If you've been following me on Insta... you know I've been on a serious smoothie kick lately. What I love about smoothies is that, well, they taste delicious, and, they pack so many beneficial nutrients and vitamins in one punch. I'm not much of a kale-lover, but, you can't taste it in smoothies and the health benefits of kale are unparalleled. I love the idea of fueling my body with so many vitamins, minerals, protein, fiber, omegas & antioxidants first thing in the morning (super health-nerdy - don't care).

First let's start out chatting about what "Smoothie Staples" I keep in my fridge:

1. KALE: Extremely high in Vitamins K (helps with blood clotting & bone health), A & C. Also a great source of manganese, copper, iron, B6, fiber, potassium, and calcium. It's antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and great for cardiovascular system due to cholesterol lowering properties. There's more - click it to read it.

2. BERRIES: Who doesn't love berries? I buy them frozen this time of year. Extremely high in antioxidants, vitamin c, fiber, vitamin K, and manganese.

3. ALMOND MILK: I like THIS BRAND. It has less sugars and fake stuff than the other brands. (SILK almond milk is actually a better choice than Almond Breeze believe it or not - read the ingredient list). The health benefits are basically that it's high in vitamins because they are added. I just really prefer it to regular milk and personally feel that it offers more health benefits.

4. MANGOS: High in the B vitamins, Vitamin C, carotene, copper, & fiber.

5. AVOCADO: Extremely high in Vitamin B5, fiber, Vitamin K, Potassium, Vitamins C & E

6. CHIA SEEDS: High in omegas, fiber, protein, and high in protein considering their size

7: GROUND FLAXSEEDS: Omega-3's, Fiber, a little protein, and B1

8. ALMOND BUTTER: High in monounsaturated fats, vitamin E, manganese, biotin, and copper. A good source of magnesium, molydenum, riboflavin (vitamin B2), and phosphorus

9. CINNAMON: Super high in antioxidants. Good source of calcium, fiber, & manganese.

Ok now that we have the benefits down... let's get into the tasty recipes!

The GREEN MONSTER! Cup of kale, cup of frozen mangos, half an avocado, vanilla almond milk, cinnamon, ginger, tbs of ground flax. Sprinkle with cinnamon and ginger and serve.

KALE-RAZZLE DAZZLE! Cup of kale, cup of raspberries, whole banana (save a couple slices for the top to make it pretty), cinnamon, vanilla almond milk, almond butter, chia seeds, ground flax seed, sprinkle with cinnamon.

ALMOND BERRY BURST! Half banana, almond milk, tbs almond butter, 3/4cu kale, 1/2cu organic berries, tsp of chia seeds and ground flax seed, cinnamon, ginger, 1/4cu coffee.

BANANARAMMA COLD-KILLA: 3/4cu Kale, 1/3 avocado, frozen mangos, banana, vanilla almond milk, cinnamon, ginger. (Rob was fighting a bad cold last week and I started to get a sore throat this week --- BUT, between shots of apple cider vinegar (we'll talk about that another time) and these smoothies - my sore throat is pretty much gone - no joke)

QUICKIE COLD ZAPPER: I was freezing this morning so I didn't want my frozen fruit - I ended up using a regular mango and it came out great: Cup of Kale, 1/3 avocado, 1 whole mango, cinnamon, almond milk, tbs shredded coconut.

I'm going to keep on making these so I'll continue to post the recipes on Insta - what's your favorite smoothie staple?! Have a great week! xo