Whipping Up Tootie Fruity Healthy Smoothies

If you’ve visited my blog before, you may have heard me talk about living with Lupus and Sjogren’s Syndrome. It is a combination of auto-immune diseases that is just not fun…

One of the toughest parts of the daily battle is inflammation. Because my body essentially attacks itself, I can be a puffy mess in a hurry. Especially if I don’t manage my diet. The real trick is that many of the healthiest foods are on my banned food list. My body just won’t digest them. Ugh.

One food that I’ve had good luck with is smoothies. I fire up my Ninja a few times a week and find it to be the best way to get my fruits, veggies and protein in. One of my favorites is what I call my Tootie Fruity.

Step-by-Step Frozen Smoothies

Healthy Fruit Smoothie Ingredients

When I first got sick three and a half years ago, I worked with a nutritionist at the University of Michigan. She helped me find ways to increase the nutritional value of my smoothies, decrease the carbs and pump up the protein.

Here are a few of her recommendations:

• Use Greek yogurt as the base
• Incorporate unsweetened Almond Milk (I like Coconut Almond)
• Add a tablespoon of peanut butter for protein or use protein powder
• Throw in a little spinach or kale (I’ve tried kale – ugh – kale is a fail for me. Tastes too much like a weed!)
• A naturopathic doctor I follow recommended the GI Revive (It is pricey and I’m still working my way up to including it in all my smoothies)

I’ve also discovered a few of my own little tricks for rocking a fruit smoothie:

• Freeze all of the fruit before you throw it in the blender (I keep a stash of sliced and frozen bananas, strawberries, blueberries, and peaches all year around in the freezer)
• If you are using tart cherries like we are lucky enough to find everywhere around us during our summers in northern Michigan, don’t forget to pit the cherries BEFORE you freeze them or blend them. (Yep- lesson learned the hard way folks!)
• I make ice from Coconut Water and save it to use just in fruit or Chunky Monkey smoothies. I know the jury is still out on the benefits of Coconut Water in general, but it does contain a lot of potassium and I’m always low in P and D y’all…
• Flax seed is another good thing to add to smoothies. I buy the seeds whole and keep the carton in the refrigerator. I’m told it helps them keep their superpowers longer…

 

I start with about 1-1/2 cups of yogurt. If I’m making a fruit smoothie, I go with Strawberry yogurt. (If I’m making a Chunky Monkey smoothie, I go with Vanilla. I will share that recipe soon!)

Then I add about 3/4 cup of Almond Milk. I like the Coconut Almond Milk for all my different flavors of smoothies.

My next step is to pile on the frozen fruit

Bananas, raspberries, blueberries, pineapple, mango, cherries… whatever I have in the freezer goes in the Ninja!

I love smoothies that are so thick they will barely even pour. It’s why I add the coconut water ice cubes...

The more berries and fruit, the better in my book!

My last step is to add flax seed and either protein powder or peanut butter.

I also try to make myself throw in a little spinach.

Then I put my Ninja to work!

I will tell you before I bought my Ninja… I burned up a lot of blenders.

No — not whipping up healthy concoctions like this one.

Frozen strawberry coladas have long been my “go to” summer drink but they are tough on a blender.

I’ve set off the smoke detector by burning up more than one or ten less-powerful blenders. Since I got my Ninja a few years ago, I’m happy to report that my smoothies and coladas are both fire and smoke-free!

And in a nod to the White Birch trees that are one of my favorite “Up North” sights, I add my signature summer straw to my Tootie Fruity smoothies.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

I’ll share my other favorite healthy-but-tasty smoothie recipe soon. It’s a cleaned-up version of my little sista’s favorite coffee drink the “Chunky Monkey.”

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XOXO

Shelley