Veggie and Protein Smoothie!

So, I know we don't really seem like healthy people (with the whole "Maple-Bacon Macarons" as one of our first post), but we really are! ...most of the time. With that said, if you're feeling a bit down-in-the-dumps for munching on those yummy Maple-Bacon Macarons, fear not! The wonderful Rita from Maddie and Rita has whipped up a lovely and delicious recipe to get you back on track to that beautiful and healthy body! Not to mention, its super easy to make if you're a broke college student like we are!
So, on to the recipe!


Before I scare you away with some of the ingredients in here (Spinach, carrots, and cottage cheese? Ew!!) let me start off by saying that this smoothie is delicious! The frozen banana makes the texture like that of a milkshake, except it's not loaded with sugar and calories and GUILT. The flavor of the veggies is completely masked by the other ingredients. Please note that all of these ingredients are optional except the banana, I highly recommend that one because it really makes a difference in texture and sweetness (if it's ripe).

What I used: 

• 1/2 cup cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup almond milk (original, unsweetened)
• 1/4 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup carrots, frozen*
• 1/2 of a ripe banana, peeled and frozen
• A few drops of liquid Stevia to sweeten
• 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder

*For the carrots, I pre-cooked them to soften them and bring out the sweetness and then froze the pureed mixture. You can also pre-mix and process other vegetables and freeze them to save time if you make smoothies often like I do.

Directions: 

Do I need to write directions? Just toss everything in a blender and blend! I used a food processor because it's all I have in my dorm and it works just as well. 

Other delicious and healthy things you could add:

• Fruit (but keep in mind the sugar and calories if you're watching your macros, berries will generally give you the most nutritional value for the least sugar)
• Peanut butter (it does have a lot of calories, but you don't need a lot for the flavor to come through)
• Pre-soak some chia seeds in some almond milk for some omega-3's
• Cold coffee instead of almond milk (it's not exactly healthy, but come on, it's coffee! Plus it brings out the flavor of chocolate if you're using cocoa powder)
• Egg whites (the ones that come in a carton are pasteurized so they're safer to consume raw than regular eggs)
• Protein powder (but check out how much protein the cottage cheese already has!)

Nutrition Information:

(MyFitnessPal.com)

This is only for the ingredients I used, not the ones I listed as optional. I didn't include the cocoa powder and Stevia because they don't have any nutritional value at the amounts I used. 

YUMMY! 

Thanks for stopping by!