Back when I was finishing up my dissertation, I tried to put myself in “lockdown” mode to keep from getting distracted, to be as productive as possible. After all, a dissertation’s not getting done if there aren’t words piling up on the page.
I’m someone whose brain works best first thing in the morning, but I’m also likely to get pulled into reading the newspaper or checking email instead of jumping right into writing. So during dissertation “lockdown” mode I would shower the night before, get up early in the morning and head to the (then WiFi-less) library, where I had a grad student carrel to work in. No distractions. Just me and the laptop.
Plus hunger… which can be extremely distracting.
And so this was also the period during which I had to break myself of the coffee-for-breakfast habit because I couldn’t bring food into the library for later and I didn’t want to have to leave for at least 3 or 4 hours while I was writing.
The dilemma: I don’t like to spend a lot of time fixing breakfast for myself, and I don’t want to have to think too hard about what to make.
The solution: I sort of stumbled into making a smoothie for breakfast every day, and they remain my “go-to” breakfast. This may seem like a lot of food, but it kept me going until lunch time:
Ingredients
- 1 apple
- 1 banana
- 1/2 cup of uncooked, non-instant oatmeal
- 1 cup of nonfat milk
- 2 tablespoons of protein powder
Directions
- Put everything into a blender
- Blend
Of course, this isn’t the only kind of smoothie possible. The “Fitness and Nutrition” section of the New York Times offers us these smoothie recipes as part of their “Recipes for Health” series:
- Homemade Banana Berry Smoothie
- Strawberry Smoothie
- Pineapple Banana Mint Smoothie
- Mango Buttermilk Smoothie
- Oatmeal Spice Smoothie
- Kiwi Strawberry Smoothie
- Orange Date Shake
- Carrot and Sesame Date Shake
- Banana Peanut Butter / Almond Smoothie
- Pineapple Banana Mint Smoothie
You can also find more smoothie recipes at AllRecipes.com and Epicurious.
How about you?
Do you have a favorite smoothie recipe? If so, please share it in the comments!
[Creative Commons-licensed flickr photo by Matthias Rhomberg.]
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3 Responses to What’s For Breakfast? Smoothies!
dr_murkes - October 11, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Thank you this post. I finished my dissertation just a few months ago, and also went on a smoothie routine, since I easily get distracted trying to produce elaborate dishes. I had no particular favorite recipe, but I would add tablespoons of cocoa powder to most of my fruit smoothies. At one point I even had savory ‘smoothies’ for lunch. If I remember correctly, it contained vegetable juice, leftover rice, brokoli. It didn’t taste that great but did the trick of filling me up for the afternoon.
aeonelpis - October 11, 2010 at 7:57 pm
I use frozen fruit — peaches, strawberries, mango — in lieu of ice. A drop of local honey, soft tofu (instead of protein powder), a banana, soy milk or juice (apple, pineapple, or orange), and a half cup of yogurt (vanilla, plain, banana, or matching the fruit). Paired with a spinach salad, these make a great lunch for writing days, too.
kfoxt11 - October 15, 2010 at 6:20 pm
I use whatever’s around especially if the fruit doesn’t seem as if it will make it another day (into the blender it goes).
But speaking of blenders, mine is on the blink. So I can’t currently enjoy that Banana Peanut Butter / Almond recipe from the NYTimes. It IS delicious and so easy.
Here’s to long days and smoothies.