All-in-1 Friday!

Good afternoon!

Today's post will be the smoothie and the Daily Chi. There's also a quick collage of my colorful lunch salad as well.

• 1 large handful spinach
• 1 banana
• 1/2 c blueberries
• 1/2 c raspberries
• 2 tbs almond butter
• 8oz almond milk
• 8 oz water
• 2 tbs protein
• 2 tsp Very Green
• 1 tbs chia seeds

This one is another PB&J type smoothie and it was great. I've always loved raspberry jam so this was right up my alley.

Today after I finished my leg workout in the afternoon, I figured I'd get a little quiet meditation in. Tango decided he was going to join me and I couldn't pass up the photo op!

And finally, here's my colorful lunch salad! I've been having salad for lunch about 3-4 days of the week to keep my diet on track. No sense having daily smoothies if you're going to eat junk for the rest of the day! The ingredients are:

• arugula
• butter lettuce mix
• cherry tomatoes
• pickled beets
• herbed goat cheese

I topped this with about 1 tablespoon each of balsamic and olive oil then tossed for a great lunch!

Minty Smoothie

Good afternoon!

Today's smoothie has a secret ingredient. I'm sure you can guess from the title that it's... Mint! I added a handful of mint leaves to today's smoothie and the outcome was great.

• 1 large handful spinach
• 1 small handful mint leaves (about one stem of large mint leaves)
• 1 pear
• 1 mango
• 8 oz coconut water
• 10 oz water
• 2 tbs protein
• 2 tsp Very Green
• 1 tbs chia seeds

I had intended to make a different smoothie entirely today but I couldn't prep the kiwi because of my allergy and my boyfriend had left for work early today. Overall, I'd say my experimental smoothie was a tasty success!

For those who do the social media thing, I have a Twitter! Check me out at @Smooth_Chi.

Green and Vegan alternatives

Good afternoon,

Sorry about the missed day. My brother is in town for the next week or so while he waits on a work Visa and he's a vegan. That means I'm making two different smoothies so we can all work with our own dietary needs!

Here's the basics of what I ended up putting in everyone's smoothies and I'll let you know what I subbed in for my brother:

• 1 large handful spinach
• 1 banana
• 8 oz pineapple
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tbs honey
• 8 oz coconut water
• 8 oz water
• 2 tsp chia seeds
• 2 tsp Very Green
• 2 tbs protein

To keep his vegan, my brother had hemp protein and no honey. I gave him half the other supplements and I made his in the mug container since it was for one person. I do have to say, the brown color that the chocolate flavored hemp protein produces wigs me out!

Cucumber in a smoothie?

Hi!

So making smoothies is all about getting healthy, eating more fruits and veggies, and having fun finding the best combo of produce. Today's smoothie had something I thought was interesting in it: a persian cucumber.

image from http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/ 

So persian cucumbers are basically mini cucumbers that are a little softer and have no seeds in them. They're great for smoothies because they're not hard on the blender and they have a nice mild skin that isn't bitter like some larger cucumbers. Overall, a nice addition to the smoothie and something I'll probably use in the future!

• 1 persian cucumber
• 1 handful kale
• 1 pear
• 1 banana
• 8 oz coconut water
• 8 oz water
• 2 tbs protein
• 1 tbs chia seeds
• 2 tsp Very Green

Good smoothie! Not too sweet but very refreshing with the light cucumber taste and the pear as well. I also like cucumber drinks so it's not surprise I enjoyed this in my smoothie.

Monday Smoothie

Hello!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I had a smoothie on Saturday that I didn't love and just skipped breakfast entirely on Sunday. I did spend a good portion of time on Saturday evening prepping the fruit for this week's smoothies though and I'm pretty excited about the new combos I'll be trying out.

Today's smoothie before it was a smoothie! I guess that looks like a lot of ingredients but when all you're doing is dropping things into a blender, it's not all that hard to put together in 5 or so minutes. It's the weekend prep that makes the quick blend possible! In today's smoothie we have:

• 4 oz blueberry chia seeds (Chia Pod)
• 1 handful kale
• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
• 6 oz yogurt drink
• 8 oz water
• 2 tbs protein
• 2 tsp Very Green

Smoothie in process! The order I added the ingredients is the same order I put the recipe in which is why you can't see the chia seeds hiding under the kale. When you use fresh kale in smoothies, you always have to take out the woody/fibrous stems or your blender will suffer. That's probably the most time consuming thing I do for any one ingredient the morning of the smoothie. I probably spent about an hour prepping fruit on Saturday but that's not bad for 7 days of breakfast for 2 people!

This week's interesting fruits are papaya, pear, peach, and cherries. 

Keep an eye on Smooth-Chi for today's Daily Chi, guest starring my cat, Jade!

Putting the Chi in Chia Seeds

Good morning!

Today's smoothie recipe is a variation on one I did Monday morning. Monday's did not turn out so great so I'm glad I made a few adjustments for today's! You'll notice there's also a cup of chia pudding there; this was my second attempt at chia pudding and it came out great so I'll also share that recipe!

Smoothie:

• 1 banana
• 1 apple (peeled and cored)
• 1 handful fresh kale
• 8 oz coconut milk
• 8 oz water
• 1 tbs chia seeds*
• 2 tbs protein powder*
• 2 tsp flax seeds*
• 2 tsp Very Green*

* Supplements aren't required, the smoothie tastes just fine without them. Substitute your favorites!

The trick with this smoothie that made it better than monday's is that I used coconut milk instead of coconut water, I doubled the liquid by adding 8 oz of plain water, and I prepared the fruits and froze them earlier in the week. Overall, the frozen fruit blended better and the extra liquid made for a much smoother texture. 

Another alternative is instead using 8 oz coconut water and 5 oz greek yogurt, which is what I ended up adding to Monday's to make the texture smooth out and loosen up.

Chia Pudding:

• 1 tbs chia seeds
• 3 oz Lactaid (or any milk substitute)
• 5 oz coconut water
• 1 tbs honey
• Combine ingredients in a sealable container, mix well, let sit overnight in the refrigerator for a quick breakfast pick-me-up!

I tried the first batch with coconut milk and it didn't come out as creamy. When I used the Lactaid (Full fat!), it came out perfectly. Now, this recipe could also work with low fat yogurt instead of milk and coconut water if you don't like to use milk and want a creamier texture. Overall, the honey definitely made the whole dish. 

The thing that made me want to try out chia pudding was the fact that these little seeds puff up in liquid and look like frog eggs. I grew up in the country for the early half of my childhood and one of the coolest school trips was always going down to a pond to catch tadpoles and find squishy frog eggs. This would make a great Halloween snack project for a classroom snack day!

Keep an eye out for today's dose of Tango to see his stages of begging for dinner!