Greek Yogurt Strawberry Smoothies

Happy Monday blog readers!  I hope you had a good weekend.  We had an enjoyable weekend as our little family ventured out to a local strawberry patch on Saturday.  We had fun watching our twin toddlers pick berries for the first time!  Ethan was a pro at picking strawberries.  We didn't even have to show him how to pick the berries.  He spotted the red berries right away, and figured it all out on his own.  His brother was more concerned about eating his findings, but who can blame him....berries are his favorite food!

When we got home, I decided to use up some of our strawberries by making healthy strawberry smoothies as an evening snack.  Packed with protein, these smoothies are not super sweet, but are just sweet enough to satisfy your sweet tooth, while having a distinct strawberry flavor with a hint of tartness from the yogurt.  Smoothies are always a hit with my family! 

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. frozen strawberries (75 calories, 1 g. protein)

half of a banana (50 calories, 1 g. protein) 

1/2-1 tsp. stevia in the raw, depending on taste

1/2 c. unsweetened almond milk (15 calories, 1 g. protein)

3/4 c. plain nonfat Greek yogurt (95 calories,9 g. protein)

235 Total Calories and 12 grams of Protein

DIRECTIONS:

Mix the ingredients in a blender or Nutribullet until smooth

NOTES:

** Frozen strawberries work best for this drink.  You can always freeze fresh strawberries yourself or buy frozen ones from the frozen section at the grocery store.

** Almond milk can be substituted for any kind of milk, or omitted completely.  I add milk, so the smoothie isn't too thick for my toddlers to drink out of their straw cups. 

** Greek yogurt could be substituted for regular yogurt.  Regular yogurt will make the smoothie thinner.  I prefer Greek yogurt, because of the additional protein in Greek yogurt.

** The banana and stevia cut the tartness of the strawberries and plain yogurt.  If using sweetened yogurt, neither the banana or the stevia are necessary.  Also, a whole banana can be used for this recipe.  I only use half of a banana to keep the calories minimal.

**  Stevia is my sugar substitute of choice, but any sweetener would work.

** This recipe makes one serving for me, and two small servings for my twin toddlers.  I double the recipe when making this for my husband, myself and our twin toddlers.