smoothies

Breakfast is difficult.  It's an incredibly important meal of the day that people (hint: me) usually forgo or eat, well, wrong.  Let's face it: cold cereal is not a great breakfast.  No one ever abides by the serving size listed on the side of the box. 3/4 cup of frosted flakes is probably about half the amount of what's going into your bowl.  Heavily processed food is not going to start your day off feeling great; it will make you slow and sluggish, and frankly, craving something more substantial or just more sugar.  Eggs are great, hot oatmeal is great, and my mom's pancakes are fantastic (seriously, at 160 calories they're amazing).  But even with all of these options, it's difficult to start cooking in the morning, and most of all to eat something hot.  In comes the smoothie!  With minimal work you can have a frozen breakfast in front of you in a matter of minutes.  The cold fruit is much easier going down in the early hours, takes longer to eat and is seriously filling.  Not to mention, fewer calories than cereal.  I don't add any sugar because the fruit is more than sweet enough on its own.  When I'm running around in the morning it's much easier to drink from a straw and get things done than sit down and eat breakfast (like a normal person).  And really, a smoothie is great for any part of the day.

Target has fantastic, enormous bags of frozen fruit with the helpful sign "great for smoothies" on it.  I stock my freezer with their frozen strawberries, blueberries and raspberries and just recently I grabbed a mixed fruit bag. Wow, was it great for smoothies.  Pineapple, strawberries and mango. It was amazing, and I didn't have to leave my house or pay some guy behind a counter to press a few buttons for me.  Good job, Target!

smoothie
servings: 2
calories per serving: 105

3 cups of fruit (whatever your fancy)
1/2 cup water

Place fruit in microwave-proof bowl.  Nuke for 30 seconds.  Pour into blender.  Add water.  Pulse until smooth and delicious.