Today Keith and I are going to see Chance the Rapper at the Fillmore, in Silver Spring, right after work.  To save time and money we decided to pack ourselves dinner, so this morning was a bit rushed as I preped more than the normal amount of food we each bring to work.   Keith is easy, he just wanted an extra peanut butter and banana sandwich.  For myself, I sautéed albino green beans and made a peanut butter and stRAWberry jelly sandwich.

In order to start my day right I made an ultra-green smoothie, it’s one of my favorites.  This is definitely a treat because of the high sugar content of the fruits in the smoothie, but it’s still overall an extremely healthy breakfast.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cucumber, sliced
• 1 cup spinach
• 3 slices frozen banana
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup frozen pineapple
• 1 tsp spirulina
• 1-2 tsp hemp seeds
• 1/4-1/2 cup coconut water
• 1 scoop vega protein powder

Directions:

1. Put spinach, cucumber, pineapple, banana, spirulina, and hemp seeds into food processor.
2. In a separate bowl pour vega protein powder, mix with some water to make it a paste consistency (I find this stopes it from clumping in the smoothie).  Add paste to food processor.
3. Add coconut water, a little bit at a time until you reach your desired smoothie consistency.
4. Drink it up!

In an effort to save time this morning and because, let’s face it, no one likes extra dishes, I stuck a straw in my food processor bowl (after taking the blade out of course!) and drank my smoothie as I finished running around.

Follow this smoothie with a light morning yoga routine and I know you’ll feel wonderful all day.  It works for me.  If anyone else has silly tricks or tips for saving time on a busy morning I’d love to hear them in the comments.

Enjoy!