Sleepy Banana Muffin Smoothie

February 5, 2011 By Leanne Vogel July 22, 2015

I’ve been making smoothies everyday for breakfast for the last 3.5 years. I even brought my VitaMix with me to Portugal on a business trip, just so I wouldn’t miss out on my breakfast tradition. Commitment? Or fear that I wouldn’t know how to ask for a smoothie in Portuguese? We’ll never know. My smoothie drinking began right around the time I decided to heal my digestion, once and for all. You see, smoothies:

Are easily digested. Simply put: when you eat solid food, your digestive system has to work hard to convert it to a smoothie-like consistency. [This broken down food mass is called chyme.] Eating foods that are broken down and in a chyme-like state, eliminates the need for our body to work hard at breaking down the food, making nutrients easier to assimilate.
Are a fantastic delivery system. You can hide the craziest things in smoothies! Like aloe vera juice, spirulina and other greens powders, extra enzymes, probiotics, bitters, or herbs, you name it!
Wake up the digestive system at a slow and steady pace. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being woken up by someone jolting the bed and scaring me. So, why would we do this to our digestion? Just like we enjoy waking up slowly, stretching, debating whether we should get up or not, our digestion likes it too. Drinking smoothies before a solid breakfast makes sure our tummy gets a nice and relaxing wake up.

I remember one of the first smoothies I ever created was 1 full carrot, 1 cup aloe juice, 1 apple, 1 tablespoon ground flax and 2 leaves of kale. It was something to be desired, and I sure as heck didn’t desire it. ick! But it did wonders on healing my digestive tract and I got used to it overtime.

No time in the mornings

I am not kidding you when I say that everyone, absolutely every client, friend, and family member I’ve chatted with about breakfast asks if I I can give them breakfast ideas that:

Can replace a meal
Ready in under 1 minute
Packs a strong nutritious punch
Is inexpensive

I’d give them suggestions, but it was never good enough. There was something missing.

Enter the Sleepy Smoothie!

It meets every requirement. All measuring and preparation is done the night before you enjoy this delectable breakfast. Wake up, throw in the blender and enjoy:

6g fiber
9g fat [the good fat – omega 3’s and 6’s]
6g protein
40% of your daily intake of calcium
18% of your daily intake of iron & vitamin C

Sleepy Banana Muffin Smoothie

Author: Leanne Vogel

Recipe type: Vegan, Gluten free, Dairy free

Prep time: 5 mins

Total time: 5 mins

Serves: 2 cups

Ingredients

1 cup unsweetened almond milk + ¼ cup for blending
1 frozen banana
2 tablespoon uncontaminated regular oats – alternatively you can use packaged gluten free oatmeal, gluten free granola, or quinoa flakes
1 tablespoon raisins
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon raw walnuts
pinch of ground cinnamon

Optional toppings

coconut, raisins, walnuts, or chocolate chips

Instructions

Night before: combine all ingredients [but the frozen banana and ¼ cup almond milk] in a glass or plastic container. Stir to combine and place in fridge.
Morning: pour contents of container into blender, add banana and additional almond milk, blend until smooth.

The chocolate chips seriously make it for me… mmmm How much time do you have in the mornings to prepare breakfast? What is your breakfast of choice?