Nothin’ like a smoothie to brighten up a rainy day!
Sub-Zero Superfoods sent me a sample pack of their blend-at-home smoothies. They’re similar to Daily Harvest in that they put pre-portioned, superfood ingredients into a frozen cup delivered to your doorstep, and you just add milk and blend when you’re ready to eat. They offer a great variety of options too – some with rice protein, low sugar, collagen for all you collagen peeps, bowls with granola included (that’s what I have above!), and some with greens. All have been tasty and on par with smoothies I’d get in a fancy smoothie shop.
I’ve obviously been on a total smoothie kick lately. Mazen loves the chocolate-peanut-butter-banana combo, so I make those for his breakfast the majority of the time. (Usually plus a slice of whole wheat toast.) He often only drinks half the smoothie for breakfast and I save the rest for later. And sometimes I finish his half eaten toast with my smoothie! Granola on top of this one.
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Yogurt, nectarine, granola + almond butter parfaits are pretty regular too! I can tell I’m about to enter the hot breakfast phase of life, as it’s been a bit chilly some of these past mornings. Can’t wait for cozy bowls of oatmeal! I might have to bring back rice cooker oats when the baby comes. Or do a big batch of whipped banana that I can reheat.
Hillary and I recently had lunch at our new Cava! They had so many great toppings, and my bowl was fab. Loved the watermelon lemonade too!
On a particularly rainy day I whipped up a bowl of Vie’s Quick Tomato Soup. It’s so simple: garlic (and onion if you want) plus fire-roasted tomatoes, broth, half and half, and some spices. Blend it up and you have a homemade tomato soup. On the side I made a Sunshine Burger on a whole wheat English muffin. The brand sent me a few coupons to try them out, and I like that they’re made with real food and not soy! There’s ketchup, mustard, and pickle on there too – you just can’t see it!
Mazey and I walked downtown with our friends for Splendora’s Gelato recently. The neighbors gave him a gift card for his birthday. What a perfect gift idea! I’m going to get a few myself to give out. #minimalism
He was very proud to buy my ice cream with his “credit card.”
Mini scoop of salted caramel with heath bar – woo hoo!
My biggest dinner win last week was a turmeric crockpot pineapple chicken that I made YEARS ago and one of you told me was one of your favorite recipes! I put it on our meal plan and it was a hit. Love that sweet-savory pineapple!
Mmm, I’m really feeling like a yoghurt parfait myself too now! I feel like I haven’t had one in the longest time. Your dinner plate is also super cute! 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Those parfaits are so pretty! I ask need to try the crockpot recipe – always looking for ways ways to incorporate turmeric into weeknight recipes!
Have you addressed how you feel about collagen and if you use it? I know you’ve usually defined real food as something you could make at home
Not specifically. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing but at the moment I don’t have any reason why I’d want to pay to add more to my diet in addition to what I can get from food. I think if you have joint issues or try it and feel a difference, it’s fine to take. I would never put it in my coffee though – eww! I’d put it in smoothies or drink it straight : )
I recently started taking collagen (mixed in my coffee, haha! I swear you can’t even taste it…) because my mom started to develop severe arthritis in her 30s and I am starting to have some signs in my small joints. However, I have been doing more research and was surprised to learn how many real foods can actually help to support natural collagen production. I assumed that the only way to get more collagen was lots of bone broth, which I’m just not really into making, but I’ve read that lots of foods like leafy greens, citrus, tomatoes, avocado, salmon, and berries have different nutrients that help to support your body making its own collagen and prevent the decline in production that happens as we age. Now that I know that I’m thinking I might finish out the collagen powder I have and then just try to focus on those foods more going forward!
Real food FTW!! We all need to be eating as much real food as possible : )
I’m interested in the rice cooker oats. I will make up a batch of steel cut oats with almond milk and add in organic egg whites. It is four servings and helps me eat well through the week, and especially on Sundays when I hike early. I also JUST learned how to poach eggs well. Our book club themes its food around the most recent book, and we had Korean bibimbap bowls last week. I had leftover poached eggs with sauteed vegetables and they were terrific reheated – the yolks stayed soft! So I’ve added that to my arsenal as well. I am VERY late to the game on learning how to cook, so anything easy to keep my nutrition on track is much appreciated!
That all sounds so great!
You look so cute on your walk with Mazen. You’re going to end up missing tour baby bump! Lol.
I remember loving gift cards as a kid because it was something to fill up my wallet, and I sometimes got to swipe them like a credit card!
What ratios and ingredients (what kind of chocolate) do you use to make the chocolate-peanut butter-banana smoothies? In the past, I have made something similar with Nutella but one of my kiddos was recently confirmed allergic to tree nuts so hazelnuts are out. Thanks for the info!
I normally just dump ingredients in – frozen bananas, milk, oats, peanut butter, and Vega Chocolate Protein powder (that’s the chocolate!)
I am currently eating a fruit and yogurt bowl with granola right now, so this was the perfect post to read!
Why do you not consider soy a real food? In the past you would eat tofu often.
Soy in tofu, soy milk, edadmame, etc. is all totally fine with me. I’m just not thrilled with hydrolysed soy protein that’s in tons of bars and veggie burgers. I wouldn’t be opposed to eating it every now and then, but it’s not something I buy on the regular.
For the turmeric crockpot pineapple chicken do you use the juice from the pineapple, or just the chunks of pineapple?
I used the juice!
Sunshine burgers are one of my favorites! The original flavor ones. They’re perfect for ontop of salads since they’re actually sturdy and filling.
I just made a quick tomato soup myself the other day when it was rainy and chilly! I used some canned white beans and soaked raw cashews with everything and blended really well to get a nice creamy texture- I can’t have dairy and the beans make it more filling too.
The yogurt and nectarine bowl looks so good and fresh! I really love nectarines with almond butter.
good pictures…