of dates, pitted
1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp chia seeds
1/2 tsp. flax seeds
1/4 cup of water
2 ice cubes

Combine all ingredients and blend until smooth. Makes one smoothie, about 375 calories.

Peach, Blueberry, and Strawberry Smoothie

Another delicious breakfast using in-season peaches and strawberries. Don't be afraid of the spinach, you can't taste it.

Peach, Blueberry, and Strawberry Smoothie

1/2 cup of lowfat yogurt
1/4 cup of orange juice
1 peach, cut into chunks
1/4 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries, I use the little Boreal ones (frozen) from Trader Joe's
1/2 cup of strawberries, halved
1/2 cup of spinach, fairly tightly packed
1/8 cup of rolled oats
1/2 tsp of flaxseeds (optional)
1 tsp of chia seeds (optional)
3 ice cubes

Combine all ingredients and blend until smooth. Makes one large smoothie. About 295 calories with seeds, 255 calories without seeds.

Strawberry, Mango, and Orange Smoothie

Another great breakfast smoothie, perfect for the amazing strawberries in season at the farmer's market. I also recently tried chia seeds and enjoy the flavor, and I have some flax seeds I'm trying to use up.

Strawberry, Mango, and Orange Smoothie

1/2 cup of plain lowfat yogurt
1/2 cup of orange juice
1/2 cup of fresh or frozen mango chunks
1/2 cup of fresh or frozen strawberries
1/4 cup of rolled oats
1 teaspoon of chia seeds (optional)
1/2 teaspoon of flax seeds (optional)
ice cubes, depending on how much fruit is frozen

Combine all ingredients and blend until smooth. Makes 1 large smoothie, about 310 calories (chia and flax seeds included, without seeds it's about 270 calories).

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Easy, easy, easy. Just sweet enough and has a lot of protein.

1/2 cup low fat yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 small banana, peeled and cut into thirds
1 T peanut butter
1/2 tsp honey
pinch of salt
pinch of nutmeg
2 pinches of cinnamon
4 ice cubes

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Makes 1 smoothie. About 375 calories.

Winter Smoothie

Using in season ingredients from the farmer's market and frozen fruit, this smoothie is packed with nutrients and tastes delicious. It has just enough sweetness, but I wouldn't call it a sweet smoothie. I think it confidently walks the line between sweet and savory. It also happens to be vegan and gluten free.

1/2 cup frozen berries (I use a mixture of raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup pineapple, diced (fresh or frozen is fine)
1 very small apple, cored and diced
1/2 stalk of celery, diced
1/4 medium roasted beet, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 cup greens, very tightly packed (spinach, kale, beet greens, etc.)
3 ice cubes

If you have a good blender, I think you could throw everything in at the same time and go. I have an immersion blender and blend in the large measuring cup it came with. This is my sequence:

Blend berries, oats, and soy milk until smooth. Add water, pineapple, apple, and celery and blend until smooth. Add beet and spinach and blend until smooth. Add three ice cubes and blend. Optional: add more water and blend until desired consistency.

Makes 2 cups of smoothie. About 300 calories. Loaded with nutrition.

Walnut-Banana-Date Smoothie

This is my spin on Aida Mollenkamp's Walnut Date Smoothie. It's mostly the same recipe, but with single-serving proportions.

Smoothies are tricky. Often, recipes that look like the perfect size for a meal are actually 2 servings. And have you ever looked at the calorie count on the Jamba Juice menu? That's nightmare stuff.

I did some math and created a recipe for a single serving. This smoothie comes in at about 400 calories. Sounds like a lot, but this smoothie will keep you full until lunch, no snacking necessary. It's delicious and slightly sweet, but not so sweet that you gulp it down in thirty seconds.

Walnut-Date Smoothie

- 3/4 cup walnut milk (recipe below)
- 1/2 cup plain, lowfat yogurt
- 1/2 cup dates, pitted and roughly chopped
- pinch of cinnamon
- a few grates of whole nutmeg
- pinch of salt
- 3-5 ice cubes, depending on how thick you want it

Blend walnut milk, yogurt, dates, banana, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together (I use an immersion blender and it works fine). Then add ice cubes and blend again. Ice cubes do not need to be fully incorporated, just broken up.

Recommended: Set a glass in the freezer, preferably overnight so it's ice cold for your smoothie.

Makes 1 large smoothie. About 400 calories.


Walnut Milk

- 1 cup walnuts.
- 5 cups water
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean
- 1 T honey or agave nectar
- pinch of salt

Place walnuts in a bowl. Cover them with water, about 2 cups. Cover the bowl and let soak overnight at room temperature. Drain and rinse the soaked walnuts. Add 3 cups of water, vanilla, honey or agave, and salt. Blend until all the walnuts are incorporated. Run through a fine sieve if you want the milk to be less gritty.