I was never much of a smoothie drinker until my now 4-year-old abruptly stopped eating most vegetables at age 2. Once it became apparent this wasn’t a momentary phase of picky eating, I dragged out my old blender and started doing fruit and honey-laced veggie concoctions. But my blender kind of sucked and it was hard to clean, so my best-laid plans of a sneaky shot of vitamins and minerals in the form of a “Special Yummy Milkshake!” faltered.
Then, when I moved to Vermont, one of my lovely clients gave me a BlendTec as a gift. This is something I never would have bought for myself, but I use it at least twice and sometimes three times a day, for smoothies and for pureeing all of Baby T’s meals (he eats whatever we’re having, so I just spoon his portion in and he’s good to go). I’ve made energy balls, dips and pasta sauce too. I’m in love!
I’m just not very creative when it comes to healthy smoothie recipes, though. I have two go-to’s: One is almond milk, frozen banana, spinach, nut butter, plain yogurt and powdered peanut butter. The other is coconut water, frozen banana, spinach or kale, avocado, yogurt or cottage cheese, and whatever super-sweet fruit I have (usually berries or pineapple). I decided to up my smoothie game and canvassed some of my food-blogger friends for their best recipes, bringing you:
20 HEALTHY SMOOTHIE RECIPES
Note: I don’t use protein powder in my smoothies. Some of these recipes include protein powder, so if that’s not your jam but you want to keep the protein grams high, alternatives you can use include yogurt (Greek style yogurt is higher in protein); powdered nut butter; cottage cheese; silken tofu; or oats.
TRY AN UNUSUAL INGREDIENT IN YOUR SMOOTHIE:
Beet Blueberry Chia Smoothie from This Runner’s Recipes – Antioxidant beets are perfect for refueling after a run!
Beet and Coconut Smoothie from My Healthyish Life – Coconut water and coconut butter add the flavor to this good-for-you recipe.
Roasted Nectarine Crisp Smoothie from Love Me, Feed Me – Roasting fruit brings out such a delicious, caramelized sweetness. I’m sure this smoothie is decadent.
Lean Green Smoothie from The College Dish – This is close to something I’ve made before, but I’ve never thought of adding pear! Genius.
MAKE YOUR SMOOTHIE YOUR DESSERT:
Chocolate Banana Avocado Smoothie Bowl from Emilie Eats – She had me at chocolate. And avocado. And banana. But mostly at chocolate. And putting it in a bowl makes it feel more like dessert, doesn’t it?
PARTY ON, PROTEIN POWDER PEOPLE
Aloha Smoothie Recipe from Breathe Deeply and Smile – A tropical smoothie with Skoop protein powder.Protein Smoothie from Jill Conyers – Lots of health
Peanut Butter Cup Protein Smoothie from Strength and Sunshine – If you lead with, “This tastes like a peanut butter cup,” I am going to make your recipe.
Do you drink smoothies? What’s your favorite recipe?
Great ideas!! Thanks for gathering them all up in one place! I have 1 go to recipe (banana, water/almond milk, protein powder or yogurt, pecans, cinnamon, chia seed and a tbs of fiber powder) and it starts to be pretty boring! I ll def try a few of those!
ellen recently posted…21 Day Fix Extreme Review
Don’t these sound good?? Now I can definitely break out of my smoothie comfort zone, too. 🙂
Great list! That blackberry birthday smoothie looks fantastic 🙂
Samantha recently posted…The Do’s and Don’ts of Communicating with Teens
And so pretty with the sprinkles, right? I never think of blackberry for smoothies.
Thanks so much for the feature! All these look soooo good, I think my mouth is beginning to water.. 😉
Margaret @ Simple Fit Foodie recently posted…Chocolate Chai Spiced Granola + 10 Other Healthy Granola Recipes
Thanks for letting me share! 🙂 I pretty much want to drink smoothies every day for a month now!
Thanks so much for including me 🙂 That date-banana-tahini smoothie sounds interesting. I never thought to add tahini to a smoothie!
Emily @ My Healthyish Life recently posted…Loving Lately
Thanks for sending your link! Love your beet coconut recipe – beet makes smoothies look sooo pretty! And I’m a sucker for coconut in EVERYTHING.
Thanks so much for including my recipe! The date and tahini smoothie sounds really good – tahini is such a good source of healthy fat, but less thick than nut butter!
Laura @ This Runner’s Recipes recently posted…Easy Run Treadmill Workout to Beat Treadmill Boredom
You are so welcome, Laura! I’m not sure if I told you nearly every time I look at Pinterest, I see a pin and think oh, that sounds so interesting! and nine times out of ten it’s yours! 🙂 Love the way you incorporate nutrition and running in your blog.
I would never think of adding some of those ingredients together. I’m sure they are all tasty! I need to try something different.
lacey@fairytalesandfitness.com recently posted…Workout gear for those who love their pets!
I know, I was really surprised at some of the interesting combinations – I wanted tot get more inventive with my smoothies, so this list was really selfishly for me, ha ha! 😉
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