After a food, treat and candy filled October, November and December, I think everyone feels the need to press restart on their eating habits. Anyone else have healthier eating habit resolutions on their list?

On New Year’s Day this year, the boys and I all caught the flu, so we got a nice (or not) cleanse that was awful in the moment, but actually a good way to detox from three solid months of bad eating choices. And even though the flu only lasted one day and the recovery was only another few days, it left me feeling ready to jumpstart my normal healthy lifestyle again.

During the last few weeks of pregnancy things get really uncomfortable as the baby grows so quickly, so I’ve been especially mindful of what I’m eating so I don’t feel miserable, bloated, or stuffed all day long (which is pretty much how I felt the entire month of December…).

The easiest thing for me is to have a few go-to recipes for breakfast, lunch, and snacks that I can whip up quickly but are full of the nutrients I need and I know won’t leave me feeling like a stuffed sausage. I’m totally a creature of habit and don’t mind eating the same one or two things for breakfast and lunch every day, so having a go-to daily green smoothie has been perfect. I’ve been making green smoothies for years now and there are two things that make all the difference to me — the right ingredients (if I put too much weird stuff in it I won’t drink it…and either will my boys), and a good blender.  There is nothing more disgusting than drinking a smoothie and getting a big chunk of something when you’re not expecting it. Or when you’re trying to get your ingredients to blend and they won’t. Drives me insane.

Vitamix sent us their brand new 780 blender and that thing is amazing. It has all different settings for blending frozen items, sauces, soup, cleaning, etc, and each of those have specific speeds that start out slower and go faster as it blends so the blades or ingredients don’t get stuck. Plus, it comes with a tool that fits in through the lid and smashes your ingredients down without disturbing the blade. It makes our smoothies perfectly every single time!

I’ll be sharing my daily lunch and exercise routines later this week, so make sure you check back!

My Daily Kid-Friendly Green Smoothie

• 1/2 an apple (doesn’t matter what kind, but I love pink lady because I snack on them too)
• 1/2 an orange
• 1 banana
• 2 big handfuls of spinach or kale (I always freeze my spinach so it lasts forever)
• 1/2 a cup of ice
• almond milk (1/2 a cup to 1 cup, depending on how thin you like your smoothie)
• chia seeds (optional)
• a few pieces of frozen fruit