Blueberry Oat Smoothie

June 10, 2019 Frank Mastrandrea Comments 0 Comment

There’s no getting around it – this particular smoothie is for the blueberry fan. If you don’t like blueberries, you’re not going to like this. The oats are just along for the ride to add some fiber. But if you are a fan, this is a great blueberry-forward way to start your day or enjoy a mid-morning snack now that the weather is warming up.

Ingredients

1 cup, unsweetened original almond milk
3 tbsp, old fashioned oats
1 tsp, vanilla bean paste
5 drops, stevia sweet drops
1 cup, frozen blueberries

Blending the Oats

With many smoothie recipes, it’s just a matter of putting all the ingredients together and blending under you’re pleased with the consistency. But I’ve found whenever dealing with either a particularly fibrous fruit or a grain, it makes more sense to do it in stages so you get a smoother smoothie.

To that end, blend the almond milk, vanilla bean paste, oats and stevia drops until well blended. You want the to see that the oats have been pulverized.

Add the 1st four items
Blend until the oats are pulverized

Everyone in the Pool

Now add the blueberries to the mix and blend until well mixed. Blending time depends heavily upon the power of your mixing device, so just look for a smooth consistency.

Add blueberries
Well-Blended smoothie

Notes and Issues

If the smoothie is a bit too loose for your liking, add ice cubs and blend again. I’d recommend adding them one cube at a time and seeing how it does, however. One of the reasons to avoid ice in a smoothie is that all it really does is dilute the flavor. If the smoothie is too thick, add a bit more almond milk and reblend. Again, do so in very small increments.

Even if you’ve got a lot of beautiful fresh blueberries you’d like to use for this recipe? Ration them off in one-cup amounts and freeze them for when you need them. Fresh fruit is great, but it that would require you to use ice in your mix, and ice is the enemy of flavor. Let the frozen fruit do the heavy lifting of thickening up your smoothie for you.

I call for vanilla bean paste in this recipe, as it’s sweeter than regular vanilla extract and I think you can taste the difference in a recipe like this. But I’ve also make this recipe plenty of times with just vanilla extract, so feel free to try it either way. You’ll actually save 20 calories if you go with extract.