Smoothie Trials

On Monday night, after I blogged, I headed to DSW with my mom to search for a pair of cute wedges. I ended up finding some, but rather than taking a picture, I will post one later after I wear them to the Taylor Swift concert tonight. (SO EXCITED!) After shopping, we headed next door to Dave & Buster's for dinner. I had the salmon with seasonal veggies and rice

It was delicious! I came home to surprise treats that Brad's mom had picked up for us: Low-Fat Mint Chocolate Dilly Bars from Dairy Queen. I had to have one, but didn't feel bad about it, because I had spun for two hours and eaten healthy all day.

Tuesday morning, I decided to try making a "Thin Mint" smoothie based on Julie's recipe. (I know that it seems like I am obsessed with Julie, probably because I am. Okay, not obsessed; that makes me sound a little crazy. But I have become a dedicated reader of her blog and I really like her "mentality." The stuff she eats is healthy, but reasonable. By reasonable, I mean easy to make and yummy to eat. So, I'm using lots of her ideas and I plan on continuing to do so, because it's working for me!) Anyways, now that I look back at Julie's recipe, I see that I screwed it up a little bit. I tossed the following into the blender:

• 1 frozen banana
• 1 packet chocolate protein powder
• 1 tbsp. of cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cups of almond milk
• Peppermint extract

In her reciple, Julie warns to be careful with the extract, because a little bit goes a long way. Well, it came out kinda fast, and I think I used a little too much. The smoothie was very peppermint-y. Plus, Julie's recipe doesn't actually use any frozen fruit (which I, apparently, missed). It uses ice cubes and two large handfuls of spinach. Well, I didn't have any spinach on hand when I made breakfast yesterday, but I did pick some up in the afternoon, so I'll have to use it for another smoothie in the near future. This one didn't turn out horribly, but there is room for improvement next time.

Again, I drank my smoothie on the way to the gym, where I took a one-hour Pilates class. For some reason, I really wasn't feelin' my workout yesterday and contemplated leaving after the class. Then, I ran into my friend Lauren who was coming to take our usual Tuesday mid-day cardio class. It's beyond true that having a gym buddy is super motivating! I stuck it out, walked on the treadmill between classes, and then headed to Cardio Fusion. I'm so glad I did, because starting next week, I won't be able to make it since I'll be nannying.

When I got home from the gym, I was starving and decided to have my mom's leftovers from dinner the night before for lunch. (She always gives her leftovers to me :) I remembered to snap a picture mid-meal.

At dinnertime, I was babysitting Brad's younger sister. She wanted pizza for dinner, so we cooked one up in the pizza oven. Rather than making a separate dinner for myself, I had one piece of pizza and made a large salad to go with it. I also decided to try making another quick snack that I read about on Julie's blog, strawberry fluff. I made a packet of sugar-free strawberry jello with only the hot water (not the cold). After it set, I blended it with one cup of fat-free cottage cheese, then put it back into the fridge to set. (I'm not sure if this was supposed to be one of the steps, but when I blended it, it had the consistency of a smoothie, so I had to.) When I got home from volleyball, I was ready for a snack, so I enjoyed some of the fluff with some fresh strawberries, chia seeds, and a couple of candied pecans that I bought from a bake sale last weekend.

Today, I hopped back on the smoothie-train. I knew that I wanted to use some of the strawberries that I had bought yesterday. I chopped up one pack last night and threw them in freezer.

By the way, let me just say that I thought it was hilarious that Julie happened to create a post entitled How To Freeze a Banana, since I made the novice mistake of tossing a couple into the fridge while they were still peeled. I can't believe that I didn't think about how hard that would be to peel ... a total duh moment!

So, this morning, I did my best to recreate her chocolate-covered strawberry smoothie. Into the blender went:

• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1 packet strawberry shortcake protein powder
• 3/4 cup of almond milk
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
• A few ice cubes

This baby took a little while to blend ...

The little blender that could

It was looking a little thick and I knew that I wanted to be able to suck it through a straw on the way to the gym, so I added some more almond milk. After much blending, it turned out perfectly:

Definitely my best smoothie to date. (I've only made three, haha!) At the gym, I took a 45-minute spin class, then followed it up by completing two sets of one of the strength training circuits that Jenny set up for me. Here's what I look like after a great workout:

It's not pretty, but it's real!

I've had a busy day painting my nails and toes, doing four loads of laundry, and catching up on my DVR and e-mails, but I really should be studying for my Praxis. Part of tomorrow and all of Friday night will be dedicated to studying. I work best under pressure.

I'm just so pumped for the concert tonight! Can't wait for this ...

Any tips for making the perfect smoothie?