Easy & Healthy Smoothie

First thing I should say is that I am in no means a health professional, and I really don't know what I'm talking about as far as what is 'healthy' and what is not. I just know what little I do from a nutrition course I took and from my SIL who's a trainer (also, I am dying to try her Vitamix smoothies!).

With all that being said, I try my hardest to eat well and to count calories. Doing that, one of my favorite breakfast foods are smoothies. Almost every single morning, I will have a large smoothie that fills me up and will last me till lunchtime. I love it because it's easy for me to count the calories (I'll show you how) and is relatively fresh and healthy.
Since I have one almost everyday, I've kinda created and perfected my perfect smoothie. I like it cold but with no ice, a little tart and mostly sweet. I like adding yogurt to mine because I find with that added protein it really helps hold me over till the next meal (but you don't have to add it if you don't want to!)

Here's how I make mine:


 -Trop 50 OJ
-Whatever yogurt I have on hand (today is was Aussie yogurt 'Noosa')
-Whatever frozen fruit I have on hand (Today was blueberries and strawberries)
-Fresh spinach


I always start by adding a heaping handful of spinach at the bottom of the blender. I do this so the spinach really gets chopped up and I won't see it or taste it. Trust me, as long as I do it right, I do NOT taste it at all, nor do I see it.

Then I add my yogurt. I like using individual yogurts so I can really control how much I am using and how many calories I am adding. I normally buy the Dannon Light and Fit Greek yogurts (they're only 80 cals and are delicious) but we just had this brand on hand. I believe that this cup was 140 calories.

Then, using my yogurt cup, I add frozen fruit. I just measure how much I am using by using the cup (which is a very french thing to do, if I might add).

Since the cup is 4 oz, I know that I am eating 4oz of blueberries. Oh, and I always use frozen fruit because I hate when I have ice shards in my smoothies. I find that they are just as cold using fruit and taste better! Then I throw in a handful of strawberries.

After, again using the cup to measure, I add 8 oz of OJ.

 You can add more juice if you like your smoothie thinner, but I like mine thick because then I can eat it with a spoon and pretend it's ice cream. ;)

Blend it all together and you've got yourself a delicious smoothie! You can add sweetener if you'd like, but I find that with the yogurt and the orange juice, it's plenty sweet.

So here's the calorie count:

Spinach-25
Yogurt-140
Fruit-75
OJ-50

Total: 290 calories! Not so bad, huh!?!