Recipe of the Month

As you know, I have been pretty sick with this baby. I learned with Jed that if I ate as soon as I got up and then about every two hours, I could control the barfs a lot better, but all that eating gets really old, even if it's just small snacks. It is really hard to come up with things that taste good continuously and won't make me fat. Cold, creamy things like yogurt, ice cream and sherbet taste amazing, but if I ate even 1/2 cup of ice cream every 2 hours, I would weigh 500 pounds before this baby is born!

Enter the smoothie. Still cold, creamy and delicious. Much less fattening than ice cream and sherbet. I can even sneak veggies and lots of protein into a smoothie. Jed and I eat at least one smoothie a day. I am betting that as the weather heats up, we'll double and triple that consumption.

Our favorite smoothie has been tweaked from a really great Our Best Bites recipe. I modify the smoothie every day based on what I have in the freezer, but the foundations remain the same.

Morning-Sickness Beating Smoothie

1/4 cup orange juice concentrate (approximately)
1/2-3/4 cup plain yogurt (Greek-style provides the most protein but homemade is awesome too)
1 cup water
2 tbsp oat groats or steel-cut oats
1 banana
1 heaping cup frozen blueberries
1 very large handful baby spinach
Optional:
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1/2 cup frozen cranberries
1/2 cup fresh or frozen cut strawberries

I like to layer it in the blender exactly as written, because my blender is w-i-m-p-y. It seems to work best to let it chop through the soft stuff and then work into the harder stuff gradually. I know, I put way too much thought into how I blend, but I detest stopping and starting to poke around with a spoon. One day I will have a Vitamix and the point will be moot, but until then... I digress.

You can leave out the oat groats/steel-cut oats, but I find that they give this smoothie some staying power and help me feel fuller longer. I don't recommend leaving out the spinach. I know, it sounds yucky, but I promise you can't even taste it. If you feel like you can taste it, put in a little more orange juice concentrate--the citrus helps mask the spinach flavor. I especially love putting the spinach in because Jed gets some veggies early in the day that he doesn't even know about and if he balks at lunch, I know he won't wither and die. I have run out of frozen cranberries and I am SO sad...this smoothie was awesomely tangy and delicious with them. If you have any left over from Thanksgiving or Christmas, toss them in and you'll be in love.

Start blending and enjoy!