I touched on this briefly in my last post (here) but lately I have been all about smoothies. I crave them each afternoon the way I did oranges when I was pregnant with Eleanor. Not to go off topic, but I find it so fascinating how the things we crave while pregnant end up being things that the they love once they start eating solids. Eleanor loves citrus! My mom always says when she was pregnant with me she could not get enough caesar salad and a kale caesar is one of my go to meals that I need to have at least once a week. During this pregnancy salads have definitely played a major role in the cravings department, as have chocolate chip cookies, and more recently smoothies. This baby likes a balance and I am here for it, especially being that I can satisfy this craving without spiking my blood sugar. I’m looking at you perfectly crispy Tate’s cookies that are very likely coming to the hospital with me in my snack bag.

For my afternoon smoothies I have been keeping it pretty simple and have been experimenting with different combinations, but I do have a clear favorite and wanted to share that recipe here. I have been adding a scoop of protein powder to my smoothies to up my intake and help keep my blood sugar balanced, which is new to me. I have been using the Be Well by Kelly vanilla protein powder and have really enjoyed it so far. I do want to note that it does thicken the smoothie quite a bit so keep that in mind if you are using a smaller blender as I find it expands.

This recipe itself is a bit loose. I have been eyeballing all of the ingredients so these measurements are not precise. Sometimes I feel like I add more oat milk, less spinach, or blueberries. The consistent parts are the banana and scoop of protein powder.

Ingredients

1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup chopped spinach
1/2 banana
3/4 cup oat milk
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
2 tbsp shredded coconut

A note — I like to use frozen blueberries and spinach to help make/keep the smoothie colder.

How to make

Add berries, spinach, banana, and oat milk to blender. You can blend if you like to combine these first.
Add scoop of protein powder and blend again until combined. I find that adding the protein powder later on helps it to mix in easier without sticking to the sides of the blender.
Add shredded coconut. I like to blend this in to the smoothie, but you can also use as a topping, in which case I would use less. Or you can do both as pictured above.
Enjoy!

As I said, this is a loose recipe and can be customized fairly easily. I recently ordered chia seeds and will start adding those to the mix. I also love the idea of adding a nut butter as well — maybe as a topping? That sounds nice. I have been making different variations of this smoothie for weeks now and they have all come out pretty good. One final note — if you are skipping the banana I would recommend adding a little bit of honey for that perfect sweetness.

I hope you enjoy this smoothie as much as I do!

xx