An Orange Banana Smoothie to Kill the Cravings

If I put it in a beer glass will I feel like I'm indulging?

OK.  This is my first attempt at making a semi-healthy smoothie.  I can make smoothies where I'm dumping ice cream in them, but I'm trying to be healthier.  I came home from dropping the kids off at school and I so wanted to just shove some kind of snack in my mouth.  I stared at the bananas hanging in the fruit basket for a moment and then thought "smoothie".

I grabbed the blender and filled it about halfway up with ice and then I crushed it.  Let me just say that once that ice is crushed it certainly made the blender look pretty empty.  Still, I wanted something cold in there to thicken up the smoothie and because I drink cold things more slowly.  Then I threw in the milk and banana and thought, "Hey, you just got that jar of wheat germ...toss some in there!"  Just when I decided I was done I thought about all those Orange Julius drinks I used to crave when I was younger.  I had some Cuties in the house, but opted for orange juice instead.  I'm sure that if you popped some orange slices in there you'd get more fiber through the pulp, but I wasn't wanting to peel an orange.

I blended everything together and looked at how many calories my LoseIt! app told me my concoction had (427) and I felt a bit defeated. I tried to convince myself that it's healthy...right? Then I poured it into a glass and realized that I still had at least two-thirds left in the blender. Apparently I wasn't even considering this. A little jump for joy and I changed the recipe to say 3 servings. That made this a reasonable 142 calories(ish) per serving...and fairly healthy too.

After tasting it, I decided to add some vanilla extract to the recipe to sweeten it up a bit without adding sugar.  It's not overly sweet.  It just tastes like fruit.  I think the ice may have watered it down a bit.  I may try freezing a chopped banana and see if I can make it without the ice.  Still, it satisfied me and I'm not tearing down the pantry door anymore.  So in my book, that's a big mission accomplished!

Orange Banana Smoothie

2 c ice (approximate)
1 banana (mine was a small 6 to 7-inch banana)
1/2 c orange juice
2 c milk (1%)
1 tbsp wheat germ
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients into your blender and blend until combined.  Store additional smoothie in the refrigerator and reblend as needed.  Serves 3

LoseIt! nutrient information:  142 calories; Total fat 2.1g; Sat fat 1g; Cholesterol 6.7mg; Sodium 87.8mg; Carb. 22.4g; Fiber 1.3g; Sugars 16.3g; Protein 6.7g

Remember that the ingredients you use can alter this dietary information.  The orange juice, the milk, etc.

I'll repost if the freezing a banana instead of using ice works.