GET HEALTHY! Easy single serve smoothie packs & recipes

Now that it is the beginning of a new year we are able to refocus on our health.  I spent the first week of  this month blogging on housekeeping and organizing with a post on the best health and fitness posts from 2011, and I want to spend this week on weight loss and healthy habits.  With that in mind I wanted to give you a few simple tips to create healthy nutrient dense smoothies quickly and easily.  I like to make these for breakfast to get a healthy start to the day.  

 TRICKS FOR INDIVDUAL FROZEN FRUIT SMOOTHIE PACKS

To make it even easier take the allotted amount of frozen fruit like a mixture of strawberries, peaches and bananas and put it all together in a zip lock bag and then toss it in the freezer.  Now all you have to do is grab a bag out of the freezer and add the rest of the ingredients in.  If you are adding yogurt you can freeze it ahead of time in ice cube trays.  Once it is frozen throw the desired amount of yogurt cubes into the ziplock bag that your frozen fruit is in and you have single serving smoothie packs!  If you usually add ice add the cubes to the freezer packs and you will not have to keep opening the freezer to get out several different ingredients!

If you love those juicy, fruity smoothies use the below recipe as a base and add some of the supplements mentioned further down.  The one below is my all time favorite as it tastes like a treat and in summer I even prefer it to ice cream!!  

      My favorite berry smoothie recipe

1 cup orange juice (sometimes I water it down to save on calories or switch it out for part green tea, or tazo passion tea made very strong with stevia for sweetener)
1 cup frozen mixed berries
1/2 cup yogurt (plain no growth hormones)
1/2 frozen banana ( I keep these on hand when bananas go on sale and break them in half and freeze on a cookie sheet then transfer to zip lock bag).
1 big handful of fresh spinach (will turn your smoothie a different color)

1 Tablespoon ground flax seed

1 tsp Maca powder ( I don't put this in my husbands or my kids)

a few pieces of ice.

Blend in blender.  If it needs more liquid just add a little more juice.  This one can easily be changed by switching up the fruits and juices used.  You can freeze juice in your ice cube tray if you feel the ice is watering it down.

Want a green smoothie? Follow the guide below.

I found this great guide from sweat and the city
The shake I most commonly make in the morning
is this one.

Protein Shake

1 c soy  milk (or 1/2 soy 1/2 water)

1/2 frozen banana

a few ice cubes

1 handful organic baby spinach 

1/2 -1 scoop soy protein powder

1 Tbs ground flax seed

Share your best smoothie recipes.  We would all love to hear them!