Pumpkin Smoothie (Easy)

So good!  So good!  Love it!  The new drink of the Fall season for my family!  So much more healthier too than my pumpkin shakes which consisted of pumpkin puree, ice cream, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves.  This smoothie is low fat milk, Greek yogurt, protein powder, frozen pumpkin pie mix, and cinnamon all blended together. Make it!  You will love it!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/10/pumpkin-smoothie/

Ingredients:

• 1 can (15 ounce) pumpkin pie filling (freeze ahead of time in an ice cube tray)
• 3 cups low fat milk
• 1 scoop of protein powder (I added this to this recipe, was not part of the original)
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt (vanilla or plain) up to 1 cup (I used 1 cup)
• Many dashes of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Well ahead of time, place pumpkin pie filling into a freezer-safe container. Freeze for a few hours or until frozen solid.(I thought a single large container frozen of pumpkin would be too large on the blender not to mention too hard on it when it came to breaking it up, I froze mine in ice cube trays over night covered with foil) (see picture below)
2. To make the smoothie, add milk, protein powder, as much cinnamon as you like, and yogurt to a blender. Drop in the frozen pumpkin pie filling and blend until the frozen filling is completely pulverized. Add more milk or yogurt as needed to get it the consistency you'd like.
3. Pour into individual glasses and sprinkle the tops with graham cracker crumbs. Serve immediately!
4. *Note: Make a lower-calorie smoothie by using unsweetened/unflavored pumpkin puree, nonfat plain yogurt, and the sweetener of your choice.
5. *Can also sprinkle with cinnamon and/or nutmeg instead of graham cracker crumbs. (I did not have cinnamon graham crackers in the house so I just sprinkled cinnamon on top)

Pumpkin pie mix in ice cube trays, much easier to toss in the blender one at a time. Cover with aluminum foil before freezing.

Frozen pumpkin pie mix cubes.

Greek yogurt that I used. It has no fat, no cholesterol, and 23 grams of protein per one cup.

My smoothie and I could have drank two of these! So good!

Fruit Smoothie (Easy)

My son came home from school the other day and was in the mood for a "shake" but what he really meant was something healthy, not ice cream related.  I had already showed him how to make the banana drink http://tastytalkwithamy.blogspot.com/2011/08/banana-drink-easy.html but we were out of bananas so he couldn't make that after school and I didn't need to grocery shop for a few more days.  I knew we had frozen fruits in the freezer for my husband's usual breakfast smoothie so I took from his bag of fruits, used some of his whey protein powder (shh, don't tell him LOL!), a cup of milk, oh yeah borrowed some of his Greek yogurt as well and blended it all together in the blender and there you have it, a fruit smoothie!  I know it is nothing new but it is healthy and very filling.  This recipe makes approximately 3 cups once all is added to the blender and I can drink it all by myself for a meal and I just love the gritty texture from all the seeds from the fruits.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups assorted frozen fruits, by using frozen you have no need for ice cubes ( I use blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries) Wal-Mart sells their Great Value brand of frozen fruits with no sugar added and I prefer those and they are not as expensive as the name brands and are just as good.
• 1 scoop whey protein powder
• 3 tablespoons Greek Yogurt

Directions:
Add all the ingredients to the blender and blend away. Enjoy!

I buy all these fruits individually and then I pour them all into a gallon sized Ziploc and shake it up and store it in the freezer and scoop from that bag for my smoothie.

Banana drink (Easy)

My breakfast or a drink for any time of the day

There is a name for this, it is in another language and Juanita who told me about this banana drink can say it but she said she can't spell it so I will resort to just calling it a banana drink. I am not a banana person, I just can't pick up a banana and eat it as is, call it a texture thing for me but I can drink it in a shake, eat it in banana bread form, or the peanut butter and banana sandwich that Elvis made famous, sometimes he ate his with bacon as well, I don't know if I would go that far. Cinnamon has many health benefits, just to name one of them 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon per day can help to lower LDL cholesterol, the bad cholesterol. LDL is called “Bad” Cholesterol because it can build up in the wall of arteries and that is the major cause of heart disease. If you want to read more about the benefits of cinnamon click here: http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/10-health-benefits-of-cinnamon.html

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 8 ice cubes

Directions:
In a blender add milk, banana, cinnamon, blend. Once blended, add the ice cubes and crush, pour in a glass and drink up! Makes 3 cups worth approximately. I can drink the entire amount for just me. 

Healthy Chocolate Avocado Shake (Quick and Easy)

Triple recipe, fills the blender up perfectly, this feeds my husband and I breakfast.

I triple this recipe and make it for my husband and I for breakfast, very filling and satisfying for hours in the tummy. Avocados are a good fat, they have 60% more potassium than bananas, they are rich in Vitamin B, they have approximately 6 grams of fiber and 2 grams of protein per fruit. If you are lactose intolerant then use Almond milk or a lactose-free milk. Such a creamy breakfast or any time of the day shake, healthier than a chocolate ice cream shake too!

• 1 cup milk
• 1 regular sized avocado, ripened
• 1 tbsp. Hershey's cocoa
• 3 tbsp honey
• few ice cubes, I add these after I have blended all the other ingredients and then blend one last time to break up the ice

Throw all the ingredients in the blender and blend away. You can alter it to be as chocolaty as you want or as sweet as you want it to be with adding more honey and chocolate. This is a very healthy shake and it tastes like you are eating an ice cream shake. LOVE IT!

Shared evenly. So satisfying and so filling, you won't believe you are drinking healthy when you have this for the first time! Try it!