During the week, I just don't make time to sit down for breakfast at home. I leave the house between 6:30 and 6:45, so while I could wake up earlier to make eggs and toast, I'd rather sleep an extra 20 minutes. Getting up at 5:00 is early enough. I'm jut not willing to wake up at 4:40 a.m. so I can have eggs. I usually pack my breakfast along with my lunch and eat when I get to school.
Once in a while, I wake up really hungry and want to eat as I'm driving. These smoothies would be perfect for those days. Smoothies don't usually keep me super full, but the oats in this one helped. I really didn't start to feel like I was ready for lunch for about three hours, which would still put me shy of lunch time, but I'm often so busy with the kids I don't realize I'm getting that hungry until about 30 minutes before lunch. By that point, I can wait.
I will say, the texture of the smoothie was not quite as silky as traditional smoothies. I didn't mind too much, though. I also noticed the texture improved as I drank my smoothie, which I'm sure is due to the oats softening. I've made an easy change to the recipe here, recommending soaking the oats in the juice for five minutes before making the smoothie. You could also pulse the oats in a food processor, essentially making oat flour, before adding them to the blender. I haven't tried the second method, but a couple of really good cooks in my family instantly thought of that as a possible solution, so I'm sure it would be great. You could even pulse the oats the night before, or pulse up a big batch for a whole weeks worth of smoothies, which would make it easy to throw everything in the blender and get going.
Ingredients:
1/2 c. old-fashioned oats or 1/3 c. pulsed oats/oat flour
1 c. coconut water or your favorite juice
3/4 c. ice
3/4 c. your favorite frozen fruit, such as berries, peaches, or mangoes (Feel free to mix!)
3/4 c. low-fat plain yogurt
2 TBSP flax seeds
1 banana
1 TBSP honey or agave
Directions:
1. If soaking the oats, place oats and coconut water or juice in a small bowl. Stir to combine and let sit 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, layer all other ingredients in the blender in the order listed. Add soaked oats or oat flour to the top. Purée until desired consistency is reached. Add more ice or liquid as desired.
Yields: 2 large or 4 small smoothies