Over the past few days, I was asked by four different people via various methods the same question, so I figure I should go ahead and just answer here in case anyone else is wondering. No, it’s not about the Cubs or baseball … it’s about my smoothies! Yes, I’m still doing a smoothie every single day, as I vowed earlier this year, and I’m still feeling very good about the decision (feel better, lost 10 pounds over the course of a couple months – I’ve kind of hit a wall on that part, though). I use my Ninja blender – this one, in particular – and I pretty much stick with the recipe listed at the end of this post. You’ll see why I put it down there when you see the length.
Obligatory since I bought the blender on Amazon, where I buy pretty much everything: you should also shop at Amazon. And, when you do, you should use the links here at BN, because then you simultaneously – and oh so seamlessly – support BN in the process. There’s always a link to Amazon in the top right corner of the site. Thanks and enjoy!
The Cardinals and Reds have had a spicy relationship for several years now, and, watching from a distance, I’d think Cubs fans would enjoy the theatrics. The latest installment saw new Cardinal Jason Heyward slide late, hard, and through third base, knocking into Todd Frazier (with the leg slightly elevated). Reds manager Bryan Price minced no words after the game, flat out saying that Heyward’s slide was “dirty” (Cincinnati.com). I thought the slide was late and poorly executed, but it looked to me like the leg popping up was inadvertent. Still, the Cardinals have a history of borderline too aggressive slides, so this stuff will be noticed, even if Heyward is new to the team. More than anything, I just like the idea of serious rivalries in the NL Central, all of which matter to the Cubs because they might be competitive this year. Everybody hates everybody because the games all matter. That’s good stuff.
Yesterday’s win was absolutely wonderful, thanks mostly to Dexter Fowler’s homer, but there was also a great pinch hit by Welington Castillo, and a perfect performance by the Cubs’ bullpen. Outside of the failure to take advantage of all of the Rockies’ mistakes (some of which was bum luck on hard liners), the only disappointment was Kyle Hendricks’ performance, which actually could have been better with a play made here or there. Hendricks, who hadn’t pitched more than an inning since March 30, said that the “feel just wasn’t there” (Cubs.com). It was the worst outing of Hendricks’ young career, and hopefully he just shakes it off as a fluke thing.
At BP Wrigleyville, Rian Watt takes a don’t-take-too-much-from-this-buuuuut look at Anthony Rizzo’s batted ball profile from Spring Training, and it looked a heck of a lot more like 2013 Rizzo than 2014 Rizzo. Again, don’t take too much from it, but it’s an interesting read.
Miguel Montero is going to tell pitchers what they need to hear … even if he’s still a youngster and that pitcher is Randy Johnson (CSN).
You’re going to see a lot of things like this today (and every time the Cubs are around .500 this year), so you might as well at least see it from someone like Matt:
If the Cubs win tonight, they'll be two games above .500 for the first time since the end of the 2009 season.
If you missed anything over the weekend, here’s your catch-up. If you missed Luke’s Minor League Daily – which is also a kind of weekend catch-up on Monday’s – here it is.
So, for the smoothie. I am not a nutritionist, and I don’t claim to know what I’m talking about. But this is the recipe that’s worked for me – maximizing nutrients, making me feel full, making me feel better through the day (I have it in the morning), minimizing calories, and still tasting surprisingly good. Yes, it’s a whole lot of ingredients, but I dig the idea that I’m getting a little bit of a wide variety of good stuff, and I like that, in one smoothie, I’m getting most of my key nutrients, my fiber, and a ton of protein. You can play with the amounts of things to suit your tastes/needs. I buy a lot of this stuff bulk on Amazon or at Costco, for what it’s worth:
– 1/4 cup oatmeal
– 1 tablespoon chia seeds
– 1 tablespoon ground flax seed
– 6 raw almonds
– 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
– A splash of agave (adds a nice sweetness without much calorie add because it’s sweeter than sugar)
– 3 baby carrots
– Aggressive handful of spinach (you can play with how much you can take before the flavor is impacted – you’d be surprised how much you can pack in there)
– 1/3 banana
– 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
– 1/3 cup fruit juice (I use V-8 Splash)
– 1/3 cup coconut water
– 1/4 cup greek yogurt (I use non-fat – can’t taste it in the smoothie, otherwise it’s god-awful)
– 6 frozen strawberries
– 1/2 cup other frozen fruit (I change it up, but usually blueberries and blackberries)
– 1/3 cup water
Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here.
Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.
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NEWSLETTER
Over the past few days, I was asked by four different people via various methods the same question, so I figure I should go ahead and just answer here in case anyone else is wondering. No, it’s not about the Cubs or baseball … it’s about my smoothies! Yes, I’m still doing a smoothie every single day, as I vowed earlier this year, and I’m still feeling very good about the decision (feel better, lost 10 pounds over the course of a couple months – I’ve kind of hit a wall on that part, though). I use my Ninja blender – this one, in particular – and I pretty much stick with the recipe listed at the end of this post. You’ll see why I put it down there when you see the length.
