Summer is here!  Whether you want to lose a few pounds before a big bikini event, or you want a sweet summery treat, this is definitely smoothie season.  I figured that since I am now off for summer (the marvelous life of a teacher), and I have three weeks before my real summer plans start, I might as well kick it into high gear and start my summer off with a healthy treat (and maybe lose a few pounds in the process!).  I decided I wanted to make a large smoothie for my breakfast/lunch and then eat dinner as normal, but the thought of cutting up and blending fruit every morning sounded daunting so I wanted to create a fast and easy way.  Now, I can’t take credit for this idea.  I stole it from my friend Kyle who posted this idea on Facebook.  I took the idea and made it my own and I am quite happy with the results.

What you will need: As much and as many fruit as you like, milk (cow, soy, almond, coconut), protein powder (whey, hemp, etc), blender, quart baggies, cutting board, knife.

Steps:

1.  Collect your fruit.  The great thing about summer is there is fruit galore.  I got my fruit from Stater Bros, but if you want to spend more and get organic fruit, go for it.  Get any and all fruit that you enjoy and you will want to eat.  I got:  4 bananas, 4 Pink Lady apples, 5 peaches, 3 plums, 1 pineapple, the biggest tub of blueberries, the biggest tub of strawberries, a bundle of kale, and a bundle of spinach.  All the fruit you see below cost me less than $30 (including milk).

2.  Wash and cut all fruit into chunks.

3.  The fun and creative part- creating your smoothies.  Fill one quart baggie with a few pieces of kale and spinach, then fill the baggie up with fruit!  Mix and match to make different varieties.  For example, one baggie I did peaches, plums, strawberries, and bananas, while another I did pineapple, blueberries, apples, and strawberries.  This way every morning my smoothies will taste different and it will be exciting each time.  All the fruit above made 11 baggies, aka 11 smoothies.

4.  Put baggies in the freezer.  Freeze for a few hours, or overnight, before you use the first baggie.

5.  When you are ready for your yummy smoothie, get a baggie of fruit out, the blender, milk, and protein powder.  Ingredients: One baggie of fruit, 2 cups milk (I used original flavored Almond Milk), 1 serving of protein powder (I used vanilla flavored Hemp Protein).  Put ingredients in the blender and blend until completely smooth.  Add more or less milk depending on the thickness you want.

6.    Put your smoothie into a large glass and enjoy with a spoon or straw! (I know the picture below doesn’t look like much, but trust when I say it tasted amazing!  The serving filled one and a half of the big glasses you see, so it is definitely enough for two servings.)

Including all costs, each smoothie ran me about $3, which is $1.50 for each meal (or serving)!!  It would cost triple or more in a fancy smoothie bar.

Now, let the healthy detox begin!

Update:  I ate these smoothies as a breakfast and lunch replacement 2-5 times per week all summer.  My favorite way of eating them was to put one serving into a bowl, covering it with a few spoonfuls of GF granola, and then drizzling it with honey.  YUM!

If I only wanted to eat one serving, I would make one bag as usual, eat half of it, and then put the other half into a ice tray.  When I wanted the other half I would just put the frozen cubes back into the blender and enjoy!