My First Ever Tutorial!

All of my favorite blogs have tutorials; and seeing that I desperately want I'm Really Not that Smart to be on my list of personal favorites, I figure I should have at least one.  Who doesn't love a good lesson every now and again, right?

I'm pretty awesome at eating chocolate covered donuts, I'm not gonna lie; but is this skill-o-mine blog worthy?  Probably not.  Gotta keep it interesting, you know?  Truthfully, I'm one of those, "Jack of all trades, master of none" kinda gals.  There's a lot I do, but nothing that I'm just awesome at (except the donuts, and I totally rock in that arena).  I had an Ahah! moment when I was eating breakfast and was reminded of my latest "act of learning."

On a recent road trip, I visited a great friend who gave me a sample of her spinach and fruit smoothie.  She blended it up the night before and it was ready and waiting bright and early the next morning.  I took her idea, built on it a bit, and wha-do-ya-know? I found a great way to eat a quick and healthy breakfast.  So, here it is, my first tutorial ever...

How to Make

The Easiest, Fastest, Okay Tasting 

Smoothie of ALL Time!

Prep Work:

Step 1:  Go to Sam's or Costco and buy all the frozen fruit you like.  I bought Pineapple, Blueberry and Strawberry.  Buy A TON of fresh bananas, spinach, and apples. Look for Flax seed and buy it if they have it.  I'll include a shopping list at the end of the tutorial.

Step 2:  Count your bananas.  Get out that many quart size freezer bags.  Each bag is going to have layers of smoothie ingredients.  It will take you about 20 minutes longer to make 15 smoothies than it will to make just 1, so make as many as you can (which is usually how many bananas you have).  

Step 3:  My smoothie bags make 2 smoothies per bag.  If you want yours to make just 1, then 1/2 the ingredients!!  I end up with 4 cups according to my blender dashes-- 2 cups for me and 2 for my husband (who is happy that for the first time ever I'm making him breakfast!).  

Put about 1/2 cup of each frozen fruit into each bag.  Add one cored, chopped apple and one sliced banana to each bag.  If using apple sauce, use 1/2 cup.  Add 2-4 tablespoons of Flax, and then a handful (a big handful) of fresh spinach leaves.  The picture above is about what I put into each bag.  

Step 4:  Seal bags, flatten, and freeze.  The hard part of smoothie making is done.  Whew!  

Making the Smoothie

Step 1:  Let the frozen bag thaw for about 20 minutes.  Put it into your blender with 1 cup of water and blend.  My blender works best if I mix it for about 20 seconds, then puree, and then liquify.

Step 2:  Pour and enjoy, or put it directly in the fridge (which I do, because I make mine the night before.  My blender is glass, so I don't even pour it into cups, but you could do that to save one more step in the morning).

If you like a sweeter smoothie, you could always use orange juice instead of water.  Protein or yogurt could be added as well (both of which can go in the zip-lock bag).  

Fast, easy, healthy, and mmm mmm good!

Sam's Shopping List:  

• Bananas and Apples (same amount- each smoothie needs one of each)
• Frozen Pineapples ($8.28 for 5lbs)
• Frozen Sliced Strawberries ($8.28 for 5lbs)
• Frozen Blueberries ($7.28 for 3lbs)
• Organic Spinach ($3.97 for huge clear tub)
• Organic Milled Flax Seed
• Quart size freezer bags  

I have a ton of frozen blackberries, so I add them in.  And my apples didn't come from Sam's.  I used the smaller, cheaper  apples that come in the bags.  Although it seems like a LOT of money, you can get a LOT of smoothies out of this amount of frozen fruit.  I'll try to figure out roughly how much each smoothie costs and get back with you, but I'm thinking it might add up to about $1.50-- if that.

Hope this post inspires you to both eat a healthy breakfast and add a tutorial to your own blog!