I’ve always been a cereal girl. I eat cereal all of the time, for any meal—breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack. Whatever. I love it, and it’s easy.
But then it turned out Vivienne has a cow’s milk protein intolerance, and I had to give up milk products. And try as I might, I can’t handle the non-dairy milk alternatives. At least not in cereal, and certainly not for drinking. So in effect, I lost the ability to eat cereal, even if the cereals themselves are dairy free. This development was particularly difficult on me for breakfast, because well, I pretty much never ventured into other breakfast foods.
For the past few months, I’ve been surviving by eating gluten-free waffles most days. Vivienne and I don’t have any problems with gluten (that I’m aware of), but it just so happens that the gluten-free waffles are the only dairy free ones, so… there ya go. But the problem with eating a couple of waffles in the morning? I eat them at 7:30 and I’m starving by 9:30. No joke. I’ve gotten by with adding a mid-morning snack to my routine at work.
A few weeks ago, Michael and I were browsing Netflix for something to watch, and we came across the documentary “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.” It’s interesting stuff, and inspiring to see how people turned their lives around by taking up juicing. They obviously made other lifestyle changes, too, but juicing was a huge part of it. Now, I’m not really interested in juice fasts or anything extreme, but watching the documentary made me crave a smoothie. And I started wondering, Why don’t we make smoothies more often? I bet I could add protein to smoothies and they would make great breakfasts. DAIRY-FREE breakfasts.
Last weekend, during the weekly grocery trip, we picked up a ton of extra produce—some fresh, some frozen since so much is out of season right now. Strawberries, blueberries, peaches, raspberries, pineapple, apples, pears, bananas. Baby SPINACH. We also picked up coconut milk, almond milk, and orange juice. And a canister of organic vegan protein powder that’s made from brown rice (it was a little challenging to find a protein powder that is dairy free). With all of these ingredients, there are SO many possibilities.
This past week, we made smoothies for breakfast four out of the seven days. Not bad, huh? And surprisingly… I stayed full longer with the smoothies than I do with the waffles. And it’s so much healthier!
I drink my smoothies while nursing Vivienne in the mornings, and it’s been great. The process of making them in the mornings is a little more work than throwing a couple of waffles into the toaster, but it’s worth it to know that we are getting all of these extra nutrients at the start of our day. Nora has been having samples of all of them, too. She usually has a lot of fruit with breakfast anyway, but this is getting a little spinach and extra protein into her, too. :)
We picked up a few more ingredients on our grocery trip this morning so that we can vary things even more—grapefruit juice, some creamy natural peanut butter (we usually only have crunchy on hand), some agave syrup to use with the smoothies that could use just a teeny bit of sweetening. I’m interested in trying a different kind of protein powder, too, but I’m still looking into that some more. The one we’re using now is pretty affordable and available at our grocery store… others are more expensive and have to be ordered through Amazon. We shall see.
I’m going to try to remember to snap pics of our smoothies in the mornings and share our favorite recipes as we continue to discover them. We finally picked up cups/mugs with smoothie straws today, so now our smoothies can be taken on the go, too. We’re legit now. :)
It seems sort of backwards to start on a smoothie kick in the middle of the dead of winter, but it’s been good! Even if our wallets have been taking a bigger hit than usual.
Cheers!
14 Responses to Smooth(ie) Operator
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About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
If making smoothies in the morning becomes too much, you can always make them the night before and store them in a “shaker bottle” as my husband calls them, they’re really a blender bottle. I store mine in the fridge after I make them and just give them a shake the next morning – they’re read to go in a second! I also prep a week’s worth of “smoothie bags” on Sunday and keep them in the freezer. Then, I just need to add my yogurt, protein, and a little water. The frozen fruits and veggies help with the consistency too since I don’t need to add as much ice, if any really.
I LOVE smoothies… Especially starting the day off with them. It just gives you such a great boost of energy. My favorite is Shakeology… I don’t have to buy all of those extra ingredients because everything is already included. And they taste so good. I always end up making my son one as well because he always wants to drink mine, and I don’t like sharing, lol!
We just ordered the Nutri Bullet, I’m looking forward to seeing what you drink. I’ve never made juices or smoothies before :)
I can’t wait to read about your favorite recipes! If you want to cut down on morning prep, you could make smoothies on the weekends and freeze them. I use plastic freezer Ball jars I got at Target. They work really well. You may just have to transfer them from freezer to fridge at dinner time the night before.
I’m currently nursing my 7 month old. I can have limited dairy, but no OJ! Weird! The citrus made him miserable as a newborn and I just haven’t tried it again.
Also, add a teaspoon of coconut oil. It gives you healthy fat and is so good for you! I also would add 1/4 cup of quick oats to help make it more filling.
Good idea about the oatmeal! I actually did that with a smoothie we made this morning, and it was a very filling smoothie! I wasn’t even hungry right up until lunch, which is UNHEARD OF for me before this smoothie kick! Love it!
We have been making smoothies for breakfast for years! Seriously probably 5 years or so. Our go-to recipe does include full-fat greek yogurt, but other than that would be fine for you: spinach, 2 bananas, frozen fruit (mangoes, strawberries or blueberries – sometimes 2 of those), yogurt, water, ground flaxseed. Love starting the day that way, and I mostly love that the kids get that start to the day too – it always makes me feel like I could eat anything else the rest of the day and be fine ;) Ha!
I finally broke down and got a magic bullet and have been having a smoothie for breakfast pretty much every day since! Definitely need to add protein powder for staying power, though…. Do you mind sharing the brand if you like yours (they are all big bottles which seems like such a commitment?) Glad you found something that worked for you, and props for sticking out the dairy free!
We just started smoothies a few weeks ago as well. I prep kale and banana in a bag in the freezer and then add flax seed (grind it up in the blender before adding other ingredients), water and frozen fruit.
I love green smoothies. I love kale (2 big handfuls), mango (about a cup), and spearmint (a large sprig) with coconut yogurt (~ 1/2 cup). Add a splash of almond or coconut milk to thin, as needed. Chia seeds add some protein and omegas without changing the flavor too. The more green veggies and less fruit you add the better, since they can be a bit high in sugar otherwise.
Heather, I sent you an email. :)
I just watched this documentary also! We are big smoothie drinkers in our house but the documentary gave me the final push to get a juicer. I did it the same way that I do our smoothies – greens, berries, apples, pears, and oranges. To make the same amount of juice it took WAY more produce. I was shocked! But it is delicious. My son hasn’t been a fan of the switch from his smoothies yet, but I’m sure he will come around. Glad the smoothies are working for you!
Yeah, that’s the thing I can’t really get behind with juicing… SO.MUCH.PRODUCE for so little juice! Plus, I want the benefits of the fiber!
So glad you recommended this documentary. My husband and I watched it and it was very inspiring. I got a juicer for christmas this last year so it was even more perfect. I’ve been trying to do a juice for breakfast each morning, hubby though just finished a 7 day juice fast.
I can’t do that since I’m still breastfeeding my 13 month old but it’s good to add to breakfast.
I think I’m going to have to start blending it up though instead of juicing because it certainly doesn’t fill me up. They are good though and we make them very healthy.
This also prompted me to watch “Hungry for a Change” if you haven’t seen that one yet check it out! It’s on Netflix.