The Best Blueberry Smoothies Ever

I actually got this recipe from my mom (and she did say it was okay to blog about!). And I couldn't wait to share with everyone.

It's a blueberry smoothie recipe that (I think) beats out anything you can get at Jamba Juice. It's simple ingredients and extremely easy to make in the morning. It doesn't add any weird ingredients and it looks pretty (it's blue).

First, what you need -

Yup, just three ingredients. You can use any variety of brands, but the most important part of this recipe is your choice of blueberries.

First, make sure to use frozen blueberries. While fresh blueberries are good, you want the icy, frozen quality of the smoothie to come from the berry and not from any ice you have to add to make it cold (which makes it watery). The brand I highly recommend is Stahlbush Farm's Blueberries. It's the best brand and while it doesn't come by cheap, it beats out any frozen blueberry I've ever tried. Plus Stalbush Farms is a local Oregon farm and that makes it even better. I prefer their brand because most brands of blueberries end up being too tart, too watery, or end up creating a weird texture.  But these are perfect.

Second, you need yogurt and vanilla soy milk. I highly recommend vanilla greek yogurt because it's a way to get some protein in the morning. Vanilla soy milk is also the best choice because it's really sweet.

And it's basically one cup of each - one cup of frozen blueberries, one cup greek yogurt, and one cup of vanilla soy milk.

So, did you get that down?

Ingredients:

1 cup of Stahlbush Farm's frozen blueberries
1 cup of Vanilla soy milk
1 cup of Greek Yogurt

(By the way, the ingredients above make about 24 ounces of smoothie, so if you only want a little glass, you can probably divide this between two people; double the recipe to make enough for 4).

Next?

Put the ingredients in a blender and hit blend!

 

 

 

And that's it! All you have to do is serve and enjoy!

 

 

 

 

If you want to change things around a bit, try these variations:

 

Use chocolate soy instead, and add in peanut butter.

Shake in cinnamon and nutmeg for added spicy quality.

 

What do you usually have for breakfast in the morning?

 

Disclaimer: I received two coupons for free blueberries in exchange for my honest review.







 

Flash Fiction Photo Prompt - Are You Inspired?

It's that time again and this week I have the reigns! Yay! It's been a long month for me so far - and I have a new goal to write a story to a photo prompt once a month at least. I think I can do it - how about you?

Anyways, before we kick off the prompt, make sure to check out the amazing prompts from last week-

Imagined Dream World by Scott Taylor
Camel Man by Leanne Sype
Home Coming by Sally Stackhouse

Aren't they awesome??

Okay, now make sure you grab a copy of our Flash Fiction e-book.

Ready?

Here's the rules:

Here are the rules:

1) Use the photo and the 5 words provided in your story

2) Keep your word count 500 words or less.

3) You have until next Tuesday to link up your post.

4) Link up with your blog hostess (Nicole, Carrie, Tena or Leanne) when you’re done via the inLinkz linky below.

5) Have fun, don’t stress, let those creative juices flow.

 

This week's photo:

 

The words:

T-Shirt

Paddock

Spacestation

Pyramid

Zip

Oh, this should be so good.

When you're ready, post your link below -

 

Prepare to Evict Earth...With Some Complications of Course (A Book Review)

I am such a sucker for science fiction that gets meshed in with our own reality. The funny thing is when I first got the email about this book, all I could see was the subject line that read: EVICTION NOTICE. I got the twist of panic (I'm awful with credit card bills these days) until I realized, "No, that's the title of the book."

Of course, I wanted to read it.

You first meet Alice Able, a young woman who is miserable over her life. She's preparing to end it all, but first, she has to prepare her house. She places sticky notes all over the place with notes on where things should go after she passes, until there's a knock at the door that interrupts her...

...but before we go into that, we also meet a group of teens preparing for the ultimate senior prank - crop circles. The crop circle prank serves as an homage to another great senior prank so many years ago. Hoping to cause a simple stir in the morning papers, the teens go to bed that night wistfully dreaming of the honor and  respect that will come from their classmates once everyone catches on...

As bizarre and different as the two stories seem like above, the choices and lives of these characters bump into each other and create a fantastical situation that can only be found in the world of fiction (a world I love so much). Alice Able gets jolted out of her demise and thrust into the role of leader of our free-ish world. Meanwhile, our group of teenagers follow along a brilliant little creature that was found from a fallen spaceship.

And a little town of Ogden, Iowa becomes the center stage for the end of the world as we know it (cue REM music)...or is it?

Eviction Notice by Robyn Wyrick is quite the ride, and while there were moments I had a little trouble keeping track of who was who, it was a lot of fun. Make sure you go to Amazon and grab your copy today! You can also grab it at Barnes and Noble. And don't forget to check out Robyn Wrick's website for updates.

Disclaimer: I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

Find the Right Internet and Cable in Your Area

I don't know about you, but one of the most irritating things in the world is having to battle with my cable company (I won't say who it is because I'm not sure how cool that is...but I'm sure you know who I'm talking about ).

I am trying to save money regularly and this month is an especially tough month to save money (two family members out of work). Too many expenses means stress. Stress means my creative energy is down. Which means I"m miserable. And this is not a good thing.

So, how about taking the "searching" for a deal out of your hands and letting someone else do the work?

Sounds good to me!

Take a look at the site "Connect Your Home." It lets you type in your address and let you know the good deals going on in your neighborhood. It shows you everything from current cable deals, to home security to internet. Basically, it shows you how to save with the most expensive things you end up spending your money. Not to mention, it also shows home phone services you can take advantage of, too. Now I just wish it could pay my student loans for me.

So now that the stress seems to be eased a little bit...

...I can get back to writing! And that makes me happy.

Disclaimer:  I received compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

What Should I Do With 100 Postcards?

In a contest last year - or maybe it was something I received in exchange for something - I was awarded 100 post cards.

One year later, I still haven't claimed my prize. Why? Well, first of all, I have to do the design. And I want to do something different with it, and not just make a postcard of something I'll never actually use.

I thought at the time it would be a great opportunity to put my future book on the card and promote it that way. But in reality, I'm kind of tired of it just sitting there. I want to do something different, unique, challenging, or inspiring with the cards.

So, what do I do with 100 post cards?

So...give me an idea of what I can do with them. And they are not 100 different postcards, but 100 post cards that say one thing. I have to design it, too.

And I'm open.

What I probably won't use them for - thank you cards, save the date, announcement cards or "I'm moving" cards. I'm not that social.

What should I do with 100 postcards?

What Would Your Super Power Be?

So, I decided to join in the writing prompt from a really popular - and interesting - blog network called "Trash Can Bloggers."

The writing prompt this week -

If you could have any super power, what would it be?

Okay, this is serious business, people. I've often thought about this, and here's how I break it down -

I wouldn't want read people's minds.

Seriously, if you are on Facebook or Twitter, you read people's minds enough. Can you imagine all the crowded thought traffic that would come through if you read people's minds?

I wouldn't want to travel with the speed of light.

I mean, don't we all know the expression, "It's not where you go, it's how you get there?" Or something like that. Well, one of my favorite ways to travel is lengthy road trips, so you can thoroughly take in scenery and enjoy every step of the way. So, sorry Superman (and Superwoman), I like to take my time.

I wouldn't want super strength.

This is a vanity thing. I'm already pretty tall for a female, the last thing I need is to be stronger than most men too.

I might consider the superior climbing ability thing.

While you'd never find going rock climbing, I think it might kind of cool to be able to swing between sky high buildings with the greatest of ease or what not. But then again, I do have a slight fear of falling so maybe this isn't a good idea.

I might consider the ability to travel through time.

I think this would be so cool to be able to go back through time and witness pretty awesome historical events. But then again, if the movie The Butterfly Effect taught us, it may not be a good idea. I mean, I wouldn't want to go back and step on an ant and come back to the present realizing we all live on the moon or something. Although...

So, if you could have any super power, what would yours be?

Save Money on Text Books - CampusBookRental.com

Just talking about this makes me miss college.

But back in the day, I remember spending about $200 to $300 on books, which is a steep, steep price for a college student. It's places like CampusBookRental.com that makes the cost of each quarter of text books that much more manageable.

And not to mention, if you've actually coughed up the money towards your text books, you might just be able to make money off of renting your own text books.

And doesn't that leave you all warm and fuzzy inside?

It sure does me.

Simply visit CampusBookRental.com and see how much you'd have to pay for your course's text books. Not to mention, by getting your texts from this site, you are also contributing to programs like Operation Smiles as well as helping fund their scholarship fund.

I think I need to go study now.

Disclaimer: I received compensation in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own.

Flash Fiction Photo Prompt - Are You Inspired?

Hi friends! So much excitement bubbling around our Writer Wednesday Blog Hop community! First-- Our winner for the ad contest is Sally over at Sally's Scribbles! Here is her button to display on your site to support her blog!

Second-- Flash 500 is now available for free via here (and in time will be available across a variety of reader platforms--stay tuned)!

This book a selection of blog hop stories from the first year of the Writer Wednesday Blog Hop. A huge thank you to our blog hop co-founders Nicole Pyles and Carrie Sorensen for all their many months of hard work and research to put this together!!

 

 Third-- This week's photo reveal! Here are all the stories from last week:

Burned by Cindy Cagle
What a Day by Sally Stackhouse
What's Evil by Carrie Sorensen
The Childhood Home by Scott Taylor
Dancing by Leanne Sype
The One that got Away by David Bastiani

Here are the rules:

1) Use the photo and the 5 words provided in your story

2) Keep your word count 500 words or less.

3) You have until next Tuesday to link up your post.

4) Link up with your blog hostess (Nicole, Carrie, Tena or Leanne) when you’re done via the inLinkz linky below.

5) Have fun, don’t stress, let those creative juices flow.

The photo courtesy of our fellow blog hop writer Cindy Cagle

Mandatory words:

dock

cannon

anchor

camel

credit card