Smoothie Recipes & Catching Up

I've been eating delicious smoothies each day so will share the recipes below! Just a few things to share first. 

On my way home yesterday, I enjoyed sunshine and blue skies. In the Midwest (especially the farther north you go I'd imagine), these sights are more rare, so I lived in the moment, appreciating the beauty.

January 29th was Nick and I's 7 year dating anniversary. I woke up to this sweet note on the bathroom mirror:) 

I thought I'd share one of the delicious salads we've been loving. 
This is fresh romaine, chopped with sliced ham, crasins, walnuts, and eggs (microwaved for quick preparation) and Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette. This dressing is delicious, but I will say it bothers me that too much dressing comes out at a time, and I feel like we end up wasting some every time. At some point, I'll get a container to keep it in that controls how much comes out at one time. 

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Now that they're out, I wanted to share a glimpse of the invites I helped put together for my sister in law, Amber's card baby shower. The invite theme was "little man" and had a mustache on it, so I went with the mustache theme. These mustaches were just too cute! I got the stamp at Paper Source (thankfully - I went to many other crafty stores around town and this was the only place I could find one!).

 More mustaches for you:

We're excited to see her belly grow and meet this little guy in April! 

 I took this photo a few days ago after we had some more fresh snow fall. At least it looks pretty! 

Smoothies:

Ever since getting my Ninja for my birthday, I've enjoyed smoothies for breakfast each morning, and yesterday, even whipped up another when I got home from work. They're so good and you can make them so many ways with whatever ingredients you like. I thought I'd share what I've been making so you can try them too! You can easily make these in any sort of blender I'd imagine.

These are dairy and gluten free, though you don't have to make yours that way.

I had this smoothie after work yesterday when I really wanted to come home and eat chocolate. I decided to make a smoothie and add some cocoa powder (a friend gave me this idea) to make my treat healthier. I don't measure these, I just toss things in and it always works out! 

Ingredients:
-Frozen strawberries
-Frozen blueberries
-Peanut butter (1 heaping tsp or so)
-Almond milk
-Vanilla (coconut milk) yogurt
-Cinnamon (1/4 - 1/2 tsp)
-Gluten free oats
-Cocoa powder (the unsweetened kind for baking) (1 tsp or so)

Blend it until you like the consistency and try it, see if you need to make any adjustments. Then you're good to go! 

 I had this one for breakfast this morning. 

Ingredients:
-Frozen blueberries
-Frozen strawberries
-Frozen Mangoes
-A banana, torn into smaller pieces

-Almond milk
-V8 Fusion juice I wanted to use up
-Cinnamon (1/4 - 1/2 tsp)
-A pinch of pumpkin pie mix spice (why not? I like to experiment)
-Gluten free oats
-Chopped walnuts
-1 tsp Chia seeds (yep, the same kind the were the plant sensation. Check out their health benefits! They're a great superfood and are super easy to add and eat in the smoothies - they get a gel around them when you add them to the liquid, so you really hardly notice them, especially with the fruit pieces, etc.). Here's a visual of what they do:

 I just use a little bit of each of the frozen fruits (they're organic ($) and I just need a little of everything in these). I add the liquids at the end, and most of the time, I add about as much liquid to come about to the top of the rest of the ingredients. If you want it to be thicker (like eat with a spoon), add less liquid. I've been taking them in a cup and drinking them through a straw on my way to work so I like mine to be easily drinkable.

Nick has been more adventurous adding some carrots and greens to his, although I've added celery to a few of mine! We'll keep experimenting, but I haven't tried a bad combination yet. It helps to start my day with such a fruit and vitamin rich drink rather than the breakfast bar I was used to. I've also pinned lots of recipes I've yet to try, see my Pinterest page for drinks here for many more ideas.

Today's Pinspiration:

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