Smoothie Breakfast: Strawberry or Wild Blueberry and Mint

I will start with the most important thing to me. Last night Dan’s fever was 101 and I was in a bit of a panic. However after 10 hours of sleep his temperature was 98.6 this morning, thankfully. His throat still hurts but I feel like we have turned the corner on this. Big sigh. Thank you all for your concern and recipe suggestions.

For breakfast this morning I decided to make smoothies for two reasons. First, it will be much easier to get calories into him in liquid form. Second, we are expecting another day of temperatures in the low 90 degree range so smoothies just seem right.

I made two different smoothies this morning, one for Dan with additional calories and a more reasonable one for myself. Here is what I made:

Strawberry Smoothie for My Baby
Serves 1

Ingredients:

½ cup oatmeal, dry ground into flour
2 cups water (or less if you want it thick)
2 cups strawberries, frozen
2 tablespoons walnuts
1 tablespoon flaxseeds, ground finely
1 scoop stevia, or to taste
2 tablespoons brown rice protein powder

Directions:

Place everything in your blender and process until completely smooth. Pour into a chilled glass. This recipe is for a thinner smoothie that you can pour into a to go cup and take with you. If you want something thicker start with 1 cup of water and add it more if necessary to get the consistency you like.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 492.81
Calories From Fat (26%) - 127.79

Total Fat - 15.24g
Saturated Fat - 1.54g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 48mg
Potassium - 676.33mg
Total Carbohydrates - 74.35g
Fiber - 16.85g
Sugar - 16.01g
Protein - 23.48g

Comments:

I added the nuts and protein powder to this smoothie increase the calories. This is something you can do with any smoothie. The flaxseed was included for its omega 3 fatty acids but it is also a good source of fiber. If you don’t use stevia you can add a pitted medjool date for sweetness. If I were making this for me I would add a little orange extract.

This one serving of smoothie contains approximately 120mg of vitamin C, 90mg of calcium, 75mcg of folate, 230mg of phosphorus, 110mg of magnesium, and 20mcg of selenium. Not too bad for a breakfast in a glass. And definitely healthier than Jamba Juice, although I have to admit I have enough many of those smoothies in my day. ;-)

Next Recipe:

This is the smoothie that I made for myself. I happen to love blueberry, mint and lemon. It is one of my favorite flavor combinations so I turned it into a smoothie this morning. Here is what I did:

Wild Blueberry and Mint Smoothie with a Hint of Lemon
serves 1

Ingredients:

½ cup oatmeal, ground into flour
1 ½ cups water
1 ½ cups frozen wild blueberries
1 tablespoon golden flaxseeds, finely ground
6 mint leaves, or to taste
¼ teaspoon lemon extract (or fresh lemon zest)

Directions:

Place everything in your blender and puree until smooth. Pour into a chilled glass and serve.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 345.25
Calories From Fat (13%) - 44.32

Total Fat - 5.14g
Saturated Fat - 0.61g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 16.05mg
Potassium - 171.22mg
Total Carbohydrates - 68.97g
Fiber - 7.82g
Sugar -- 0.37g
Protein - 8.92g

Comments:

I loved the flavor of this smoothie. But that isn’t a surprise since I love these flavors together. This was good enough I may have another one tomorrow and you all know I don’t repeat often. ;-)

This smoothie contains approximately 75mcg of calcium, 5mg of iron, 140mg of phosphorus, 50mg of magnesium, and 17.8mcg of selenium. Not quite as good as the strawberry version, but not bad either.

Unrelated note:

These last few days my Vitamix has been invaluable. I don’t know what I would have done without it. I typically use it more often in the summer but not as much as I did yesterday. For those of you that are considering one I highly recommend them. I bought mine at least 5 years ago now, and I give it a workout that has burned out at least 5 prior $100+ blenders. If you have any questions about the machine please feel to ask. I am happy to help in any way that I can.

Here is a picture of our youngest feline Nicco, also known affectionately as Binky. He is keeping an eye on his daddy while I am busy. As you tell by the look on his face he is very intense and doesn’t miss a thing.

Today we don’t have much planned. I am going to encourage Dan to rest and relax so he can heal more quickly. I have no idea what else is happening here to today. But I will let you know what else I decide to cook. I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. Talk to you soon.