I’m so excited to share this amazing Friend Friday post by Chelsea! She is an amazing wife, mother of 4, yoga instructor, runner and just a sweet friend. I first met Chelsea when she was here for the summer many, many years ago when she was staying with her Aunt Bev, who is another amazing friend. She was helping Aunt Bev with her four kids at the time and getting her house in ship shape.  I remember thinking, “I really need a Chelsea in my life.” Haha. Chelsea has an amazing smoothie recipe to share with us today! Thanks so much Chelsea!!

Here’s the scoop about Chelsea 🙂

John and I met at Dixie College. After moving around a bit for school and work, we came back to St. George and have been here for 10 years. Our oldest is 11 and our youngest is 2. I enjoy baking, running, yoga, taking pictures of lightning, and getting out on my paddle board.  

Here is the smoothie stuff.

So here’s the deal, I don’t really have a specific smoothie recipe. Yes, I’ve looked up recipes on Pinterest and googled recipes from different smoothie joints, but really I use whatever ingredients I happen to have that sounds good to me at the time. The whole reason I want to drink a smoothie is because it’s a simple and great way to get fruits and veggies into my diet as a busy mom. A few years ago I realized that the whole smoothie trend is great and all, but we are only going to be successful at consuming healthy smoothies if making one is easy. And that’s why I smoothie prep.
I bought some 24 ounce freezer safe plastic containers from Amazon to use, and re-use over and over again.  I gather all of my ingredients, lay out the empty containers on the counter, 

fill them up with various fruits and veggies, 

put the lids on, and then store the containers in the freezer.  

I always use spinach and/or kale. That goes in first because it’s easy to smash down. Then I add strawberries, bananas, berries, carrots, those cute little baby cucumbers Costco sells, kiwis, pineapple, tomatoes….truly whatever you want. Not every smoothie is the same. Sometimes I even add parsley, or various seasonings like cinnamon or nutmeg.  

I do not like to waste food. And I like to save money. Here are some things I do when it comes to smoothies: 
1. I only buy the banana in the bag, or with the red tape on them because they are cheaper, and they make a smoothie a bit sweater.  

2. I buy the big bag of spinach from Costco, you know the one that we all have good intentions of using? I will use it for meals for a few days, and then before it starts to go bad, I throw the entire bag of spinach in the freezer. On smoothie prep day, I pull out the bag and use it for my smoothies.

3. Repeat the same idea for kiwis, pears, grapes, or whatever produce you buy but then doesn’t get used before it goes bad.

When I want a smoothie, I take a container out, add my liquid of choice, and blend it up.
I love to use coconut water or almond milk. Sometimes even pomegranate juice. I will also add protein powder, sometimes almonds, chia seeds, or whatever else I want to spice up the smoothies. And if I know the smoothie really isn’t going to taste great, I’ll add some honey or agave, but just a little bit!



And then I drink it! I usually end up with one giant cup of smoothie, or two glasses of what’s pictured here. Sometimes my kids drink the extras, or sometimes I save the rest for later in the day. You can actually buy thick smoothies straws from Amazon, too.