What's For Breakfast?

Now, that I am officially in the third trimester, the doc told me it is time to start gaining some weight, especially since we have twins.  Whee!  But, not really.  Because although I do need to start gaining weight, I also have to continue eating nutritiously so it's not like I can just start eating a tub of ice cream each night.  Plus, I pretty much feel like I'm eating all the time since I'm eating small meals every few hours.  And, the two biggest predictors of successful multiple pregnancies are weight gain and rest...but more on that in a later post.

For now, I'm just looking for ways to incorporate more healthy fats into my diet.  So, I decided to first tackle breakfast.  Many of you know that I've been a smoothie girl for several years now.  The recipes have changed during that time, but I find it is the easiest and best way to get a lot of servings of fruits and vegetables in m'belly.  During my first trimester, the recipe had gotten pretty simple - water, berries, chia seeds, greens and stevia.  Since I was eating a couple of snacks in the morning, I had no need for protein powder as previous concoctions had included.   I decided to doctor my recipe up to add some additional calories.

Here's the new and improved, 'What's Good for Momma is Good for the Babies' smoothie recipe.

1 cup kefir (if you aren't familiar with kefir, it's kind of a fizzy yogurt milk...that sounds horrible, doesn't it?  It's not, I promise.  It has tons of probiotics and some of the fats I was looking for, although you can get low-fat versions as well)

1 cup water

2 tablespoons of chia seeds (chia seeds are a super food with protein, fiber and good fats)

1 cup organic kale

1 cup organic spinach

2 cups organic frozen berries

1 banana

1-2 tablespoons coconut oil (this is a fantastic 'good' fat and great for cooking...it's also very satiating...and it's always good to incorporate a small amount of fat with your greens; it helps your body absorb the nutrients...okay, I'll shut up about coconut oil now.  But seriously, it's really, really good.  Nick cooks egg whites in it every morning for breakfast.)

A bit of stevia, for sweetness

I put all of this in a blender and blend for 45 seconds to a minute.  It makes probably a good 32 ounce smoothie and typically takes me at least an hour to drink.   Were I to guess, I would say this is somewhere between 600-700 calories, although if you take the coconut oil and kefir out (or use the lower fat version of kefir), that would drop substantially.

A couple of notes - I always use organic kale, spinach and frozen berries because they are on the Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen list.  (there's a handy little printable guide on this website to stick in your wallet) Bananas are not, so I don't buy them organic.

I love this breakfast because it takes only five minutes to put together and I can take it on the road with me to work or run errands or whatever.  I know it might not SOUND appetizing, but I promise that between the fruit and the stevia, the taste of the greens is pretty well covered up.  Although the kale does have a more pronounced taste, so if you don't like it, stick with spinach.

[caption id="attachment_128" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Smoothie in a pretty glass for your viewing pleasure![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_129" align="aligncenter" width="225"] What I actually drink my smoothie from - one of those BPA free double-walled cooler thingies.[/caption]