Apple Crisp Smoothie

Happy Independence day everyone! After a day of burgers, hot dogs, and other picnic treats why don’t you start your next day out with something wholesome? 😉 Try out this tasty apple crisp smoothie for a balanced start to your day.

I love to have a smoothie for breakfast. For one thing, it starts my day of with 2-3 servings of fruit and sometimes a serving of vegetables as well. They’re also very simple; just toss everything in the blender, hit the button, and breakfast is ready! Taking the time to prep the night before gives you an extra couple minutes to sleep in. 😉 The smoothie I want to share with you today is a meal replacement smoothie and a delicious one at that.

This smoothie calls for raw oats, which can be an interesting texture in smoothies and one that I enjoy but it’s not always for everyone. If you’re not a fan, try soaking the oats overnight (in the almond milk) or adding an equal amount of cooked oatmeal.

This smoothie as with most of my smoothies involves the extra step of freezing the fruit. This is a little extra prep (really just chopping the fruit and sticking it in the freezer the night before) but definitely worth it! You’ll be rewarded with smoother (haha), velvety textured smoothies. This is especially true with bananas. They can be a little thick and gooey when dropping them in fresh, but they blend up beautifully after freezing. For this smoothie, freezing the apples improves the texture greatly. Apples can be a little pulpy if you put them in fresh, which is why I don’t often add them to my smoothies.

But, this apple crisp smoothie is like a dessert in your glass, virtually fat free and very little added sugar. I used golden delicious apples because they are sweet and mild, but you can use whatever apples you have kicking around your house. You could definitely sub some other common cobbler fruit for the apples. This would taste great with peaches, blueberries, raspberries, or a combination of berries for a mixed berry crisp. I made a very tasty variation with 1/2 c. cherries, 1/2 c. blueberries, and 1/4 c. raspberries. Just have fun with it!

Apple Crisp Smoothie

Ingredients:
2 apples, peeled, cored, chopped, and frozen
1 c. vanilla almond milk (You could sub 1 c. of regular milk and 1 tsp of vanilla here)
¼ c. raw oats
1 tsp brown sugar (more if your apples are tart) **You could also use one fresh date if you don’t want to use added sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
A handful of ice

Directions:

Add everything to the blender and blend until smooth, a few minutes. Enjoy!

Be happy! 🙂