Introducing the perfect start to the day, for busy mamas, picky toddlers, even husbands who hate healthy-anything!
It’s the Ultimate Breakfast Smoothie. Tasty, fast, and a nourishing balance of all the things you need to start your day right.
If you’re looking for one thing to do for your family’s health in the new year (and I’m all about one. thing. at. a. time, dontchaknow) a morning smoothie is my top recommendation. It starts your day with deep, balanced nutrition, which can help combat cravings and blood sugar crashes for the rest of the day!
But not just any old smoothie will do.
What most smoothies lack:
- Fat–one of our body’s favorite fuels, blood sugar regulator, brain food and what our hormone system runs on. Without this, your smoothie will hit your blood stream too fast and you’re headed for a crash. I use coconut oil.
- Protein–our body’s cleanest burning food (no waste! no weight gain!) will give you long-term energy. A smoothie minus protein has no staying power. Egg yolks are a great source of protein!
- Probiotics–help us digest our food, fight off infection, and get the most out of all that other goodness. We need probiotics to help us actually turn our food into fuel–don’t skip this! I recommend milk kefir or whole fat yogurt.
Here’s the smoothie my family enjoys regularly. It’s thick, sweet enough for my kids and husband to crave, and doesn’t have any weird flavors or textures to turn them off.
PrintThe Ultimate Breakfast Smoothie
- Total Time: 4 mins
- Yield: 4-5 servings 1x
Description
Quick and satisfying
Ingredients
- 2 cups kefir or yogurt (unsweetened)
- 2 cups fresh or frozen fruit
- 2 raw egg yolks
- 2 Tbsp. coconut oil
- Optional:
- 1 c. ice cubes or water
- 2 Tbsp. flax seed
- 4 oz. spinach (fresh or frozen)
- 2 drops orange essential oil
Instructions
- layer the ingredients in your blender with the wet on the bottom, chunky or frozen on top. If all your fruit is frozen, you may want to add a cup of water to help the smoothie to be drinkable. If your fruit is mostly fresh, you’ll want to add the ice to make sure your smoothie is nice and chilled. Start blender on low until the ice chunks and frozen fruit have gotten diced a bit, then speed it up to high to finish blending the finer ingredients.
- Prep Time: 4 mins
- Category: Breakfast
How Smoothie {realistically} Fits into Our Day:
- I make this first thing in the morning, to give everyone some quick fuel while we finish making our real breakfast.
- For those with slower metabolism, a rich smoothie like this may be all you need, but for my kids and I, it functions as an appetizer to scrambled eggs or hot oatmeal.
- I hand a glass to my husband as he goes out the door to work. He says he likes this smoothie because it’s yummy, but actually gives him some solid fuel.
- If we don’t start the day with this smoothie, it shows up as a mid-morning or afternoon snack.
- We serve it in sturdy glass tumblers or mugs to reduce spills, and love these fat smoothie straws for easy sipping.
Get Smart with your Smoothie Habit:
- Skip the spinach or flax seed unless you have a high powered blender, or like to chew your smoothie. I’m partial to Vitamix or Blendtec. (Nope, a Ninja doesn’t cut it. I tried.)
- Use egg yolks for protein. Unlike protein powder, you can’t taste or ‘feel’ the egg yolk, and it’s way cheaper and less processed than powder mixes. If you’re worried about salmonella, then buy free-range eggs (and read this, it will totally set your mind at ease).
- Don’t use the egg whites. While yolks are easier to digest and more nutritious raw, it’s the opposite for the whites. Toss them or save them to include in your scrambled eggs or baking.
- Clean the blender right away–it’s no fun coming back to dried smoothie gunk. Add a few cups of hot water and a squirt of soap and blend on high for a half a minute, then rinse. Wha-laa!
- Make Smoothie Bags. We freeze peeled bananas our selves, then buy frozen fruit from Aldi and I combine all of it in large ziplock bags in the ratio we like (half bananas, half other stuff) so I only have to grab one bag from the freezer when it’s time to blend.
- Learn to make your own yogurt or kefir so you always have plenty on hand for smoothies!
The great thing about smoothies is that I bet you already know how to make one—this isn’t a huge, hairy, scary idea. All you need to do to create a super smoothie habit is to tweak your smoothie to contain fat, protein, and probiotics.
Make this smoothie a habit in 2016 and jump start your family’s health goals!
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This sounds good, must try tomorrow with my newly made yogurt (your recipe!). I do make mine in my oven with oven light on and door ajar just a bit to keep temp around 100 degrees.
Thanks for all the information about egg whites. I would have put the whole egg in.
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Trina, how do you get the coconut oil to stay liquid? This morning, it solidified into little balls in our smoothies, and my four-year-old wasn’t digging that. (Thanks for this site. Just discovered it, and I’m loving it.)
Hey, Cheryl! Glad to have you here! It could be your blender isn’t fast enough. You could try melting the coconut oil first and see if that helps? Or adding it after you’ve blended up the ice better?
I love having a green smoothie daily! High metabolism is a issue of mine as well. I used to have to make scrambled eggs with my smoothie each morning until I started adding a couple spoonfuls of chia seeds to the smoothie. For some reason that addition keeps me going for 4 hours unlike my non-chia smoothies.
Trina this sounds delish… What type of fruits do you normally put into the juice? And do you watch out the Glycemix index at all for the fruit choices?
Thanks lady
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Carla, great question! I typically use bananas and then a mix of berries–blueberries, blackberrys, strawberries…I’m usually pretty cautious with high-glycemic fruits (I don’t eat bananas by themselves) but I find when I pair it with some good fat and protein, it slows down the impact to my blood sugar, and I don’t feel a sugar rush, or a crash from this smoothie.
Trina, this looks incredible! I have to try this out some time. How did you manage to come up with the idea for this smoothie? I also know someone can’t eat eggs. What would you recommend in its place?
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Sim, I started adding coconut oil to my smoothie after reading “Eat Fat, Lose Fat” by Mary Enig. It highlights the importance of saturated fat, and gave coconut oil in smoothies as an example of how to up our good fat intake.
If one is allergic to eggs, I would consider adding a handful of nuts, or finding a protein powder made from whole food ingredients. Thanks for asking!
We have used gelatin from Vital Proteins as a protein source for smoothies.
I make our smoothies in very similar way (with raw yolks and kefir) but I usually add half an avocado instead of coconut oil, just because it’s easier. It gives very nice texture to the smoothie.
Well, that sounds simply amazing, Hanna! I will have to try that! I love avocados!
Hi!
This smoothie sounds great! Yet, I’m thinking, what about the yolks sending our cholesterol levels to the roof?
Thank you!
Daneila, there are different camps on the whole cholesterol thing…From my research, I have concluded that eggs are a healthy source of good cholesterol. We enjoy them every day and our cholesterol levels are fine.
Made this for me and my daughter and it is very good but she was wondering why you don’t use the whole egg?
Great question! The egg white is difficult to digest raw, though the egg yolk is not. The egg yolk actually is easier and more beneficial when eaten raw–just as cows’ milk is best raw. So, we separate the white and only use the part of the egg that’s best when raw.
I suggest Mercola's website (http://www.mercola.com/) for more information on coconut oil as a health food.
That last sentence should read “soft boiled eggs”. LOL.
Erg, raw egg. Not sure I could do that, but the coconut oil idea sounds like it might work.
CVO, the truth is that accepted medical wisdom on fats and oils has changed and reversed itself quite a bit over the years. For one thing, you don't see so many people advocating margarine.
Trina, I'd be interesting in hearing more about why polyunsaturated fats are bad for you. I've always heard that the oils in fish and nuts are healthy.
What you posted about fats is totally opposite of what my chemistry/nutrition texts & profs from college taught, as well as what the http://www.americanheart.org has to say on fats (& heart disease)…
Saturated fats (like the ones found in “tropical” oils – coconut, palm kernel, cocoa butter, as well as animal fats – usually solids at room temperature) are the ones to avoid, as they contribute to raising bad cholesterol levels (LDL) and significantly increase the risk of coronary heart disease…(which is ESPECIALLY not good folks like me, who have a hereditary pre-disposition to both high LDL & heart disease). Trans-fats can also be included in this category.
Instead, Mono- & Polyunsaturated fats are known as the “good” fats (found in nuts, salmon, avocados, olives, etc. – usually liquids at room temp) and can actually help lower LDL when consumed in moderation. Omega fatty acids can be included in this bunch.
It all comes down to the chemical structure & composition of the type of fat molecule you're talking about, and how their Carbon, Hydrogen, & Oxygen elements are arranged & bonded.
A “saturated” fat just means all the spots for a Hydrogen to stick to a Carbon on the fatty acid chain of a triglyceride molecule are taken (all the seats on the bus are full!). This structure allows these molecules to “stack” and is why such a fat stays solid at room temperature.
An “unsaturated” fat just means this type of fat molecule still has open spots for Hydrogen to saddle up next to & get cozy with a Carbon. These “empty seats” don't make for good fat molecule stacking and are why these fats are liquid at room temp.
There's also the possibility of having single vs. double bonds between the Hydrogen & Carbon elements, which is where the “mono-” & “poly-” come into play, respectively. The double bonds exist because of the “empty seats,” making the fat chain “kink” or bend and not stack well – thus a liquid instead of a solid. Double bonds also mean the molecule is more unstable because it leaves empty seats for Hydrogen to sneak in & bond with Carbon. This changes the bond structure and “breaks” and/or restructures the molecule shape…which is great for the body, because it means digestion is easier! All it has to do is pop in a Hydrogen right where it needs part of the fat chain and waaa-laaa – instant easy-to-use energy! On the other hand, this “easy-to-repurpose” structure is bad if you don’t watch your pantry: you can very easily find your favorite bottle of olive oil smells absolutely retched, just as you had a hankering for an Italian meal. Those darn sneaky Hydrogens, ruining a good bottle of oil!!
But on the other hand, the stable-in-comparison nature of saturated fats, because of their full-up Hydrogen/Carbon bonds with no room for the body to just come in and “add one” to convert the molecule into something useful, means these fats are much MUCH more difficult for the body to break down. So they end up in “storage,” lining arterial walls – in solid form – rather than giving me the boost I need during my afternoon slump.
All this said………coconut oil – being of the “saturated fat” variety, even though it comes from a plant – was taught to us as being on the “not so often” list of fats, up there with animal fats, due to its chemical structure making it difficult for the body to use effectively. Plus, there are other food sources out there for the specific fatty acid chains you might be after with a coconut oil that have higher nutritional density overall for a more “every-day” sort of use.
I bet your recipe sure TASTES yummy-delicious though!!!!!!
My sister-in-law is definitely a coconut oil lover! You know, the diaper-making, baby-carrying one. Yeah, that one!! 🙂 The raw egg has me a little weirded out, but, since I too eat cookie dough, I guess I can't wrinkle my nose at it too much. 😉
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I'm a cookie dough eater myself.
I have tried raw egg in other things though.. and have to say that it has to be very well blended for me to partake.
I'll second the cookie dough.
I'm glad I'm not the only “wierd” eater! My latest “wierdness” is baby carrots dipped in almond butter. yum-o! 🙂
Oh, I love coconut oil, and use it a lot! 🙂 Sometimes I just open the jar and breath in very deeply. Mm…I think I'll go do it right now. haha
It is my firm opinion that one of the best benefits of raising one's own chickens is the freedom to eat raw eggs…. most notably in cookie dough. yeah. 😉
This smoothy sounds delightfully yummy.