Breakfast Smoothie

Weekday breakfasts have always been difficult for me. I'm usually rushing out the door trying to get to work on time so I need something fast and easy, but most fast and easy breakfasts (i.e. cereal and granola bars) are highly processed and loaded with sugar, corn syrup, and other nasties. I started experimenting with breakfast smoothies and I want to share my favorite smoothie recipe with you. It takes less than 2 minutes to make, keeps me full until my mid-morning snack, it's made from real fruit, and it tastes amazing! I drink it while I'm putting on my make-up - it wouldn't be morning without multi-tasking!

Breakfast Smoothie

1 banana
handful frozen raspberries
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
water (the amount depends on how big the banana is and how thick you like your smoothies - I usually start with 1/4 cup and add more if needed)

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Modifications:

• Use chocolate protein powder instead of vanilla for a chocolate raspberry smoothie
• Replace the frozen raspberries with frozen pineapple, add a tablespoon of unsweetened dried coconut and you have a pina colada smoothie (save the rum for the weekend :))
• Replace the frozen raspberries with any other frozen fruit or fresh you like. My old school blender doesn't take too well to larger frozen fruits like strawberries, as you can probably tell from the picture - maybe it's time to get a new one.
• Add a tablespoon of flax seeds for extra fiber and omega 3
• Add yogurt instead of water for extra calcium and a thicker smoothie

Notes:

• Your smoothie is only as good as your protein powder. If it is full of sugar and unpronounceable ingredients, then it's not much better than sugary processed cereals. Be sure to pick a quality powder and read the ingredients. They can be expensive - I recently paid about $10 for a can of organic whey protein that has 17 servings at 2 scoops per serving. I use one scoop, which is still 7 good grams of protein, to make it last longer.
• This is also a great drink after a hard workout. I used to drink them after my long distance runs when I was training for a marathon.