This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

Since I was little I’ve been taught that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And with two small kids in the house, I always make sure that breakfast is a priority. Our morning routine starts with potty time for our son and a diaper change for our daughter, followed by a nutritious breakfast. I’m big into breakfast because if we don’t start our day with a good meal, I definitely won’t make it through the morning.

One of my favorite easy breakfasts that helps me start my day off right is a simple three-ingredient chocolate banana smoothie. I would drink this when I was pregnant with my son because it was easy, nutritious, and a good source of protein. Now I like to share it with my kids so they can start their day off right, too!

The key to this recipe is Carnation Breakfast Essentials® Powder. I use the chocolate powder, but it also comes in vanilla and strawberry.

The powder, mixed with one cup of fat-free milk, only has 220 calories and 31g of sugar, plus it has 13g of protein! Score! And when you add in one banana, you get a nutritious and delicious smoothie! The recipe makes two servings, and each serving has 162.5 calories and 22.5g of sugar. It’s a win, win!

Seriously though, a nutritious breakfast doesn’t get much easier than this. First, measure 1 cup of fat-free milk into a blender (I love my NutriBullet!).

Then add in 1 packet of chocolate Carnation Breakfast Essentials® Powder.

Peel and break up 1 banana and add it in.

Blend until smooth!

Voila! A breakfast that is sure to help you start your morning off right, no matter how busy of a day you have ahead of you!

Yield: 2 servings

Three-Ingredient Chocolate Banana Smoothie

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

This 3-ingredient chocolate banana smoothie is the perfect nutritious breakfast to start the day! Lots of calcium, vitamin D, and protein, and kids love it too!

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Ingredients

• 1 packet chocolate Carnation Breakfast Essentials® Powder
• 1 cup fat free milk
• 1 banana

Instructions

1. Measure 1 cup of fat-free milk into a blender
2. Add in 1 packet of chocolate Carnation Breakfast Essentials® Powder.
3. Peel and break up 1 banana and add it in.
4. Blend until smooth!

The post Three-Ingredient Chocolate Banana Smoothie appeared first on Life With My Littles.

I am a Harry Potter fiend. I don’t mean like I love Harry Potter and have read the books and seen the movies. I mean like I have read the whole series several times, I dressed up to go to midnight showings of the movies, I got the books when they came out at midnight and read them all the way through without sleeping, I’ve traveled to Platform 9 3/4,  I cried when I went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and in high school, I was voted biggest Harry Potter fan. Basically, I am obsessed.

Ever since the Mister and I came home from visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter almost four years ago, I have been dying to figure out a homemade butterbeer recipe that comes close to what is sold in the parks. Because guys, if you haven’t tasted it, you are missing out. Like, for reals.

I have tried a variety of different recipes, and while I still haven’t been able to come up with a recipe for the amazing foamy stuff on top of the drink, I have discovered this delicious copycat of the main base of the drink. And I mean delicious.

It’s carbonated, sweet, cool, and a tiny bit creamy. I think I could probably drink it all day long. And now that I have such a yummy recipe, there’s a good chance of that happening (here I come, stretchy pants!).

Butterbeer is super easy to make, and you can find all the ingredients at your local grocery store. Honestly you have no excuse not to make this. And if you were smart, you would go do it right now.

Seriously though, go make this. You will not regret it!

Yield: 1 drink

Homemade Butterbeer Recipe

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Simple homemade butterbeer recipe. Perfect for any Harry Potter party, or even just drinking while reading the books! It's so delicious and tastes just like you would imagine!

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Ingredients

• 1 c. cream soda
• 1 tsp. imitation butter flavor
• 1 tsp. caramel syrup (like Torani)
• 1 tsp. half & half

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients and stir slightly.
2. Serve immediately.

Next time you’re feeling down that you never got your Hogwarts letter, go make this drink. You’ll feel like Harry did when he first tasted a bottle of butterbeer crouched under his invisibility cloak at The Three Broomsticks. Only you won’t be breaking any rules!

The post Homemade Butterbeer Recipe appeared first on Life With My Littles.

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

Having a big garden is something my husband and I dream of. We have never had a yard, so we always just have little potted plants on our patio. But since we moved to Idaho five months ago, we now live close to the Mister’s grandparents. And let me tell you, they have an amazing garden.

Besides picking peas and eating them fresh from the vine, one of my favorite parts of their garden is the fresh raspberries. Yesterday we went down to their house and Grandma and I made a whole bunch of freezer jam from fresh raspberries. I was amazed by how many raspberries they had grown!

Growing up my grandpa had a small raspberry bush on the side of his house, so picking fresh raspberries brings back memories. And I love knowing exactly where my food is coming from, and teaching my children where food comes from, too!

After we made the jam, we had some fresh raspberries left over. I put them in these adorable aqua berry baskets from Paisley Palooza when we got home. Aren’t they perfect?

I knew I wanted to come up with a delicious raspberry dessert that I wouldn’t feel bad about giving to my toddler.

I decided to pair fairlife with my fresh raspberries and a little bit of vanilla ice cream to make a delicious fresh raspberry milkshake!

If you haven’t heard of fairlife, you are missing out! It has 50% more protein and 30% more calcium than regular milk, without having to add protein or calcium powders. It has 50% less sugar than regular milk, and the cows who make it have no artificial growth hormones. During the ultra-filtering process, the milk flows through soft filters to concentrate milk’s goodness, like protein and calcium. It’s a better milk! It’s also lactose-free, and it’s perfect for someone like me who needs a little extra protein in her life!

To make my delicious raspberry milkshake, I blended 4 scoops of vanilla ice cream,

and 2 cups fairlife until smooth.

Then I added 2/3 cup fresh raspberries and blended for 10 more seconds. It was so easy, and SO delicious! Almost like a raspberry protein shake, but a million times better!

Yield: 2 glasses

Fresh Raspberry Milkshake

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Total Time: 2 minutes

This fresh raspberry milkshake only has three ingredients and is high in protein and calcium! And it tastes just like one you would get at an old-fashioned soda shop!

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Ingredients

• 4 scoops vanilla ice cream
• 2 cups fairlife
• 2/3 cup fresh raspberries

Instructions

1. Blend vanilla ice cream and fairlife until smooth.
2. Add in raspberries and blend for 10 seconds.
3. Serve!

The post Fresh Raspberry Milkshake appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Summer is all about fun and being outside. And with a wild toddler who could probably run all day if I let him, summer also means that I am going to be doing a lot of running and playing. Basically, I need all the energy I can get!

One way to keep my energy levels up as a busy mom is to get lots of fruits and veggies. But I’m not a huge fan of veggies, so what do I do? I add fruit and veggies to an already fun drink and turn it into an energy-boosting smoothie!

We love fruit in our house, but not so much veggies, so I thought this would be a great way to sneak veggies into a fun drink and give our family the energy we need for long summer days outside!

First I pureed some carrots with a little bit of orange juice. The food processor was perfect and made the carrots into more of a mash so they would blend well with the smoothie. Nobody wants chunks of carrots in their smoothie!

Next I added some fruit, spinach, and two cups of orange juice. It was so colorful that I had a hard time pushing the blend button! I just wanted to look at it!

Even though the final fruit and veggie smoothie wasn’t as pretty, it was delicious! It didn’t taste anything like veggies, and it was really more like a yummy juice! Everyone in our house loved it (even my kiddos!), and my husband even asked me to make it more often!

Fruit and Veggie Smoothie

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

This fruit and veggie smoothie is the perfect way to get extra fruit and veggies. And you can't even taste the vegetables!

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Ingredients

• 1/4 cup grated carrots
• 2 cups orange juice
• 1 1/2 cups packed spinach
• 6 strawberries
• 1/2 cup raspberries
• 1 1/2 bananas, cut into coins and frozen

Instructions

1. Add the grated carrots and a few tablespoons of orange juice to a food processor. Puree.
2. Add everything to blender. Blend until smooth.

Adding fruits and veggies to a fun drink is the perfect way to give us the energy we need to run around outside all day! And it’s a great way to fit in more servings of fruit and vegetables!

The post Fruit and Veggie Smoothie appeared first on Life With My Littles.

 

Since pumpkin is my favorite flavor, ever, it was only a matter of time before I created another pumpkin recipe. And guess what, it’s my first drink. And it’s insanely easy!

A few years ago, I discovered that I could get a “steamer” from Starbucks that was essentially hot milk, and I could get flavor shots in it. I quickly fell in love with vanilla steamers. Then fall came around and they had pumpkin syrup and I discovered pumpkin steamers. DELICIOUS.

Unfortunately, Starbucks is expensive and I couldn’t get them as often as I wanted. So this year, instead of longingly driving past every Starbucks everywhere, I have come up with a way to make my own for much cheaper!

All you need is 1 cup of milk and 5 Tbsp (1/4 cup and 1 Tbsp) of International Delight Pumpkin Pie Spice coffee creamer. Isn’t that so easy? Mix it up, pop it in the microwave for a minute, and it tastes amazing!

If you want, you can add whipped cream and pumpkin pie spice on the top, but it is completely unnecessary and tastes just as good without. Hence, the two ingredient easiness.

Since discovering I could make these at home, I have had one every day. Such a perfect, quick, easy, and delicious fall treat!!

The post 2 Ingredient Hot Pumpkin Spice Steamer appeared first on Life With My Littles.