Like many banders, in the mornings my band is tighter than a "bull's ass at fly time", and I start the day with a protein/fruit/vegetable. Trouble is, that can often be time consuming and messy as I am trying to get out the door to work. I have been trying different things to speed the process up, but haven't been exceptionally happy until this morning. Last night I blended a big batch of strawberries, spinach and Chobani zero fat vanilla yogurt in my ninja and then dumped it into my cusiinart ice-cream maker and then put the resulting green mixture into a tub in the freezer. This morning when I went to make my smoothie, I simply scooped out some green ice cream into my ninja and then dumped in a costco Protein shake, hit the blend button for 30 seconds and was done. Because I had spent extra time with the fruit and vegetables making sure they were the correct consistency, the drink was perfectly smooth with no grittiness or chunks.

The only thing I think I am going to do differently is scoop the ice cream mixture into muffin tins and once they are firmly frozen, move them to a plastic bag, so I can just grab a couple and pop them into the blender.

http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-Indulgence-2-Quart-Automatic-Frozen/dp/B0009N7O9I/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1384791893&sr=8-6&keywords=cuisinart+ice+cream+maker

Sounds great, Terry! I've been doing something similar as well, I came across this recipe for "pumpkin Protein shake Starters" http://bariatricfoodie.blogspot.com/2012/09/pumpkin-protein-shake-starters.html

What happened? LOL

Sounds great, Terry! I've been doing something similar as well, I came across this recipe for "Pumpkin Protein shake Starters" http://bariatricfoodie.blogspot.com/2012/09/pumpkin-protein-shake-starters.html

Looks great

thank goodness fish was not used...........

thank goodness fish was not used...........

FISH SMOOTHIE!!!! Can't wait to try it!

I know this thread is a bit old, but thanks for the tip!