Morning Tip: Make ahead smoothies

I am a huge fan of smoothies in the morning. In the past, I was limited to having smoothies on mornings when I wasn't in class because A) making smoothies is noisy and I didn't want to be using a blender super early in the morning and B) making a smoothie takes longer than pouring a bowl of cereal. This all changed when I saw this article on Buzzfeed about making a week's worth of smoothies all at once. Basically, you blend up a bunch of smoothies, pour them into glass (or other freezer safe) jars, freeze them, and then put one in the fridge the night before you want it. Come morning, the fridge has softened the frozen smoothie back to smoothie consistency. 

I was skeptical. I wasn't sure how these would freeze and then thaw. I was also a little worried that come morning the smoothie would still be too frozen or too melted. So I tested it one night making a single smoothie. Results? It works! I am sold. As you can see below, the smoothie looks the same before and after. 

When I make my smoothies, I just wing it. I have seen lots of tasty looking smoothie recipes on Pinterest but I haven't taken the time to follow a recipe because that usually requires going out and buying extra stuff. I usually use strawberries, a banana depending on my base liquid, spinach, and chia seeds. My base liquid is usually almost always orange juice or green tea. Sometimes coconut or almond milk. I don't like yogurt so never yogurt. Gross. 

What's in this particular smoothie you ask?

- 1 banana frozen and cut into slices

- 1-1.5 cups frozen strawberries

- 1/2 cup frozen shredded spinach

- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

- 1 package stevia

- 2 tablespoon chia seeds

- 1-1.5 cups orange juice

I blend my juice, chia seeds, lemon juice, and stevia first. Then add spinach. Next the banana. And end with strawberries. 

I am planning to try making the week's worth of smoothies this summer for breakfast on the go to work.