ice cubes

Blueberry Breakfast Smoothie Recipe

August 1, 2018 by Dana

*This Blueberry Breakfast Smoothie Recipe may contain affiliate links. If you click these links and make a purchase, PLA will receive a commission for referring you. This enables me to keep the blog going strong. 🙂

Umm Hi, Hello. Brand new VITAMIX owner right here you guys! I am super excited to share this Blueberry Breakfast Smoothie Recipe post with you today because I just mixed this baby up in my brand new blender. When you get this excited about a kitchen appliance, you might be 30 something.

Can I just admit that I’ve been hardcore stalking this blender on Amazon since Christmas of 2017. Hardcore stalking like re-checking the price just to make sure it didn’t go down on a weekly basis. It may have even appeared on my Amazon Baby Registry. That’s right, I have all the baby things so when my Mom asked me to create a registry for baby number 5 I decided a blender would be totally appropriate. Spoiler alert: I didn’t get the blender at my baby shower!

On Prime Day 2018 I just so happened to do a quick search and found out OMG IT’S ON SALE.

Then 2 days later it arrived because Amazon does magical things like this. My husband directly said it was not in the budget for me to get this blender so I was thinking of ways to make it appear without being super over dramatic about it. Should I hide it in a closet or pretend my Mom bought it for me? How does one slip a blender past their husband?

Turns out the delivery guy had different plans because he placed my new blender right on the front porch 5 minutes before my husband got home from work. It was hiding at the front door in a huge box that said Vitamix on the outside. My husband came in and didn’t mention the blender at all. When I peered outside and saw the huge box I started laughing and he immediately said he saw my blender on the porch. Then I had to explain to him that when things are on sale, we buy the things. We don’t wait on buying the things because then Prime Day is over and we still want the things and will continue stalking them until they arrive at our door in a big Vitamix box. Moral of the story, just buy the Vitamix!

Products from Amazon.com

Initial Vitamix Thoughts

I will be doing a full Vitamix review quite soon, however my initial thoughts on the Vitamix is that it does live up to the hype! This Blueberry Breakfast Smoothie Recipe was so smooth I had to add ice to my next one just to make it a little thicker. I prefer to use frozen blueberries because they are easy, and it was no problem at all for the Vitamix. Ice was also easily blended. I was previously using a Ninja Master Prep for all my blending needs and the Vitamix is definitely lightyears ahead of my old blender. My smoothies are super smooth, almost like juice if I don’t add ice. I am testing different blends, specifically a kale blend to see what the best ratios are for getting greens super smooth. Stay tuned for that! 🙂

Sunrise Protein Smoothie

February 8, 2017 by Dana

Hello and welcome back! I’m posting this Sunrise Protein Smoothie today to let everyone know I’m actually alive and well and still creating delicious recipes for my family. 🙂

So where have I been? You know, to sum it up I’ve been super busy with my family. We have four little boys to take care of and since the baby was born last September I feel like I’m in survival mode everyday. I also have a relatively new photography business that is taking up quite a bit of my time. If you are in the Central Pennsylvania area go ahead and check me out! www.danacarvellphotography.com

My business is specializing in newborn and family photography and things have taken off to the point where I feel like I’m ignoring my first baby, my 3boys blog! I got a swift kick in the rear when I realized that I still get thousands of hits a day and I’m so missing my foodie community. It almost was like a big wake up call:

“Hello Dana! There are thousands of people reading your recipes everyday! You are killing in in stats, where are you!?!?”

It kind of just dropped on my lap, honestly. So here I am! I not only love doing this, it is like a breath of fresh air!

So i’ve decided to try to dedicate a little time each week to still posting and doing something that I ultimately love to do. I’ve had such a positive experience here and I love it! And of course, by the way, since upgrading my camera, and getting A TON of experience in taking pictures of people I’ve also grown so much in my food photography. Gone are the days of super over exposed images. 🙂 I also really love taking pictures of food because hello! Food does not move! Most of the time I’m chasing around toddlers. Don’t get me wrong, I love a challenge, but a subject that is motionless once in a while is so fun!

As I mentioned since our 4th boy was born last year I’ve been in survival mode. Little by little we are getting back to our own “normal” but it has taken quite some time. Just because our baby is 16 months old doesn’t mean things have gotten a whole lot easier, just different. More of chasing mom around the house begging to be carried around all day so that mom can literally do nothing, including cook for the rest of the family! haha In order to get healthy, whole foods into my own body I have resorted to a lot of smoothie recipes because… again…survival mode ya’ll!

I hesitated to post this Sunrise Protein Smoothie recipe because it seems so simple. At the same time I thought, why not!?!? This is real, this is what I’m eating, and I should share it. It doesn’t have to be super elaborate for readers to find it helpful. So here it is! 🙂

How to Choose the Best Protein Powder

This is one thing that made me hesitate to post this Sunrise Smoothie Recipe because I don’t want folks to pick a protein powder that contains a ton of unhealthy ingredients. In the back of my mind I’m saying:

“I’ve seen some really bad ones. Will someone choose that?”

So here. I’m telling you straight. Read the ingredient list. Look in the “naturals” section, and choose wisely. Choose organic if you can, try to find the shortest list of ingredients, and stay away from soy. I’ve actually seen partially hydrogenated oils in GNC’s protein powders, as well as a bunch of others. Like really GNC!?!?! How dare you throw horrible ingredients into a powder that is marketed to people trying to be healthy. These are the things that just simply anger me because it is necessary and dangerous. I love Food Babe and she has a list here that will help you choose. While mine is not on her list, I would still highly suggest all Vega products as they taste great and have worked very well for me!

I use Vega protein powders that are the best I’ve found. Yes, they are vegan. No I’m not following a Vegan diet. However their ingredients check out and I will be eating non-vegan foods the rest of the day so it is a nice change.

Vegan Peanut Butter Banana Protein Smoothie

January 6, 2016 by Dana

Ohhhh Heyyy There!!!

Being that this is my first post back after a few month hiatus from blogging to.. Oh I don’t know, HAVE A BABY I thought it was only fitting to talk postpartum weight loss and how ~~horrifying,~~ I mean awesome of an experience it can be!

If you haven’t been here before let me quickly bring you up to date. I’m 28, I have 4 boys, and my husband works a job that takes him away from home about 80% of time. I have a 9 year old who is currently in need of a ton of homework help, a 4 year old who is the easiest of the bunch, a strong willed 2 year old who is ever so cute/a raging emotional mess/potty training, and a breastfeeding baby who basically loves and needs Mommy almost 24/7. Needless to say I change a lot of diapers, deal with about 100 boogers a day, and by the end of the day I don’t even know my name anymore (give me about an hour after bedtime to remember it :)). Finding time to do things like exercise and meal plan is super challenging right now but I am feeling ready to think about what I’m eating and where I can make better choices (hello organic sourdough bread and butter, I’m staring at you).

Oh…and one more small detail.. I am going to a BEACH WEDDING in FOUR short months..Mic drop.

Yes. Beach Wedding. Me. In a bathing suit. On a beach. Not only am I attending the wedding, I am in the wedding (my sister is tying the knot). IN THE WEDDING. 80+ people looking at me walking down an isle (ok, I’m not the bride so let’s face it, nobody gives two hoots about me) however I’d prefer to be feeling a tad bit better about my body at that time. And… dun dun dun… I have a dress that doesn’t fit me. Ok, ok in all fairness I can get the dress on but I would need about 5 layers of Spanx to tame all the lumps and bumps under the dress. Me + 5 layers of Spanx under a dress in Mexico = Not happening! So I have a ton of motivation right now to make it happen.

On a really serious note before we dive into the recipe, I’ve always taken postpartum weight loss very lightly. I’m not very hard on myself about it, and I don’t feel super down about the way that I look. Sure, I’d love to take a selfie without that extra chin (wait a minute, I don’t selfie) but you know, I have a beautiful baby to care for everyday and that is good enough for me. I’ve always gained weight while pregnant and it has always taken me 6-9 months to shed the extra weight. I know my body did something incredible just 3 short months ago and I remind myself of that every time I feel “fat.” I will never compare myself to any other person or celebrity because all of us are working with a different deck of cards. Plus, now I have an excuse to buy a bunch of leggings and ponchos from Grace & Lace and basically never take them off. 🙂

I picked up this Vega Protein Smoothie pouch at Wegmans after eyeing it up for a couple of weeks in a row. I’ll admit, I made a few really gross concoctions with it at first. I mean gag-worthy. Then I realized if I just kept it simple the results were awesome! Vega has a few different flavors but I settled on the vanilla and I really like the taste. My main goal in trying to eat healthier/think about what I’m eating/feed myself quickly is just to try to keep things realatively simple. I’m not following any type of meal plan, I’m just keeping myself in check with a food diary app, sticking to unprocessed foods, and incorporating more fruits and veggies into my daily routine. I know what works for me is routine, routine, routine. So instead of walking into the kitchen and ravaging through a loaf of sourdough bread I’m going to think about it first. Then maybe dig into some carrots and hummus, or make a delicious Vegan Protein Smoothie with my Vega protein. See where I am going with this?

I should also mention that my handy-dandy Ninja Master Prep is still going strong! I LOVE THIS THING! It isn’t the most high quality blender, but baby it gets the job done darn good. I’ve had mine for about a year and a half now and it is still blending like a champ. I use it almost every day. Yay for the Ninja Master Prep!