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Punch-Packing Smoothies

Here's a way to start your day off with several servings of fruits and vegetables all in one glass.

The smoothie is called Morning Happiness and serves one. To make this you'll need:

1 small frozen banana
½ a peeled and chopped mango
½ inch piece peeled ginger
1 small chopped carrot
1 cup kale (may sub spinach if not a fan of kale)
1 TB chia seeds
1 cup almond or coconut milk (or whichever non-dairy milk you prefer)

Break or cut the banana into four or five pieces and throw into blender followed by everything else. Let it all sit for five minutes to soften chia seeds before blending.

Now, why the chia seeds? I use chia seeds to add omega fatty acids, fiber and protein to my smoothies. I most often use chia seeds as they don't need to be ground as flax seeds do, and I always have them on hand.

Other smoothie combos to try (all with a non-dairy milk as needed for consistency):

- Apple, carrot, ginger, spinach
- Frozen blueberries, banana, mango, kale
- Banana, mango, radish, fig, hemp hearts (shelled hemp seeds)
- Banana, peach, kale, hemp hearts
- Banana, blueberries, peach, spinach, chia seeds
- Strawberries, pineapple, mango, apple, chia seeds

They key to making a fast smoothie in the morning is preparation, but even that isn't too labor intensive. Just peel and freeze a bunch of bananas every so often, stock up on frozen organic fruits when you see them on sale. Or you can freeze your own when what's available is in season and/or on sale. Then of course you can fill in with what you have in your refrigerator as you like with items like fresh greens or carrots.

The most important thing is to experiment to find what you like. Last year I made a different smoothie each day for about six weeks straight and took pictures to remind myself what they looked like and what I enjoyed the most. The upside of that was I found that I like fresh ginger in almost every smoothie. The downside was that my friends got really tired of seeing my smoothies on Facebook every day.

The Veggie Chef offers recipes for vegetarians. Andrea Mattioni-Willis is a vegetarian herself and she loves to cook. She frequently experiments with new recipes and will share her findings with all of you.