Fruit + Veggie Smoothie Recipe

Happy Sunday! I hope everyone's been enjoying their weekend..the last one before the new year. I know I've had my fair share of homemade cookies, delicious chocolates, and Reese's Christmas trees over the past week. Any one else guilty? If you are, here's a yummy and healthy fix to get back on track.

Ingredients:

- 4 large strawberries

- small handful of fresh cranberries

- 1/2 orange

- handful of fresh arugula

- heaping tablespoon of Greek yogurt

- dash of coconut water

- 1/4 cup of ice

Instructions:

1. Add fruit/veggies to your blender/juicer. For the Vitamix, I throw things in almost whole (minus stems/skins). For smaller blenders, I'd recommend chopping your berries in half and orange into quarters.

2. Add yogurt and liquid. You could use water or soy/almond milk, but I prefer coconut water.

3. Add ice.

4. Pulse, pulse, pulse!

5. Blend! Let the blender do it's job!

6. Poor into your cup of choice (I always reach for a mason jar!) and drink up!

This recipe is totally customizable! You can use literally whatever you have in your fridge..and alter proportions due to your taste. Lacking an orange? Throw in some citrus juice instead of coconut water. Like it thicker? Add more yogurt. It's really hard to go wrong here. I do different combinations all the time..and they're always delicious!

As for blenders, there's a ton of different options. My mom recently snatched up a Vitamix for an awesome deal. These things are pricey for a reason. It's literally an industrial machine that's supposed to last forever. It can turn whole carrots into juice in seconds, not to mention, it comes with an entire recipe book and instruction DVD. Insane. Not ready to bite the bullet? We were using a simple Cuisinart hand mixer prior to the Vitamix. This thing was great too. Really easy across the board, and definitely got the job done. There's tons on the market, so you can pick whichever suits you best!

Are you going to hop on the juice trend in 2014?

xx MGR