Welcome to my mind. Stay a while and let me share some delicious and nutritious (for the most part) smoothie recipes as well as some of my favorite exercise routines and fitness tips. I don't subscribe to the “summer is almost here” mindset. It’s always summer somewhere, so take care of yourself all year round.
Today’s smoothie is a twist on the very first smoothie I ever made – Bananas, Mixed Berries, Peanut Butter & Almond Milk. It’s pretty much the “Same Script, Different Cast,” with Powdered Peanut Butter and Almond Coconut Blend standing in for the originals. Before you get your smoothie on, get a nice, quick yoga session in with another great practice from Sean Vigue Fitness.
1 Banana
1 Cup Frozen Organic Mixed Berries (Strawberries, Blueberries, Blackberries and Raspberries
2 Tablespoons PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter
1 Cup Almond Coconut Milk Blend
FOOD KEY
– Bananas: vitamin B6 and potassium
– Strawberries: vitamins C & B5, potassium, folic acid and magnesium
– Blueberries: vitamins K & C, manganese, fiber and copper
– Blackberries: vitamin C, potassium, magnesium and copper
– Raspberries: vitamins C & A, potassium, magnesium and fiber
– Powdered Peanut Butter: protein, fiber and potassium
Hey there peeps, no long time no see. It pains me to think how long it’s been since I shared some smoothie goodness with you, but life (and fatherhood) haven’t left me with much time to post. Today’s smoothie is the product of circumstance. The only things ingredients I had in the fridge that day were red apples, strawberries, celery and kale. I never combined apples and strawberries, so i figured I’d give it a go. I also decided to kick it up a notch with some cinnamon powder and powdered peanut butter. The results were so good, that I made this smoothie for 2 consecutive days. Give it a try and lemme know what you think.
2 cups Organic Kale
1 Red Apple (Cored)
1 Cup Organic Celery
1/2 Cup Organic Strawberries
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon Powder
2 Tablespoons Slim Powdered Peanut Butter
1 Cup Vanilla Almond Milk
FOOD KEY:
– Kale: vitamins, A, B6 &C, potassium, copper, folic acid, calcium, iron, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and zinc (MEGA-STACKED!!)
– Apples: potassium, vitamin C and pectin (helps control cholesterol and blood sugar)
– Celery: potassium, folic acid and vitamins C & B6
– Strawberries: vitamins C & B5, potassium, folic acid and magnesium
– Cinnamon: fiber, calcium, good for digestion
– Powdered Peanut Butter: protein, fiber and potassium
Today’s workout is a super quick HIIT workout that focuses on the lower body. It’s only 10 minutes, but I was definitely feeling it afterwards. It incorporates some of my least favorite, albeit most effective, exercises including the dreaded star jumps. Enjoy, lol.
Ugh, cold and flu season sucks! Not only were this year’s flu shots completely worthless, but it has been a brutally cold February that has seen my entire household all get sick at once (GOOD TIMES!). Since I didn’t want to keep popping Mucinex and DayQuil like Reese’s Pieces, I went looking for a smoothie recipe the cut the legs off my cold. I found gold in an unlikely place…an MMA Radio Show. The host of the show was giving props to his teammate’s father for hooking up with a recipe to help him get over cold he couldn’t shake. It was a juice recipe, but I made a smoothie out of it because that’s how I roll. I would def recommend this receipt the next time you are sick. It’s not the most delicious, but it does the job. I felt like garbage before I tried this out. I threw down a couple mason jars of “Cold Killer” and was well enough to dance in a Flashmob in NYC on Valentines Day. That’s a whole other story, but for more details on this amazing event with a great cause, search the hashtag #DanceOutInLove. See if you can spot me in the video!
(Makes 2 Smoothies)
4 Chopped Carrots
1 Sliced Apple
1 Inch piece of Ginger
1 Clove Garlic
2 Chopped Celery Stalks
2 Cups Water
FOOD KEY
– Carrots: vitamins A & B6, folic acid and magnesium
– Apples: potassium, vitamin C and pectin (helps control cholesterol and blood sugar)
– Ginger: stimulates digestion, combats flatulence (NICE!) and is effective against colds
– Garlic: vitamins B1, B6, and C, manganese, copper, selenium, phosphorus and calcium (among countless other benefits)
– Celery: potassium, folic acid and vitamins C & B6
Since I was getting over being sick, I eased back into my workouts with this great yoga routine from Sean Vigue.
Hi everyone. I know it’s been a while since I posted some smoothie goodness, but I have an awesome recipe for you today. I LOVE carrot cake, and since my fridge was stocked with carrots, I decided to try to make a carrot cake smoothie. I was a little shocked at how great it came out. I could and did have this for breakfast and dessert later that day. So as to not feel completely gluttonous, I “earned” my smoothie prize by doing a killer ab workout I found courtesy of Frank Medrano, probably the most ripped vegan on earth. I even used the model he used for his workout to make a complementary workout that won’t leave your chest and legs feeling left out. Do the workout, enjoy the smoothie.
1 Cup Chopped Carrots
1 Sliced Apple
1 Inch Piece of Ginger
Handful of Raw Cashews (it’s what I had, but you can go with walnuts for more carrot cakeness)
2 Tablespoons Slim Powdered Peanut Butter
1/4 Cup Organic Steel Cut Oats
1 Cup Vanilla Almond Milk
FOOD KEY
– Carrots: vitamins A & B6, folic acid and magnesium
– Apples: potassium, vitamin C and pectin (helps control cholesterol and blood sugar)
– Ginger: stimulates digestion, combats flatulence (NICE!) and is effective against colds
– Cashews: copper, phosphorous, manganese, magnesium, zinc and protein
– Powdered Peanut Butter: protein, fiber and potassium
Frank’s workout is great for the abs, but the chest, arms and legs should get some love, too. Use the same 30 seconds cardio, then body weight exercise for reps model used in the video above, but…
A. Substitute burpees for the the mountain climbers. I did regular burpees for the first round, then single leg burpees for the next two sets (alternating legs, duh(, then repeat for the cycle for the next three rounds
B. Substitute push-ups for the ab exercises. Mix it up by doing a different variation each round for anywhere from 15-20 reps. I went with:
1) handstand push-ups against the wall (Do these first (hardest, imo). Good luck tryin’ to bang them out at the end)
2) Spiderman Push-ups (click here for demonstration)
Happy New Year Everyone! I hope the new year has good to you so far and that any resolutions you made are still going strong. The first smoothie post of 2015 is also a shout-out to one of my favorite shows on the television – Key & Peele. Over the holidays, I started binge watching it on Amazon Prime and I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard at a sketch comedy show. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. That is unless you are averse to hilarious television. This was the first time I “peared” kale and pears together for a smoothie (see what I did there), and I was very happy with the results. Pears don’t get the same kind of smoothie love as bananas, berries or apples, but they should…because they’re awesome. Enjoy the smoothie, then blast your core with quick, intense workout from YouTube boss Sean Vigue.
1 Cup Kale
1 Sliced Pear
1 Pitted Date
1 Handful Raw Cashews
1/4 Cup Steel Cut Organic Oats
1 Scoop Soy-Free Vegetable Protein
1 Cup Almond/Coconut Blend Milk
FOOD KEY
– Kale: vitamins, A, B6 &C, potassium, copper, folic acid, calcium, iron, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and zinc (MEGA-STACKED!!)
– Pears: fiber, potassium and copper
– Dates: fiber, magnesium, potassium, and antioxidants
– Cashews: copper, phosphorous, manganese, magnesium, zinc and protein
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,500 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 25 trips to carry that many people.
I often have mandarin oranges and almonds in my salads, so I figured why not make a smoothie with those same ingredients. For extra goodness, I added some chopped carrots as well as some oats and protein powder. Looked gross, lol, but was more tasty and satisfying than I expected. Today’s quick workout comes courtesy of Mike Chang (Six Pack Shortcuts). It’s a pretty intense cardio circuit that you can do anywhere and is ideal after a cheat meal or cheat weekend.
This will be the last post of 2014. Thanks to all of my followers and lurkers who have followed and read this blog. It has been fun to share my recipes and fitness tips with anyone who cares to listen. I hope you had a great 2014 and wish you a safe, happy, healthy and smoothie New Year.
GUESS WHO’S BACK!? Hey there everyone, sorry for the long gap in between posts. Being a new parent is a 24 hour/day job. Who knew, lol? I’ve been more of the diaper operator for the last couple of months, but I have managed to get my smoothie on in between diaper changes and crying fits. You don’t hear about many smoothies with broccoli in them, and that’s a shame. Broccoli is super healthy and can be delicious when mixed withe right ingredients. I still don’t have much time to workout, so I keep my eyes out for great, quick routines to add to my rotation. The yoga practice below from Sean Vigue is excellent and moderately difficult, so you really maximize your ten minutes. Try the smoothie and the workout and let me know what you think.
1 Chopped Banana
1 Cup Broccoli Florets
1 Pitted Date
1 Handful Raw Almonds
1/4 Cup Steel Cut Organic Oats
1 Scoop Soy-Free Vegetable Protein Powder
1 Cup Almond Milk
FOOD KEY
– Bananas: vitamin B6 and potassium
– Broccoli: vitamins C & A, potassium, folic acid, magnesium, iron, beta-carotene and phosphorus (STACKED!!)
– Dates: fiber, magnesium, potassium, and antioxidants
– Raw Almonds: magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, riboflavin, copper, niacin and zinc (STACKED!!)
– Strawberries: vitamins C & B5, potassium, folic acid and magnesium
– Blueberries: vitamins K & C, manganese, fiber and copper
– Blackberries: vitamin C, potassium, magnesium and copper
– Raspberries: vitamins C & A, potassium, magnesium and fiber
– Powdered Peanut Butter: protein, fiber and potassium
– Oats: fiber and protein
– Honey: less calories than sugar, source of good carbs for strength and energy, good for digestion
Today I decided to put my own HIIT workout together instead of hittin’ up YouTube. I’ve done so many routines from so many great channels on YouTube, that I thought I could put a pretty good, quick workout together myself. I put together a 15 round total body workout that takes just over 11 minutes. Not too shabby. Each round is 30 seconds with 15 second breaks in between rounds. The basic format is 1) Bodyweight/Jump Squats, 2) Pushups, 3) Bicycle Crunch/Leg Raise Combo, then repeat the series 4 more times. Just do as many of each exercise as you can in 30 seconds before resting for 15 and then moving to the next exercise. I used variations on the pushups every round. You can stick with traditional pushups if you want. I just like to mix it up. The routine looks like this:
Round 1 – Bodyweight Squats
Round 2 – Hindu (Dive Bomber) Pushups
Round 3 – Bicycle Crunch/Leg Raise Combo
Round 4 – Bodyweight Squats
Round 5 – Spiderman Pushups
Round 6 – Bicycle Crunch/Leg Raise Combo
Round 7 – Jump Squats
Round 8 – Wide Grip Pushups
Round 9 – Bicycle Crunch/Leg Raise Combo
Round 10 – Jump Squats
Round 11 – Single Leg Pushups (switch legs after 10 reps)
Round 12 – Bicycle Crunch/Leg Raise Combo
Round 13 – Jump Squats
Round 14 – Slide Fly Pushups
Round 15 – Bicycle Crunch/Leg Raise Combo
Since some of those pushup variations maybe not sound familiar, here are examples of some of them:
Hindu (Dive Bomber)Pushup
Spiderman Pushups
Slide Fly Pushups
I used a HIIT Interval Training Timer app to help keep track of the time between rounds. It’s a free app on Google, and I highly recommend it. This is the icon for the app: .
– Apples: potassium, vitamin C and pectin (helps control cholesterol and blood sugar)
– Celery: potassium, folic acid and vitamins C & B6
– Raw Almonds: magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, riboflavin, copper, niacin and zinc (STACKED!!)
– Cinnamon: fiber, calcium, good for digestion
– Powdered Peanut Butter: protein, fiber and potassium
– Oats: fiber and protein
Today’s quick workout is a great functional cardio workout from Mike Chang (Six Pack Shortcuts) that really blasts the core in just 14 minutes. Get to work.
1 Banana
Sincerely Yours, The Smoothie Operator 