I love smoothies. They’re great snacks, but I especially like them for breakfast. Since I have a lot of early mornings working on cooking show sets, I experimented with ways to prep smoothies in advance. Even though making a smoothie doesn’t take a lot of time, putting one together in the morning never appealed to me: Getting out all the ingredients, making a bunch of noise with the blender, as well as the cleaning the blender (I especially didn’t want to do that before work!). I discovered that I can make my favorite smoothies in bulk, freeze them in individual portions and then just put one in the fridge the night before so I can grab and go on work mornings. Now that I live in a household of growing boys, this is also a handy snack. If you don’t remember to defrost it the night before just follow my instructions below to quickly defrost a serving in the microwave. Smoothies for all, whenever the craving strikes!
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 day 20 min |
| Active: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 8 smoothies |
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 day 20 min |
| Active: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 8 smoothies |
Ingredients
- 4 cups unsweetened almond milk, or any other dairy or nondairy milk
- 4 bananas, peeled, sliced and frozen
- 1 1/3 cups frozen spinach
- 1 cup lightly packed mint leaves (from about 1 large bunch)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup cacao nibs, plus more to garnish
- Pinch kosher salt
- Dash peppermint extract
- 4 cups unsweetened almond milk, or any other dairy or nondairy milk
- 2 2/3 cups frozen blueberries
- 4 bananas, peeled sliced and frozen
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 cup raw almonds
Instructions
- For the mint, chocolate and banana smoothies: Place all the ingredients in an 8-cup blender and blend on high speed until smooth. If necessary, divide the ingredients in half and blend in two batches. Divide the smoothie into four 2-cup airtight containers and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- For the blueberry, banana and yogurt smoothies: Place all the ingredients in an 8-cup blender and blend on high speed until smooth. If necessary, divide the ingredients in half and blend in two batches. Divide the smoothie into four 2-cup airtight containers and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- To serve either smoothie, the day before you want to enjoy one, defrost a serving in the refrigerator. Alternatively, if you freeze the smoothies in microwave-safe containers, remove the lid and microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power. Remove from the microwave and stir the smoothie; if it’s still too frozen, continue microwaving at 50% power in 10-second increments until your smoothie is the right texture. You should still have a cold, semi-frozen smoothie; just make sure to continuously check it so it doesn’t warm up.
- Place the thawed smoothie in a glass or to-go container. For the mint chocolate smoothie, stir in additional cacao nibs to give it extra texture. Serve immediately.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 453 |
| Total Fat | 20 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Carbohydrates | 67 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 9 g |
| Sugar | 30 g |
| Protein | 12 g |
| Cholesterol | 4 mg |
| Sodium | 230 mg |
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 453 |
| Total Fat | 20 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Carbohydrates | 67 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 9 g |
| Sugar | 30 g |
| Protein | 12 g |
| Cholesterol | 4 mg |
| Sodium | 230 mg |