Sore Muscle Mender Smoothie Recipe!

My husband and I have been a smoothie kick lately. Usually, once a day (most often for breakfast or lunch), we make ourselves a smoothie as a meal. We fill it with fruits, veggies, proteins (found in tofu and yogurt and almond milk), and antioxidants.

A few days ago, I was feeling particularly sore after a new, particularly tough workout the day before. I did a little research before lunch and decided to try to make a "sore muscle fixer smoothie". I sipped on it for nearly 30 minutes (some of the ingredients were frozen so admittedly, it was a bit too thick to begin with...) and maybe it was a placebo effect, I don't know, but it actually seemed to ease the soreness.

Ingredients

• 1/2 C blueberries (frozen or fresh) -- Full of antioxidants. (P.S. Coffee and red wine have a good share of antioxidants, too!)
• 1 medium banana (frozen or fresh) -- Bananas=go-to for potassium. We've all heard the old wives tale, encouraging us to eat a banana when we have a leg cramp or a charley horse. It's actually logic and fact-driven. Potassium helps muscles.
• 1 T chia seeds -- I've been going crazy for chia seeds for awhile now. Basically, they give you "Energy. Protein. Omega 3 fatty acids. Fiber. Iron. Calcium." as written in my blog from a few months ago. Read it here.
• 1/4 C silken tofu or Greek yogurt -- Here's where you get some more protein. We don't use Greek yogurt, we use Mountain High and it's amazing. If you can find it at your grocery store, pick some up. You won't be disappointed.
• 1 C almond milk -- More potassium, calcium, and iron and low in calories. Plus it puts a bit more sweetness in your smoothie!
• 2-4 Cubes of ice (optional)
• 1 C fresh spinach -- Think Popeye. We all know that this stuff is full of vitamins and minerals and antioxidants.

Directions

1. Put all ingredients into blender and blend until smooth.
2. Drink it up and feel all kinds of great!

Here's another exciting thing about this super-food smoothie. It's low in calories. Between 275 and 295 (depending on whether you use tofu or yogurt. The tofu is less, in case you're wondering). If you add five of the Kashi 7 Grain Sea Salt Crackers and some neufchatel cheese (1 oz., which sounds like not a lot, but it's 1/8th of a package) you are still way under 500 calories and I promise you, you will not have hunger pangs for hours. Plus, it's scrumptious. All of it.

Sources:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=43
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09355.html
http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/the-healthier-choice-almond-milk-vs-milk.html
and, as always, http://caloriecount.about.com/