Recipe for Healthy Chocolate Strawberry Spinach 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

An easy, nutrition packed smoothie that can be made in 3 minutes.  

Perfect for busy mornings and active little (and big) bodies.

There are times when I am experimenting in the kitchen and things turn out horribly wrong.  And then there are times when the opposite happens.  Something so revolutionary to my life comes out of my kitchen that I am caused to exclaim, “YES YES YES!”  This is one of those recipes.  Now I’ve heard of green smoothies, seen them all over the internet.  But I just always thought, “I like eating spinach and greens in my salad…not drinking them.”  And I still do like salads.  BUT the thing is…sometimes kids don’t.  And sometimes I’m lazy and a salad/vegetable doesn’t get made with dinner.  Should I be content to say that I’m not going to serve my family vegetables that day?  No.  I shouldn’t.  And I do always feel a twinge of guilt when I’m not getting my family all the nutrients they need each day.  A granola bar and fruit snacks just ain’t going to cut it.  So with that said I really love this EASY-make in 3 minutes-recipe.  It is the perfect way to start a busy day.  Why wait until dinner to get your vegetables in??  Why not serve your kids and yourself something that is going to give you energy and staying power through the morning?  Besides, even though it’s a rather unappetizing shade of green-brown it tastes so good.  If you put the smoothie in a mug and give them a straw they won’t even know it’s healthy for them. 

The other part of this smoothie that is so important is, of course, the Carnation Breakfast Essentials® Powder.  It’s packed with loads of nutrition that makes you feel better about the fact that they’re eating chocolate at breakfast.  The Carnation Breakfast Essentials® Powder contains 21 Vitamins & Minerals, 13g of Protein and as Much Calcium as a 6 oz cup of yogurt! I found mine in the breakfast cereal aisle at Walmart. I love this idea for those picky eaters in your life! Don’t just give them chocolate milk…make it something ultra nutritious too! There is a really great coupon that you can use right now to get this product for $1.00 off! Obviously, I chose the chocolate flavor but there are a few other flavors as well such as: Rich Milk Chocolate, Classic French Vanilla, Classic Chocolate Malt, Dark Chocolate, and Strawberry Sensation. If you want to see all sorts of creative smoothies make sure to check out this page. The one that I think looks awesome is the Berry Breakfast Crumble!

FYI: I grabbed the nutrition information from My Fitness Pal and in case you were wondering this is packed with loads of nutrition (with not a ton of calories)!