Busy Morning Vanilla Berry Smoothies

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CarnationSweepstakes #BetterBreakfast #CollectiveBias

These Busy Morning Vanilla Berry Smoothies are the perfect way to kickstart your day...even if you're in a hurry. They're the perfect blend of berries and YUM!

Busy Morning Vanilla Berry Smoothies | Freezing yogurt in ice cube trays makes this recipe a breeze!

We're entering into a new phase of life, y'all. As I mentioned in this post, we bought a new house in the neighboring town. However, our kids will remain at the same school where they've been for the last six years.

Our current home is across the street from our school. I've, literally, never navigated a crazy drop off line...at least not the car version! My kids have walked to and from school the last few years...and to be completely honest, half the time, I'm still in my jim-jammies when they head out the door. Those leisurely mornings are coming to a screeching halt, y'all. When we move in two weeks, the alarms will start earlier and mornings will be a bit more hectic. But, I do have a plan to still make breakfast a priority. Check out my recipe for Busy Morning Vanilla Berry Smoothies below.

These Busy Morning Vanilla Berry Smoothies are so yummy! Perfect for those mornings when (I kind of completely anticipate) we will be drinking our smoothies en route to school. We may have a bit less getting-ready time, but that's definitely not an excuse to skip breakfast. The boys don't do well without full bellies before school...and I don't do well without a morning meal, either.

These Busy Morning Vanilla Berry Smoothies are made with berries, milk, yogurt, and one of our favorites: Carnation Breakfast Essentials®. These are great for a lot more than just smoothies in the mornings...they make a nutritious drink in a snap. Having these on hand can give our family a bit more time in the mornings...I may even have an extra few minutes for some exercise before we head out the door. Smooth mornings are the key to happy days.

The secret to keeping our morning in check is prepping ahead of time...from clothes, to school lunches to breakfast. To make these smoothies even easier, I add low fat vanilla yogurt to an ice cube tray to freeze ahead of time for use in these smoothies later.

After the yogurt is frozen, just pop them out of the tray.

(Most ice cube trays are divided into one ounce sections...perfect for measuring.)

I add the cubes plus berries to zip top baggies to store in the freezer for those crazy mornings when we may not have time to sit down to breakfast.

When we need that quick breakfast (that still tastes delish), we grab a bag of frozen yogurt cubes and berries to start our vanilla berry smoothies.

Add them to a blender cup with one packet Carnation Breakfast Essentials® (French Vanilla flavor). The packet gives the smoothie such a great boost of flavor...love the French Vanilla in these smoothies.

Top these off with Almond Milk and you're ready to blend!

Busy Morning Vanilla Berry Smoothies

CLICK HERE FOR PRINTABLE RECIPE

(recipe makes four servings)

Ingredients:

2 cups low fat vanilla yogurt
1 cup sliced strawberries
1/2 cup blueberries
4 Carnation Breakfast Essentials® French Vanilla packets
2 cups low fat Almond Milk

Directions:

Prep yogurt a day or so ahead of time. Fill an ice cube tray with yogurt and freeze overnight. Combine four yogurt cubes with 1/4 cup strawberries and a handful of blueberries in a zip top bag. Store in freezer until ready to use.

Combine contents of each bag with one packet Carnation Breakfast Essentials® (French Vanilla flavor) and 1/2 cup Almond Milk in a blender. Blend on high for one minute. Serve immediately. Make all four smoothies, or save the bags of yogurt and berries for another time.

(one serving contains 240 calories and 30 grams of sugar)

CLICK HERE FOR PRINTABLE RECIPE

In addition to enjoying these delicious smoothies in our new routine, we're taking the 7-Day Breakfast Challenge! Want to join us? Carnation Breakfast Essentials® wants everyone to get in on the fun with a better breakfast routine! All you need to do is enjoy a nutritious (and delicious) breakfast for seven days in a row. You have until the end of February to complete the simple breakfast missions for your chance to win prizes. We're doing this to make sure we always eat breakfast...even now that our mornings will be a lot more rushed (since we thought it would be fun to throw in a commute after not having one at all for years!). You should take the challenge, too...it's fun AND delicious! With this fun smoothie recipe, we're well on our way.

Ready to get started? Follow these easy steps:
1. Sign up at CarnationBreakfastChallenge.com.

2. Complete a simple, yet fun, breakfast mission for a chance to win. New prizes will be revealed every day!

3. Come back any day in February to complete missions and see new prizes. The prizes range from a Fitbit to a GoPro and other awesome stuff!

4. Head to your favorite store to purchase a Carnation Breakfast Essentials® Nutritional Product and upload your receipt for five extra entries per day.