Morning Shakes

Those of you who have been reading me over the years know that breakfast is always a struggle for me. I know that it is an important meal and that if there is one meal you should eat, it is breakfast. The body needs the fuel for the day’s activities. I have been trying different ways and different things to motivate me to have breakfast and most of them work only for a short period of time. However, for the past 4 months (and that is quite a record), I have been making myself a liquid breakfast that suits me just fine and sustains me well throughout the day.

20151018in good taste logoI call this liquid breakfast, morning shakes. The base ingredients are always the same – fresh whole milk, raw rolled oats, bananas, a little sugar and crushed ice all blended together. Depending on the season and whatever fruit puree I have in the freezer, they get added to the shakes to vary the flavour. For added health benefit, fresh root ginger is added to the shakes.

If you are someone that cannot handle eating early in the morning or dislike the task of preparing breakfast, try making the shakes, it is simply adding ingredients to a blender and pureeing.

Here is the recipe for the standard shake I make. Below you will find fruits you can add to vary the flavour.

INGREDIENTS

  • Banana-oats & Blueberry Shake Photo by Cynthia Nelson
    Banana-oats & Blueberry Shake
    Photo by Cynthia Nelson

    ¼ cup raw rolled oats

  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1 large banana, peeled and chopped
  • Sugar to taste
  • 6 ice cubes

DIRECTIONS

  1. Add the oats and milk to the blender and let rest for about 10 minutes to soften the oats (you can busy yourself doing other things while this gets done, if you can leave it longer, the better).
  1. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend well for 1 to 2 minutes.
  1. Pour into a jug and drink.

ADD-INS

(1/4 cup)

Guava pulp

 Banana-oats & Nutella Shake Photo by Cynthia Nelson
Banana-oats & Nutella Shake
Photo by Cynthia Nelson

Mango pulp

Soursop pulp

Pawpaw (papaya)

Star-apple pulp

Sapodilla pulp

Avocado (pear)

Frozen or fresh berries such as blue berries, strawberries, raspberries

NOTES

  • You can adjust the sugar added to the shake depending on the sweetness of the fruit.
  • Spreads like Nutella and peanut

butter make for delicious additions too.