Orange Cream Smoothie

Generally speaking I'm not a big smoothie lover. They typically don't satisfy me and I'm hungry an hour later. The trick, though, is having a nice balance of fat, carbs and protein.

Yesterday was pretty much a nutritional fiasco. I did pretty well in the morning, but by lunch I had completely blown it. Not only was lunch bad, I got off work and had sushi. Now, sushi is not the worst thing you can eat by any stretch of the imagination, but it still has quite a few calories. Not good when you just scarfed down a hamburger and french fries for lunch.

After yesterday, I knew I needed to get back on track today. I planned out everything I would eat today and I'm in good shape. My schedule this morning was insane. I knew I wouldn't have time to eat breakfast until close to 11:00. So a smoothie it is.

Smoothies are great because you have endless possibilities. You can literally use almost anything you have on hand. Like I said, stick to a balance of healthy fat, carbs and protein.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup old fashioned oats
1 scoop protein powder (I use Iso-100 Vanilla)
1 whole orange, peeled and segmented
2 tbsp walnuts
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
4-6 ice cubes

Directions:
Put everything in a blender and blend. Duh. It's a smoothie. The trick, though, is blending it on high for a fairly long period of time so you get the oats nice and smooth. Chunks in your smoothie? No thank you.

I use less ice because I like my smoothies fairly runny. If you want it thicker like a Jamba Juice, just add more ice.

Here are some of my favorite smoothie variations:

Banana Peanut Butter Cup: 1/4 cup oats, 1 scoop protein powder, 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1/2 banana, 1 tbsp cocoa powder, 1/2 cup almond milk, ice cubes. If you want it extra creamy, add a dallop or two of fat free plain Greek yogurt.

Razzleberry: 1/4 cup oats, 1 scoop protein powder, 1/4 cup frozen raspberries, 1/4 cup frozen blueberries, 2 tbsp walnuts, 1/2 cup almond milk, ice cubes.

Blueberry Graham Cracker: 2 tbsp Grape Nuts cereal, 1 scoop protein powder, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 2 tbsp walnuts, 1/2 cup almond milk, ice cubes.

Pumpkin Pie: 2 tbsp Grape Nuts Cereal, 1 scoop protein powder, 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (not pie mix), 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cloves, 1/2 cup almond milk, ice cubes.

You've heard of green smoothies, right? Just toss some fresh spinach or kale into any fruit smoothie. It will look green, but you won't taste the vegetables.