smoothie Archives - Ari's Menu

Banana Bread Smoothie

April 26, 2015 · by Ari ·

This thick and creamy banana bread smoothie tastes like a milkshake, but it’s naturally light, vegan and gluten-free.

Summer is coming. I know those of you that don’t live in Arizona are super excited that it’s finally Spring but, here in Phoenix, it’s been Spring since about November and the summer temps are taunting us. In fact, next week it’s already supposed to hit 100 degrees. Wahhhhh.

This will be the first summer in a long time that I’m not training for a marathon (I trained for the New York marathon 3 years in a row and finally crossed the finish line last year!), but it will also be the first summer in an even longer time that I am staying in Phoenix almost the entire summer. I’m kind of terrified. And even though I’m not training for a marathon, I do have to keep training for the Bourbon Chase which means 90 degree runs at 4am and plenty of ice cold smoothies immediately to follow.

I have a confession: I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m not into protein powder. I know most of the healthy living community likes to put protein powder in their smoothies, but I just prefer to get my protein from foods that already contain it. The cup of Silk soy milk I used in this recipe has 8 grams of plant based protein, and often times I’ll beef that up with some nonfat plain Greek yogurt, but this recipe is so smooth and creamy without it, plus I wanted to keep it vegan and dairy free.

You can get an extra protein boost from lots of soy products–tofu, edamame and more will bulk up the protein in your diet. And this smoothie? You will fall in love with how creamy, dreamy and delicious it is. The oats and frozen banana give it the flavor of freshly baked banana bread, and the dates add a little extra sweetness naturally.

Banana Bread Smoothie

Recipe Type: Breakfast

Author: Ari Ziskin

Prep time: 5 mins

Total time: 5 mins

Serves: 1

This thick and creamy banana bread smoothie tastes like a milkshake, but it’s naturally light, vegan and gluten-free.

Ingredients

1 cup Silk soy milk (I used light vanilla)
2 dates, pitted
1 banana, peeled and frozen
1/4 cup oats (use certified gluten-free if necessary)
1 cup ice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

Soak dates in soy milk covered in your refrigerator for 30-60 minutes. Blend all ingredients in a high quality blender until smooth. If smoothie is too thick, add a little more soy milk. Drink immediately.

Make sure to check out Silk’s website to get a coupon and fall back in love with soy yourself!

This conversation is sponsored by Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Smoothie

January 12, 2015 · by Ari ·

This creamy, vegan chocolate covered cherry smoothie is a healthy breakfast option that tastes like dessert. In just 2 minutes, you can have a healthy, filling breakfast that you will be excited to eat!

Chocolate for breakfast!!! Chocolate for snack!! Chocolate for all the time.

One day I came home from a run, and I threw all of my stuff into the blender to make a huge, cold smoothie. Then, on a whim I threw in some chocolate chips. Now I can’t make a smoothie without chocolate chips. It’s kind of a problem. Except it’s not, because it’s delicious.

I have to admit, when I first found out about the new Silk Dairy-Free Yogurt Alternative, I was totally skeptical. I mean, I loooove my Silk, and buy their products all the time, but I am a Greek yogurt girl at heart, and I wasn’t sure how this could possibly compare. While I have to admit that I would still consider myself a Greek yogurt girl, this new dairy-free yogurt alternative was actually great! It didn’t taste fake, and it was much thicker than I had expected.

I’m not typically a fan of things that aren’t what you want them to be. I don’t do fake meat, and I would rather not eat cheese than eat anything resembling fake cheese (unless it’s like a creamy nut based cheese sauce–that’s an other story, and a totally different form of delicious!), but that’s what I love about this new product–it’s not trying to be yogurt. It’s an alternative. It contains 6 grams of plant-based protein, and it has all the creamy, deliciousness you’re looking for. It is also made with real fruit, along with being dairy-free, cholesterol-free, gluten-free, carrageenan-free, vegetarian, healthy, and totally delicious. That’s a lot of info. Here’s what you really need to know: It’s legit.

I love making smoothies, and this is the first time I’ve been able to make one that my vegan friends can enjoy too! I’m so grateful that Silk put this awesome Dairy-Free Yogurt Alternative on the market!

Chocolate Covered Cherry Smoothie

Recipe Type: Breakfast

Author: Ari Ziskin

Prep time: 2 mins

Total time: 2 mins

Serves: 1

Ingredients

1 frozen banana
1/4 cup Silk Black Cherry Dairy-Free Yogurt Alternative
2 handfuls ice
1 tablespoon dark chocolate chips
1 cup unsweetened almond milk*
generous pinch chia seeds, optional

Instructions

Place all ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

Notes

*You may wish to start with 3/4 cup almond milk and add more depending on your desired thickness

To find out about more amazing products and promotions, check out the Silk newsletter, or follow along on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest!

This conversation is sponsored by Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.

Gingerbread Pecan Butter & Gingerbread Smoothie

November 24, 2014 · by Ari ·

This post is sponsored by FitFluential LLC on behalf of Blendtec. All recipes and opinions are my own.

Get your gingerbread fix with this smooth, creamy gingerbread pecan butter, and a healthy, protein-packed gingerbread smoothie. Both are so easy to make, you’ll be eating them over and over again!

Stay tuned to the end of this post for an amazing BLENDTEC GIVEAWAY!!

So I get excited for pretty much every holiday flavor, but gingerbread is the one I always go crazy with. Ginger molasses cookies, ginger molasses cake, gingerbread ALL THE THINGS!

Okay so first let’s chat about this gingerbread pecan butter. It’s been a while since I shared a new nut butter. I usually just stick to my normal salted almond butter or honey roasted peanut butter, but I wanted to try something a little different. I’ve made pecan butter once before and it turned out so amazing, so I was super excited to use it again with some ginger and molasses. The result is so smooth, creamy and gingerbread-y! I tried to keep the sugar level down, so if you want more of a dessert spread, I suggest adding a little more brown sugar. This is pecan butter with a gingerbread flavor, not like a cookie butter or nutella type spread. I’ve been spreading it on my waffles with pumpkin butter, and let me tell you, that combo is pretty fantastic. I also used it to make this gingerbread smoothie! Blenders are most commonly used for smoothies, even though the good ones, like this Blendtec Designer 725, can do so much more! I also used the Blendtec Twister Jar to make this pecan butter, and then used the Blendtec WildSide Jar to make this smoothie, but you can make soups, blend ice cream bases, grind nuts to make things like almond meal, and so much more! These two recipes are just the tip of the iceberg! Okay, back to the smoothie. It is protein-packed without protein powder. I have a confession that will probably get me booted from all of my fitness friend circles, but I’m just not into protein powder. There was a time (a long time) where I used it because I thought I was “supposed to”, ya know, to be “healthy”, but I honestly just prefer to get my protein naturally in my diet, and I never seem to have a problem getting enough. In fact, getting enough anything when it comes to food has never been my problem, if ya know what I mean. 😉 Anyway, the smoothie, again, is not a dessert smoothie. It has a natural tartness from the Greek yogurt, and I wanted to use the sweetness from the banana with just a hint of molasses. Trust me, a little molasses goes a long way, so if you want a sweet smoothie, I recommend adding a little brown sugar. Otherwise, like the pecan butter, it is a healthy smoothie with gingerbread flavors, not like a gingerbread milkshake (which now I also want to make in my Blendtec 😉 ).

Gingerbread Pecan Butter & Gingerbread Smoothie

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 2 cups pecan butter; 1 smoothie

Serving Size: 2 tablespoons pecan butter; 1 smoothie

Gingerbread Pecan Butter & Gingerbread Smoothie

Ingredients

For the Gingerbread Pecan Butter:

3 cups roasted pecans
1 tablespoons molasses
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

For the Gingerbread Smoothie:

1 frozen banana
1/2 cup nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt (or dairy-free alternative)
1/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
big handful ice cubes
1 tablespoon gingerbread pecan butter
1/2 teaspoon molasses
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/16 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

Instructions

To make the Gingerbread Pecan Butter:

Place roasted pecans in a high quality blender or food processor (such as Blendtec) and blend/process until smooth, about 3-5 minutes. Add molasses, brown sugar and spices and blend/process until smooth and combined. Store in an airtight container for 3-4 weeks at room temperature.

To make the Gingerbread Smoothie:

Place all ingredients in a high quality blender (such as Blendtec) and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

https://arismenu.com/gingerbread-pecan-butter-gingerbread-smoothie/

Wait! There’s more! Blendtec has generously offered to give away an extra Designer 725 model with Wildisde+ Jar plus an additional Wildside+ Jar! That’s a $750 value! I know you guys will love it as much as I do. Good luck! Giveaway starts at 10:00pm MST November 24th 2014 and ends at 11:59 pm MST December 3rd 2014. Open to US residents age 18 and older.

This post is sponsored by FitFluential LLC on behalf of Blendtec.

Elvis Smoothie

January 18, 2013 · by Ari ·

Okay, I promise I’m not crazy. Elvis did it. He put bacon on his peanut butter sandwich. If Elvis can put bacon on his sandwich, I can put bacon on my smoothie.

This smoothie is really quite simple. Imagine the components of an Elvis sandwich being blended together to make the perfect breakfast drink. Peanut butter, banana, honey, bacon—what can I say? It just works. The sweet and salty flavors balance out perfectly, and by making it into a smoothie, it’s so easy to grab it, and go on your way out the door. It literally takes 5 minutes, so if you’re one of those people who tries to say you don’t have time for breakfast (I don’t get it…I ALWAYS have time for food!), then I say to you: You have 5 minutes, especially when your breakfast tastes like dessert.

This smoothie may sound indulgent, but it is actually packed with fiber and protein, and filled with nutrients that provide a balanced breakfast that only tastes like dessert.

To help keep the smoothie thick and delicious and the calories low, I used Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened Vanilla. The same smoothie using skim milk would come in at 372 calories—a pretty huge jump! Just the one change of using Silk instead (it is the lowest calorie almondmilk on the market!) saves 50 calories!

Elvis Smoothie

Yield 1 huge smoothie

1 medium banana, frozen
1 cup ice
1 cup Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened Vanilla
1 tbs honey peanut butter (regular peanut butter is fine too)
4 oz nonfat honey Greek yogurt
1 slice center cut bacon, cooked and crumbled
extra peanut butter and graham cracker crumbs for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Place banana, ice, Silk, peanut butter and yogurt in a blender, and blend until well combined, about 2 minutes.
If desired roll the top of your glass in graham cracker crumbs and drizzle some extra melted peanut butter on the inside.
Top with crumbled bacon.

This post is part of a sponsored campaign with Silk and FitFluential, LLC. All opinions are my own. To learn more about Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened on Facebook and Twitter.

Summit Trail

October 24, 2011 · by Ari ·

Hi friends! This week is like the week of perfect scheduling when it comes to work outs. Kara and I have completely matching schedules conducive to stress free morning work outs! We left my house at 6:15 this morning and headed to Squaw Peak which they are I guess now calling Piestewa Peak? Weird. I dunno. Anyway, we went there for a morning hike! I haven’t done a ton of hiking, but I really enjoy it as a nice change to my normal work outs. We took the Summit Trail which is about 1.2 miles up and moderately steep. At the beginning it felt like cake, but very quickly turned into a challenge as I started huffing and puffing and felt my heart rate climbing.

Luckily, it was perfect weather and the trail was the perfect amount of challenging to push us and still be enjoyable! There were also some nice views along the way

It definitely got hardest towards the top!

It ended up taking us about 40 minutes to get up and we were glad to hang out up there for a little bit! “Yeah, I’m the badass that just conquered that mountain.”

“Hooray!! I climbed a mountain! Photos from above, please. There ain’t nothing cute about below angles.”

We made some friends at the top and asked them to take our picture together. I told them the rules, no double chins. They didn’t seem to judge me too much for my vanity.

“Whoot! Check us out. Climbing mountains.”

I wore my Garmin. I don’t know why. It still felt nice to keep track of the distance. I wish it had a hiking setting.

After our hike, I made us delicious pumpkin pie smoothies to re-fuel. Yummmm. Crumbled whole wheat graham cracker and cool whip on top!

I’m off to get ready for rehearsal. Have a good night everyone!

Not getting “What I always got”

September 27, 2011 · by Ari ·

Hello everyone! I am definitely starting to feel exhaustion setting in. Today it took me a good 10 minutes to figure out what day it was. But it ended on a good note with a great rehearsal. I’m feeling really good about the work I’ve been doing on Aladdin. I love my team and I love my kiddos.

The day also started out on an awesome note in Spin class. I don’t know what got into the instructor, but she was out for blood today in the best way possible! At the beginning of class she started coming around to check out our cadence and gears. She always says our flat road should be between gear 6-10. The last 2 weeks or so I’ve been keeping mine at 9. She looked at a few people’s and made them bump it up, but then looked at mine and just said “Yup.” I guess that means I’m where I should be? Haha. Then at the end of class she made us all bump up our flat road one gear–oy! Class was intense and definitely kicked my butt, and at the end she was talking about pushing yourself. She said “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.” So true. I am the only one who can push myself. The only one who knows how much I have to give.

I feel like I am usually pretty good about pushing and giving my best, especially in a class situation or when I enjoy what I’m doing, but I know there are definitely times when I let myself off the hook. I let myself feel uncomfortable–to a point. It’s nice to be reminded that it’s all up to me, and I am in control over what I get out of my work outs, and really my life in general. I was pretty proud of what I accomplished in class today 🙂

After class, Kara and I were both super sweaty and totally beat but in the best way possible!

Notice the hot sweat stain on my under boob. Talk about not being cute after a work out 🙂

The rest of the day was pretty much a blur, but I did want to share that I added almond extract to a smoothie I made and it made a HUGE difference. So freaking delicious. I love extracts! Alright, I just have to keep my eyes open for 20 more minutes so I can work more, then I can go to bed! Good night, all!

Pumpkin Smoothie

September 14, 2011 · by Ari ·

Well, it’s true, every single food blog on the internet is talking about pumpkin. I knew I liked it in pie. I knew I liked it in bread. I wasn’t surprised that I loved it in oatmeal or cupcakes, but I’ve really been surprised by how ~~obsessed~~ into pumpkin I have become and it’s only September! I guess it’s all the reading of everyone else’s pumpkin foods. I’m kind of a follower 😉

Today I decided to try 2 new things

1) Pumpkin smoothie

2) Smoothie in a bowl

Every single blog I read, the put their smoothies in a bowl. I never understood why, but I figured it was worth a try.

Pros:

TOPPINGS!
Longer lasting
Toppings
Did I mention toppings?

Cons:

Less portable (I like to take my smoothies to go)
It made it harder to talk on the phone while enjoying my smoothie (I’m a multi tasker!)
I missed sipping it

I would put it in a bowl again for the toppings, but not every time. I like to sip 🙂

Pumpkin Smoothie

yeild 1 big ole smoothie

1 ripe banana
1/2 cup non fat vanilla Greek yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 tsp chia seeds
1/3 cup pumpkin
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
2 tbs oats
Tons of ice-How much exactly? I can’t really say–about a big tall glass full. The more ice, the more volume, the more it feels like I get to eat!

Optional toppings:

raisins
low fat granola
cereal
nuts
grain sweetened chocolate chips
nut butter
maple syrup

Directions:

1) BLEND!

I topped with raisins, granola, Fiber One cereal and honey sesame cashews (the best and worst thing I ever bought–sooo delicious! Make the same mistake as me at Trader Joes and I promise you will simultaneously regret it and no regret it!)

Work out:

I have never felt in better shape, or more positive about my work outs as I have since I started taking gym classes consistently. I feel like I may have said that about 100x by now, but it’s just so true. Today was supposed to be cardio and yoga, but it was beautiful outside and so we settled for a nice walk outside pre-calss, which ended up being fine by me because class was HARD today! I was super sweaty and there were times where my body was starting to shake. Does it make me a freak if I love that feeling?

Yoga is a big challenge for me. Mentally and physically. If I don’t get my heart rate as high as I’m used to, I have a hard time not beating myself up about not doing more at the gym or not working harder, but the truth is, yoga pushes my body in a completely different way, and being well rounded is so important. Also, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m a little neurotic. As soon as the teacher says “Now leave any other thoughts and worries outside of this room”, I immediately start to think about everything I could possibly be concerned about. Sometimes I wonder if I’d have an easier time if she told me to worry AS MUCH as possible. Some reverse psychology haha. I just have a really challenging time finding a mental place of calm. It is totally not my style, but I’m hoping that the more I practice, that I will be able to gain as much mentally as I am physically, and maybe one day, I will be able to shut off my brain for a second.

The inner dialogue of Ari’s brain:

Teacher: Silence your thoughts

Ari’s brain: What do I need to get done today? What am I going to make for lunch? What time is it? What am I behind on? What will everyone think of my work? I have to pee. I’m hungry. What time is it? When can I move from this pose? I like my husband. He’s cute. SHHHH, she said SILENCE! I suck at this. I really have to pee. Oy.

Lastly, if I am going to keep up this practice, I am really going to have to invest in my own mat. The ones at the gym look like someone got hungry during class and took a bite out of it

They don’t feed her at Starbucks apparently 😉 Also, the mats smell like feet. Which is fine when you’re just doing abs on them in bodyworks, but when my face is planted on it during child’s pose, I don’t really appreciate the foot smell so much.

Ok, I’m off to get ready for work. Have a great day everyone!