Going Green!

I love Colorado. I love that at the end of November, it can be 63 degrees one day, and 46, then 59, the next two days! It's always a toss up, and just because it's beautiful blue skies and sunny, doesn't make it nice... it's actually a pretty deceiving little city we live in... Yesterday was one of those days were it was beautiful and sunny AND warm out! It was great. And because you don't know if you'll get another day like that, that's the day you have to drop everything you are doing and get outside to take advantage! So that's exactly what my girls and I did! Running around outside is always so much more fun than running around inside for kids! Of course, we have our daily trip to the gym, as well, and that became ten times better yesterday by walking there instead of driving. It's almost exactly two miles there and two miles home, so it's also a bonus to the regular gym routine! On the way there, I jogged most of it, wearing a weighted vest that my husband tried to tell me was only 15 pounds but I held it on the scale, it's 22... I think the only way I was able to jog that while wearing a vest AND pushing a double stroller was the fact that it's (for the most part) a gradual downhill slope... hah. On the way home though, AND after a pretty badass workout, walking with the vest seemed good enough!

And after all that work, we returned home to enjoy something that is quickly becoming a favorite between my preschooler and I! Adapted from a trainer that was seen on Dr. Oz, we present to you: 

The Spinach Shake

Ingredients

Makes 1 1/2 servings

3 cups spinach

2 cups ice

1/2 banana

2 tbsp of peanut butter

1 scoop vanilla protein powder (use Muscle Milk Light to lower the calories a bit!)

3/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk

Directions
Add all ingredients to blender and blend on high speed, until completely mixed.

Pour shake into glass and enjoy!

Now, me being me, I can't ever leave ingredients alone. I'm always changing ingredients, so instead of peanut butter sometimes, I'll use PB2, which is the best food creation I've ever known... Also, like I said, I use the Light version of Muscle Milk... oh and I like to throw in a packet of stevia. It just makes it that much more "indulgent"-ish! 

However, if I'm not drinking this for breakfast or after a workout and don't need all the protein and calories, I've omitted the peanut butter and protein powder, and added 1/4 cup greek yogurt and about a tbsp maybe of cocoa powder. This makes a great tasting and creamy shake still, just a little lower in calories... and heck, you're still getting a little protein from the yogurt, which is always great... it makes 1 and 1/2 servings, which my daughter really appreciates! hehe. Spinach is chock full of potassium so Go Green!! (oh, that's not what people mean by that phrase? ;-)