Mango Berry Blast Smoothie

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Nestle, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia  #BreakfastEssentials http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

People sometimes ask me if I'm a morning person or a night person?  Actually, I'm a busy person.  That means late to bed and early to rise so that, by the time the weekend comes, I'm a sleepy person.  During the week, though, I have no trouble getting up reasonably early and getting stuff done.  The trouble is that early is never early enough and there's always more stuff.

I do believe in having breakfast because it revs up your metabolism and gives you energy.  But eggs and pancakes and all those other breakfast foods just don't fit into my morning schedule.  Around here breakfast needs to be healthy and it needs to be fast.  I picked up a box of Carnation Breakfast Essentials and was pleased with the amount of vitamins, protein and calcium it provided.  And with all the great springtime fruit available in the market now, and my blender sitting on the counter, I knew I could come up with something both good and fast.

I keep bags of fruit in my freezer (right next to the vodka) because they help to thicken smoothies.  In this case, I also had a few fresh mangoes because when they start showing up in spring, I can't walk past a fruit stand without buying them.  Even fresh, they make great thickeners.  And while milk would be a great base, I'm a little (OK, a lot) obsessed with Greek yogurt.

I made my smoothie thick and swirled blueberries into it so I could eat it with a spoon.  Somehow it seemed liked more of a meal.  But just a touch more milk, a straw and a to-go cup and I had breakfast on the run.  Now to experiment with the other flavors.  Did I see chocolate??  Enjoy!







Ingredients
1 Package Carnation Breakfast Essentials Classic French Vanilla
1/4 Cup low fat milk
1/2 Cup frozen strawberries
1 Mango, peeled and pitted
1 6 oz. Container fat free Greek style yogurt
1/4 Cup fresh blueberries

Add the contents of the Carnation Breakfast Essentials package, the milk and strawberries to a blender and puree until smooth.  Add the mango and yogurt and mix just until incorporated.  Pour into a glass and swirl in the blueberries.  For a thinner smoothie, add another 1/4 cup of milk.


Carnation also makes a line of pre-made beverages and breakfast bars.  For more information, recipes and nutrition, please visit their web site.




Disclosure:  I bought the Carnation Breakfast Essentials from my local Safeway store and I was compensated for creating this recipe.  Thank you for supporting the products I love.