Smoothie Time

     I have a not-so-secret secret. I love food! I like cooking and baking different things. The smells! The flavours! My mouth waters when just thinking about certain dishes. But even with my love of food I am no "foodie." I'm more of a wanna-be foodie I guess you could say, because I have to be honest.... IIII'm a picky eater. I do my best to try new things and when I'm eating out at a friends place or restaurant I force myself to eat as much as possible of the stuff I don't like. But as I make my own meals most of the time they tend to be lacking in particular fruits and veggies.

     So I've recently decided to try and balance my diet out with the addition of smoothies.  For some reason I've always liked smoothies, even if they had a fruit/veggie that I didn't care for. It's also helpful that you can have a smoothie at any point in the day. Great for breakfast, after lunch or supper. These are some of my favourites so far (click the title for original recipe!):

Peach Cobbler Smoothie
    This one was very tasty! It's very refreshing and would taste even better in the summer time. Perfect afternoon snack or even as a desert. I found that the recipe makes kind of a large quantity so have someone to share it with (or just save it as a treat for later).

-2 cups vanilla yogurt (I only used about a cup and a half)
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 teaspoon honey
-1/3 teaspoon nutmeg
-2 teaspoons wheat germ
-4 teaspoons rolled oats -2 cups frozen unsweetened peach slices
-8 ice cubes

Put all ingredients together in a blender and process for about a minute.


Peach Mango Green Smoothie
     I've been skeptical about green smoothies for a while but this one is actually quite good.  If you use a banana that's really ripe it gives it an extra taste of banana-y sweetness that's just awesomely delicious! Also, my blender had a tough time mixing this one up as its a pretty thick smoothie so just add more liquids to it if need be.

-1 cup milk (or soy/almond milk)
-1 banana (fresh or frozen)
-1 cup chopped mango
-1/2 cup frozen peach slices
-2 cups fresh spinach
-1/2 cup of ice (I used 4 or 5 small ice cubes because at this point I was running out of room in my blender)

Throw all the ingredients in the blender and blend till smooth!


Chocolate Banana Green Smoothie
     Another green(-ish) smoothie that is deceptively delicious! I think this was probably my second attempt at trying a green smoothie and it worked out much better than the first.  It's almost like a thin chocolate banana milkshake. Mmmmm!!

-1 to 2 bananas (frozen - helps make the smoothie a bit thicker)
-2 tbs Cocoa powder
-a cup or 2 of spinach
-1 cup milk (or soy/almond)

Blend away!

Strawberry Cream Smoothie
     This has become one of my faaaaavourite smoothie recipes.  I like to have it as a dessert because it tastes so much like a milkshake. Sweet, a little fruity, and creamy! Unfortunately I can't remember where I found this one so my apologies to the original source.

-1 frozen small to medium banana (again, make sure its nice and ripe)               
-1 cup of frozen strawberries
-½ avocado
-1 ½ cups of milk (or soy/almond)
-1 tsp of vanilla extract
-1 tbsp maple syrup

Mix till nice and smooth and voi-la!