Healthy Smoothie - Oatmeal, Spinach & Berries

If you've been following along at home, you know I'm a sucker for a good smoothie.  This week I decided to add a few ingredients to one of my favorite mixtures of fruit to make it healthier, and loved what I ended up with.  Adding oats and spinach to the already delicious list of ingredients makes this a fantastic breakfast! I was SO full after drinking mine!

All you need is:

1 medium banana
5-6 strawberries
1 cup blueberries
1/4 cup yogurt (I used strawberry Chobani)
1/4 cup oats (I used Old Fashioned Quaker Oats)
1-1.5 cups baby spinach
1/2 cup water (or more)

Then just fill your blender and blend until smooth!  I gave it a little longer than usual to make sure the oats were pulverized.  :)

Even husband liked it!

Have fun switching out the fruit you use - I don't think you'll come up with a bad combination.

Interested in other cool treats?  Check out a few of my frozen yogurt recipes - Blackberry Honey Frozen Yogurt and Strawberry Banana Fro Yo!

Enjoy!

Strawberry Banana Frozen Yogurt

If you can't tell, I've been on an ice cream kick lately.  Last week I was trying to use my bananas as quickly as possible, so I decided to try another variation of the Blackberry-Honey Frozen Yogurt - this time using Bananas and Strawberry Chobani - classic.

The best part about this (besides its thick and creamy texture) is that it only has three ingredients.  No need to keep lots of items on hand to whip this up!

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas, mashed
3 6oz Strawberry Chobani yogurts
14oz Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

Directions

Peel and smash bananas.

In a medium bowl, combine smashed bananas, Chobani, and Eagle Brand milk.  Stir until mixture is smooth, cover, and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.  The cold mixture will freeze better in your ice cream maker.

Once the mixture has chilled, pour into your ice cream maker and let it spin for 45 minutes to 1 hour according to the manufacturer's instructions.

So simple!  Check out some of my other ice cream recipes!

Bananas Foster Ice Cream
Chocolate Ice Cream
Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches
Blackberry Honey Frozen Yogurt

Berry Banana Smoothie

The past week has been brutally cold here in Boston.  Even through we dodged a snowy bullet earlier this week (we were supposed to get 5"...coast was due for 12", and we just got a dusting), we have not dodged the "arctic air".  Being from the South, I'm not a huge fan of walking around in the single digits, but have gotten used to it to some extent.  Unless it's windy.  Nothing helps if it's 5 degrees and windy.

That being said, I still love having something cold at the end of the evening.  This weekend I made some Blueberry-Honey Frozen Yogurt, which was delicious.  But alas, since you can't shouldn't have ice cream every night, I like to change it up with smoothies and parfaits from time to time.  They are definitely yummier than a Popsicle...and much better for you!

Here's one of my favorite combinations - a Berry Banana Smoothie.

All you'll need is...

6-7 large frozen strawberries (about 1.5 cups)
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 banana
1/2 cup skim milk
3 ounces (1/2 single serving cup) blueberry Chobani (stir before adding)

Add all ingredients to your blender and blend until smooth!

This recipe makes two medium sized smoothies with 170 calories in each.  I like using frozen fruit because it acts as the ice.  More fruit is a good thing!

It's a great way to end a night!

Blackberry Honey Frozen Yogurt

After last week's ice cream maker success (see the recipe for Chocolate Ice Cream), we decided to give it another shot.  I'd seen a recipe for Blackberry Frozen Yogurt this week that I wanted to try a variation of.  Blackberries are great, but I decided to add a honey twist to it.  This frozen yogurt is sweet, smooth and tangy...and only has 3 ingredients.

Ingredients
3 cups blackberries
1 14 ounce Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
3 6 ounce Chobani Greek Yogurts (honey flavor)
1 Tablespoon honey (optional)

Directions

Wash the three cups of blackberries.  Puree in a food processor or blender until smooth.

Strain blackberries with a fine strainer to remove all seeds.  Spoon a cup or so into strainer at a time and press liquid through with a spoon into a separate bowl.

Pour smooth blackberry puree into a large bowl.  Throw seeds away.

Mix in Sweetened Condensed Milk and then Honey Greek Yogurt.  Stir til smooth.  If you wish to add the additional tablespoon of honey, do so now.

Refrigerate for 1 hour.  The cold ice cream mixture will freeze better in the ice cream maker.

After mixture has chilled for about an hour, pour into your ice cream maker and let spin for 45 minutes according to manufacture's instructions.

At this point you can either eat it right away or put it in the freezer to harden a little more.  Since it was mid-afternoon, we chose the freezer so we could save the treat for dessert.

Enjoy with a few leftover blackberries!