"Try It Tuesday" Smoothie Edition

I recently purchased a NutriBullet food extractor to make smoother, healthier smoothies. 

I really like the convenience of a smoothie for breakfast and the most recent attempts in my blender had turned out clumpy and chunky and I ended up wasting more than I enjoyed.

(When I grow up, I'd like to upgrade to the Vitamix.)

Before I made my purchase, I scoured the internet (Pinterest) and found a plethora of healthy smoothie recipes, but most of them were higher in calories than I would want. Sure, they are chock full of fruits and veggies, but 500+ calories for a snack? No thank you.

Being on a 1200 calorie a day diet, I usually try not to go over 300 calories for breakfast, so I decided that I needed to create healthy, tasty smoothies UNDER 300 calories for the calories conscious out there.

With that, I would like to present to you:

Ok, let's address the immediate issue at hand: it looks like YUCK!! It has a handful of baby spinach, but the gorgeous, strawberry pink color is in there somewhere. What you really need to be concerned about is the taste. So let me reassure you,

THIS STUFF IS AMAZING!!

This is actually my first "green" smoothie and I was a little reluctant to add spinach to a perfectly good smoothie, but as long as you keep a 50:50 (fruit to veggie) ratio, you really DO NOT taste the spinach.

Trust me.

Here's what you will need:

Handful of baby spinach (about 1 cup)

1/4 c. Fat Free Cottage Cheese

3/4 c. Frozen Strawberries

1 1/2 tsp. flax seed (whole, not milled)

1 tsp. honey

1/2 scoop of Light Cake Batter Muscle Milk Protein Powder
1/2 c. unsweetened vanilla almond milk

All the ingredients minus the strawberries and almond milk.

Put all the ingredients into your Nutribullet (or blender or Vitamix if you're cool like that!) and process until smooth.

You will end up with a delicious breakfast or snack that is PACKED with nutrients, vitamins, protein and fiber that will keep you full for hours!  The cake batter protein powder really does gives the shake a sweet, cheesecake taste, but if you don't have this flavor, you can use vanilla protein powder and it will still be delicious.

Oh yeah, and there's 212 calories. 

BOOM!

Enjoy!

An Ode to Creativity

So, it's a new year already and I'm inspired to make positive changes and to be more creative. 

The best way to do this is to surround yourself with positive, creative people. 

Fortunately, I work with some really clever guys.

For example, the other day, I spotted this at the office coffee pot:

How cool is that?!

You just turn the bottom cup to the time the coffee was made so you'll know how fresh it is.

I love being resourceful and using everyday objects for new purposes and I thought this was totally rad!! 

So, now, you should totally do this at your office and everyone will think you're awesome!

Here's something I had to do the other day:

Yes, that is a latex glove covering a styrofoam cup filled with gravy. 

We ran out of lids at work and I didn't want to throw this perfectly good sausage gravy away when I could have it for breakfast the next day. So...I looked around and found a box of latex gloves 

that fit the top of the cup perfectly.

It really provided an airtight seal and assured me breakfast for the next day!

It's not much to look at, but, hey, it served a purpose.

Sometimes it's hard to solve a problem because we try to do things the way we've always done. 

It's a lot more fun when we come up with a new, creative solution on our own.

(It's more rewarding, too!)
I never want to be so closed minded that I am not open to new ideas and possibilities.

(On that note, did you know that you've been eating chicken wings all wrong?)

Or what about all those "life hacks" you've seen on the internet? Do they really work?
Check out this video from mental_floss to find out:

So there you have it. My ode to creativity. 

I hope you're inspired to think outside the box this year and not let any obstacles stand in your way!

Until next time...