This is it...and monster green smoothies

Hi, here is my first post ever. Apologies in advance for rambling, I am sure I will get the hang of this soon enough. So, as this is my first post, here's a bit about why I am here....I am attempting to temper my love of food with my wish to get healthy! I am sure there is a way to get fit, loose weight and eat good food as well, and it is my mission to find a way that works for me, and makes me feel good.

Here is my breakfast this morning, my green monster. I have been attempting to get into shape internally and externally, and regularly follow the blog Oh She Glows and read about the Green Monster smoothie site that spun off her site and the reasons behind it, so I thought, right, let's give it a shot. Here is my first attempt:

The first attempt nearly killed my magic bullet. Note to self, do NOT put a whole frozen banana in the magic bullet (oh and probably more importantly, peel said banana before freezing!) Anyway, moving on....I really followed Angela's recipe, and now just add a few things here and there depending on what's in the fridge

Green Monster Smoothie
makes 1 serving

• 1 cup sugar free almond milk (or I also like kara coconut milk) use whatever you like
• 1/2 T chia seeds or ground flax
• 1 tsp vanilla
• sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon)
• 1 T reduced fat peanut butter
• 1/2 scoop wheat grass
• 1-2 large handfuls of organic baby spinach
• 1 tsp green tea powder
• 1 T vanilla protein powder
• 1 frozen banana chopped into circles

Pour in the milk first, then add the rest of the ingredients, blend and enjoy! Just a word of warning, that you may not be used to all this fiber first thing in the morning, so if you are sensitive to fiber then it might be best to only drink 1/2 of this for the first several days, or gradually work up to 1T chia seeds. I have had to scale back on the chia seeds, and watch fiber over the rest of the day as it is taking me some time to get used to it as well. However, I am getting so much more veg in my diet every day now with this, which can only be a good thing!

So having had the smoothie around 7am, I am now hungry at 11, so off to have some overnight oats to keep me full until lunch.

To make overnight oats, there are loads of recipes out there, just google overnight oats or go to one of my other fave blogs I Talk To Food

For mine, I put the following into a tupperware (as I take it to work with me)

• 30g oats (@ 1/3 cup) of any variety, I vary between gluten free and non
• 1 tsp chia seeds (if I haven't had them in my monster smoothie)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

I add just enough water to cover, and pop in the fridge and leave overnight. If you aren't trying to lose weight or just want something richer, just cover with milk of your choice.

The next morning or when I want to eat them, I add 1-2 T of 0% fat greek yoghurt and stir in. Then I chop up and apple and strawberries, add a couple of chopped pecans and a tsp of pumpkin seeds, and a drizzle of maple agave syrup, and voila! There you have it. Lovely and filling and tasty too!

Starving now, so off to eat my oats!
Steph