Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

It is funny how certain cravings just strike you out of the blue. Strawberries and bananas have never been a favorite flavor of mine. It might not even make the top 25 flavors I like, but for some reason it sounded really good today. Luckily, it tasted really good as well! I always have frozen bananas (because they get too ripe before we eat them) and strawberries (from when they are in season and super-cheap) on hand, but if you only have fresh you can just toss in some ice cubes to make the smoothie thicker. I added one scoop of protein powder, but you can add more if desired. As is usual, this made much more than I had anticipated, but you can easily halve it. I froze the remaining and just microwaved it on low for 30 seconds for a super-frosty smoothie that was even better than the one I drank fresh out of the blender. I used soy milk, but you can use whatever milk you prefer.

½ medium frozen banana (50 calories, .75 grams protein)
1 cup frozen sliced strawberries (77 calories, 1 gram protein)
1/2 cup fat free Greek yogurt (120 calories, 21.25 grams protein)
1/2 cup regular or low fat milk or soy milk (for testing I used low fat soy milk) (35 calories, 3 grams protein)
1 scoop vanilla protein powder (for testing we used Unjury Vanilla Whey Protein Powder (100 calories, 20 grams protein)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Makes 2 servings.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes

382 calories and 44.25 grams protein total.
191 calories and 22.13 grams protein per serving.

Mixed Berry Smoothie

I don't use a lot of regular milk in my recipes, so I almost always use powdered non-fat milk and water, but you could use 1 cup of skim milk or skim milk plus instead. I make this, along with most of my single-serving smoothies and shakes, in my Hamilton Beach 51101B Personal Blender with Travel Lid since I can just mix it and drink from the same container which means less dishes, but any blender or small food processor will work just fine. I used calorie-free liquid sweeteners, but you can use your favorite artificial sweetener if you prefer (about 2 tablespoons granular or 2 packets) plus 1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice. If you do not have frozen berries, you can use fresh berries plus additional ice cubes. To make sure the smoothie is not too diluted you can just put the ice cubes in a one cup measuring cup and then add enough water to measure one cup.

1/2 cup frozen no sugar added mixed berries (35 calories, .5 grams protein)
2 ice cubes
1 cup water
1/3 cup non-fat dry milk powder (45 calories, 4.5g protein)
4 drops liquid Sucralose
2 drops Lemon Stevia
1/2 scoop unflavored or vanilla protein powder (for testing we used Unjury Vanilla Whey Protein Powder (100 calories, 20g protein)

Combine the ice and berries in the blender and pulse until finely chopped/crushed. Add the water, dry milk powder, sweeteners, and protein powder and blend until smooth. Add more water, if desired, for a thinner smoothie. Serve immediately.

Makes one serving.

180 calories, 25 grams protein