Why Smoothies Are the Best Fast Food

When it comes to smoothies, there are many different directions you can go from a light serving alternative to fruits and veggies to a full on hearty meal replacement. I’m more of a meal replacement girl, smoothies are my go to for fast, healthy, energizing, and nutritious meals on the go and my favorite for week morning breakfasts to sip at work. This month I’m trying a range of fitness classes using ClassPass and cramming some in on weeknights which isn’t easy after a long work day, chores, etc. Last night I tried a Barre class at a The Dailey Method studio location here. It was my first barre experience and whew, it worked my abs, legs, and flexibility to a new level! I’m feeling it today! And I learned I’m not as flexible as I thought I was! Need to work on that…

Since this Barre class was at 6:30 pm, I decided to have a quickie dinner smoothie before instead of having dinner too late after the class. And a hearty, veggie-loaded smoothie is a health nut’s alternative to the drive thru! This smoothie recipe is one of my favorites for combining ginger zing with a sweet and spicy vanilla chai tea. The ingredient list is a little daunting now that I look at it, but it actually only takes minutes to load into a blender.

Vanilla Chai Meal Smoothie

1 scoop of Garden of Life’s Raw Protein powder
1 tbsp. Healthforce Vitamineral Green Powder
1/2 tsp. MSM powder
1 orange, peeled (fresh or frozen)
1 banana (fresh or frozen)
2 carrots, chopped
2 cups kale leaves (fresh or frozen)
1/2 tsp. chai tea
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (or Garden of Life’s Vanilla Raw Protein powder)
handful of raisins or 2 pitted medjool dates
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup water, as needed

Place all ingredients into a high speed blender and blend to a smooth and creamy texture. Serve and enjoy. Makes 1 serving.

The texture works, it’s smooth, cool, sweet, but not too sweet, and satisfying without being heavy and bloating – perfect before heading to a fitness class! And the flavor is a kicky, dessert-like vanilla chai with a ginger kick. There are a lot of options for customizing too – use an apple, kiwi, or whatever fresh/frozen fruit you have on hand. No kale? Go for spinach or even raw broccoli. How about butternut squash in place of the carrot? Have fun with whatever fresh ingredients you have on hand.

Since I was chopping carrots, the dogs came running to the kitchen.

And I had to share of course.

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