We finally had a weekend with no commitments! I’m telling you, that’s pretty rare in our lives. I did have a Lions Club spaghetti dinner on Friday night (yes, I’m in Lions Club – in fact, I’m the President!). We have members of our club make/buy desserts for everyone to enjoy instead of buying them through the club and taking away from the total profit.
I decided to make something new and it actually turned out delicious! It was definitely NOT clean eating, but I was told they were fabulous. I found them on Pinterest and they were No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites (holy cow, such a long name). I found them on the blog A Teaspoon of Happiness. She has a great website and well, I was not disappointed with the outcome of these bites. Delicious.
Saturday we slept in, and by slept in I mean I slept until 7:00am. Not bad in my opinion, sometimes I wake up at 5:30am or 6:00am on weekends. My Fitbit told me that I slept for 9 hours and 22 minutes Friday night and 8 hours and 42 minutes Saturday night.
I actually forced myself to go to bed at 10:00pm last night. I was so caught up in reading The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. It is so good! I had about 50 pages left when I made myself go to bed so when I woke up this morning I finished reading right away! It was really good. I definitely recommend it. It is a thriller/mystery-like novel and you don’t want to put it down, or at least I didn’t.
So, strawberry smoothies huh. Welp, see ya later. Anyone familiar with that reference? Big Gulps? Dumb & Dumber? Anyway, this is not just a strawberry smoothie, but a strawberry almond smoothie. The almond adds a nice flavor to keep this smoothie not quite so boring.
Smoothies sometimes get a bad rap because the ones you buy can be loaded with sugar and calories! However like most things, making them at home makes you in control of the ingredients being added. Avoid protein powder that has added sugars and also fruit that has been sweetened. If the fruit you use is ripe, then it is sweet enough already!
I happened to use frozen strawberries for this recipe (I bought some on sale and frozen them myself). I prefer using mostly frozen ingredients in smoothies because it makes them super thick. I like to be able to eat my smoothies with a spoon… makes me feel like I’m indulging in ice cream! I also used almond butter, but if you don’t have any then use raw, unsalted almonds (they blend up nicely).
I didn’t use any in this recipe (for photograph purposes), but I always add spinach or spinach cubes to my smoothies. Veggies for breakfast, heck yes! Check out this post for how to make spinach cubes. Spinach will definitely make the smoothie green (or sometimes brown, depending on the other ingredients) but I swear you cannot taste it. You’ll get extra vitamins and minerals without even realizing it.
You can make this for breakfast, post-workout (use whey vanilla protein for after a workout), or you can use this as a snack. I occasionally whip one up after dinner if I am craving something sweet…. I swear if it is thick enough, it’ll feel like you are eating strawberry ice cream!
- 1 cup strawberries, frozen or fresh
- 1 cup almond milk, unsweetened
- 1 Tbsp chia seeds
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
- 1/2 Tbsp almond butter
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- Ice, optional
- Combine all ingredients into a blender. Blend until the desired consistency is reached. Enjoy!
- Frozen fruit helps thicken the smoothie, however if you have fresh fruit it can be used, just add ice.
- Add spinach or frozen spinach cubes for added nutrients.
- Raw almonds can be substituted for almond butter if necessary.
I did the same thing with Girl on the Train. I had to finish it when I woke up, so ended up lounging in pjs until I was done. Wonderful
way to start a day! What are you reading now?
I haven’t picked a new book yet… any suggestions?! My mom usually recommends stuff to me 🙂
Mel! I have been reading for awhile but keep forgetting to leave a comment 🙂 Lovin the blog! Felt the same way about “girl on a train,” SO GOOD! 🙂
You should read the two books that J.K. Rowling released under her pseudonym, Robert Galbraith. They are mystery (which I’ve been really getting into recently) and they are really good! The first one is “The Cuckoo’s Calling” and the second is “The Silkworm.” They are sequential, so I’m hoping for a whole series!
Awesome! I have some traveling to do in the upcoming months and need some go-to books! I’ll check these out 🙂 Thanks