Skinny berries!

Hope you all enjoyed a great 4th of July!  Besides fireworks, what gets me excited at this time of the year is blueberries!  It's National Blueberry Month!!

Each year I pre-order blueberries from a local farm that actually grows strawberries.  They exchange strawberries with a Michigan blueberry grower so that we can enjoy the best of both worlds.  These blueberries are hands down the best I have ever had.  Once I had these plump and juicy berries, blueberries from the grocery store are a big disappointment.

Blueberries are a recent love for me.  About 3 years ago I started drinking smoothies when I ran into my health problems.  With depleted vitamin stores and the negative consequences on my body,  I needed some restoring!

I read that blueberries had superstar antioxidants which combat free radicals that damage the structure of your cells.  Blueberries, along with iron rich spinach, bananas for potassium and almond milk became my staple smoothie for months. 

Check out these nutrition stats!: 

Nutrients in
Blueberries
1.00 cup (148.00 grams)

Nutrient

%Daily Value

vitamin K35.7%
manganese25%
vitamin C23.9%
fiber14.2%
Calories (84)4%
source
They did the job.  The benefits of the blue/green smoothie - amazing.  Low cal and filling, they are my skinny berries! When I am drinking smoothies, and snacking on these lovelies regularly I am losing weight.  Fact!

There are a lot of other ways to enjoy blueberries of course, and seeing how I am currently surrounded by 40 lbs of berries (did I go too far?), I will be scouring foodie blogs to find some fun new ways to experiment! 


So in the tradition of Benjamin Buford Blue, some blueberry recipes on my radar:

• Greek yogurt blueberry muffins from No sugar sweet life
• Blueberry crisp from Mama Pea
• Blueberry Vinaigrette over at Fat Free Vegan
• Berry Bliss Oat Squares an adapted version of FFV's recipe by Oh She Glows - very berry!
• Blueberry and Feta Salad over at We Are not Martha
• Blueberry Ginger Ice Cream from Choosing Raw

The possibilities are endless!  In the meantime, I am keeping it simple and clean! Blueberries, CHO and granola - yum!

Have a phenomenal blueberry recipe? Share! Tell me about it!