By Ashley Roe, Contributing Writer

I love smoothies because they help me get lots of great nutrients plus they taste great. One of the best things about smoothies is that you can pack in lots of healthy ingredients into one glass. It also makes is much easier to make sure you or your kids are getting enough fruits or veggies everyday. If you are not sure what to put in your smoothie, keep reading below to find my recipe for nourishing blueberry banana smoothie plus links to lots more recipes.

Why Make Your Own Smoothies?

I know you can head to your local coffee shop or a smoothie stand at the mall to get a smoothie and those taste great but they may not be as healthy as you think. Many of them have add extra sugar and powders that really are not necessary. Plus you don’t know if the fruit is actually fresh or not.

I looked up the nutrition facts of two smoothies online, one coffee-shop and one fast food place. Both had weird ingredients and added powders. One even listed a fruit base not actual fruit! So skip that weird stuff and make your own. Smoothies are easy to make and customize to your own taste preferences. To help give you some ideas, here’s my recipe for nourishing blueberry banana smoothie. Plus I included a couple of links below for even more smoothie ideas.

Nourishing Blueberry Banana Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 banana
• 3/4 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1 tablespoon ground flax or chia (or a blend of both)
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 3-4 ice cubes – or more depending in whether you use frozen fruit

Directions

1. Place ingredients in a blender and pulse until smooth. Add extra ice if not using frozen fruit or for a thicker consistency and continue to pulse until ice is crushed.
2. Enjoy your glass of fruity healthy goodness!

You can easily change the fruit to make a different kind of smoothie. I typically use everything, including the banana for all my smoothies and change out the other fruit to make different flavors. To make strawberry banana for example, just use strawberries instead of blueberries.

Nutritional Benefits

Not only does this smoothie taste great, but you get lots of nutritional benefits as well. Here’s a list of just some of healthy benefits:

• Oranges have lots of vitamin C which helps to boost the immune system.
• Flax seed is a great source of omega 3’s which are good fats known to help maintain heart health and is an anti-inflammatory.
• Blueberries and flax are great sources of fiber which helps with maintaining a healthy digestive system.
• Blueberries are also known to aid in brain function and memory due to their high antioxidant content.
• Bananas are rich in potassium which helps maintain your heart and kidney health.
• Greek yogurt with probiotics helps maintain your gut health.
• Greek yogurt also contains more protein than regular yogurt making smoothies made with it a great choice for a filling snack or light meal replacement.

 More Smoothie Recipes

If you are looking for more smoothie recipes, check out these two round-ups for over 75 more recipes!

40 Smoothie Recipes You Should Try @ Intentional By Grace

35+ Smoothie Recipes and More! @ Raising Arrows

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