Good morning! Happy Wednesday!

I’m taking a break from my homework and my To-Do list to bring you a quick, simple, and delicious smoothie!

There are plenty of variations you could do for this one, but my favorite is the one I’ve written up. See below for variation ideas. 

Strawberry Protein Smoothie (E, N, D?, GF)
makes one 2-cup smoothie 

Ingredients:
– 1 cup frozen strawberries
– about 1/4 cup orange juice
– about 1/4 cup milk (any variety)
– 1 tsp. ground flaxseed
– 1 scoop protein powder
– 1 large handful of baby spinach

Directions:

1.  Thaw the strawberries in the microwave for about 30 seconds.
2. Combine everything except the spinach in a blender, and blend until it is the desired consistency.
3. Next, tear up the spinach a bit, then add it to the blender. Blend until it is all combined.
4. Enjoy!

Notes:
– You could easily make this recipe both dairy- and gluten-free by using soy or rice milk (I usually use vanilla rice milk – it gives it a good flavor!), and a dairy-free protein powder (I know they make soy and veggie based kinds). This recipe should be gluten-free as is, but I would double check all of the ingredients, just to be sure.
– I advise tearing up the spinach a bit before you put it into the already blended smoothie, because past experience has taught me that blenders don’t really like spinach – it gets caught in the blades.
– Speaking of spinach, I promise you, you will not taste it! I could probably add about three more handfuls, and even though the color might be a bit odd, it would still taste like strawberry!
– Fresh fruit would work just fine, too, if that’s all you have – I just like to use frozen because I like a frosty smoothie. 🙂 

Variations:
– You could use any combination you want! In the past, I’ve made a Chocolate Strawberry smoothie by using chocolate protein powder, which was really good.
– Any fruit combination would work with a vanilla protein powder – chocolate is a little more challenging to match up with.
– I’ve even heard of people using fruit jam or preserves in place of frozen or fresh fruit!