The Breakfast Shake

Well, the holidays have come and gone. With the holidays came many a great meal and many (many) a great treat!

Unfortunately, unlike the tree that was cast to the curb, the remnants of the holiday binge is still sitting not-so-neatly around my middle... Ugh. 'Tis the Holiday Curse, no?

In an ever-evolving attempt to reach that goal size/weight, I've added something new to my regime: The Breakfast Shake.

First, a quick bit of backstory...

My older sister and I share a mutual love of cooking. Where we differ is in our kitchen goals. She has a family of (soon to be) four to feed. I am just me. So while I am constantly throwing things together in an attempt to save money and not over-stock my refrigerator, she is more likely to pull a recipe out of a magazine and prepare all 4 of its servings.

There is one type of recipe where I'll do the same, and that we mutually love to prepare -- soup!

I knew how much she hated breaking out the processor or blender for her creamy soups, and that because she hated it she rarely did it. So, for Christmas, I bought her a hand blender.

And about an hour after I got home and had wrapped the blender, I ventured back out into the bitter cold to buy another. For me :) And it is by far my favorite purchase in the last few months!

Now, truth be told, I haven't done any blended soups yet. But what I HAVE been able to incorporate in my non-diet (and the purpose of this rambling post) is a morning Breakfast Shake.

Before the blender, I bought breakfast every morning. I would have one fried egg with cheese, tomato, onion, and grilled turkey lunchmeat on an english muffin. Yum. But all the cheese and the large amounts of greasy meat never made me feel 100% sure that I was having the healthiest of morning meals! In addition, that plus my coffee runs me about $4.

Now I start the day with a hand-blended smoothie. I purchase low-fat plain yogurt, 1% milk, and frozen fruit. Total purchase? About $11. I start with a cup of the fruit, add 4 tbs of yogurt, and then about one cup of milk. That pretty much fills the container that came with the blender.

After just a 30 second blend, I've got a wonderfully delicious fruit smoothie that perks me up and gets me on my way!

Also, one trip to the grocery store made 10 smoothies. That's 10 weekday breakfasts at about $1 each. Add it up -- it's nearly $30 in breakfast savings! Woot woot!

I'm playing with the idea of adding some sort of powdered protein or multi-vitamin once I've done some research on what's best. Anyone have any suggestions?

Anyway, I highly recommend owning a hand blender. So easy to use & clean.

And I'll be sure to let you know how my first Fire Roasted Tomato Basil Soup turns out!