Monday, August 10, 2009

Weigh In and Summer Smoothies

Weigh in: 182.6lbs
-2.0lbs

This weekend I also made one of my stand-by favorites for the summer and or a breakfast on the go: smoothies! I was reminded off how much I miss them when I saw people blogging about "banana ice cream", aka blended frozen bananas.

I used to go to this awesome coffee shop in Hoboken called Frozen Monkey, and they had a specialty drink named after the place that had banana, Tasti D-light vanilla ice cream, and iced coffee. I recreated the smoothie to save money and calories when in college. I replaced the ice cream with frozen chopped bananas, threw in a scoop of protein powder, and used coffee and skim milk to help thin the smoothie to my liking. It was delicious and it prompted me to make different combinations.

I love these smoothies for some many reasons:
The combinations are endless and easy to customize. They taste like a dessert but are very healthful! They help me get bananas into my diet because I am not a fan of them. It also packs more fruit into your diet. They help use up fruit that would have otherwise gone bad. When the bananas are getting too ripe, and I don't have time to make banana bread, I chop the bananas up and throw them in the freezer, same goes for mangos, berries, and pineapple.

Some of my favorites are:

Frozen Monkey (Approximately 155 calories, 1g fat, 34g carbs, 9g protein, 3g fiber)
1/2 cup cold coffee, 1 frozen chopped banana, 1/2c of skim milk and more to thin the smoothie to your liking

PB Banana (Approximately 290 calories, 9g fat, 43g carbs, 14g protein, 3.5g fiber)
1 Tbsp Peanut Butter, 1 frozen chopped banana, 1 cup skim milk plus more to thin the smoothie to your liking

Banana Split (Approximately 300 calories, 1g fat, 64g carbs, 10g protein, 3g fiber)
1 -2 Tbsp Chocolate Syrup, 1 frozen chopped banana, 1 cup skim milk plus more to thin the smoothie to your liking

Berry Smoothie (Approximately 150 calories, 1g fat, 25g carbs, 12g protein, 2g fiber)
3/4 cup frozen berries (any kind- I like mixed berries), 1/2 cup fat free vanilla yogurt, 1/2 cup skim milk plus more to thin the smoothie to your liking

Tropical smoothie (Approximately 200 calories, 1g fat, 39g carbs, 12g protein, 2g fiber)
1/2 cup frozen mango, 1/2 cup frozen pineapple, 1/2 cup fat free vanilla yogurt, 1/2 cup skim milk plus more to thin the smoothie to your liking

Happy Blending ;-)

6 comments:

Meredith said...

Oh I love those smoothies! Thanks for posting.

GeminiJulia said...

I'm going to be experimenting w/my blender tonight thankyouverymuch :)

Carlos said...

nice loss and great ideas!

Cole Walter Mellon said...

We're big smoothie fans, too, and are always experimenting.

Congrats on the 2 lb drop, Ashley. That's awesome... but if you're looking for where it went, I've got it over here :(

Unknown said...

Congrats on the weight loss! I am going through a similar trail as you are and have recomitted as of 10 minutes ago. My goal is slow but steady and some of these smoothie recipes will help for sure!

Andrea said...

The PB and banana smoothie sounds delish! I'll have to try it.