Blueberry Maple Oatmeal Smoothie

I love when recipe swaps coincide with something I'm craving.  I started jogging (really slow) again this week. When I get home from my so-called jog, I feel like I need something to drink, but something tasty as well.  When I got home the other day, I decided I wanted a smoothie, which was fantastic because the Crazy Cooking Challenge this month was smoothies.





I found this recipe on Closet Cooking.  This blog is written by Kevin Lynch, and his blog has some seriously drool-worthy recipes and photos.  I almost chose some of his grilled cheese recipes for the last Crazy Cooking Challenge.  He also has a lot of really great looking hamburgers and sandwiches.  If you're craving something new, pop over to Kevin's blog.  You'll spend hours enraptured by his pictures and recipes.


Blueberry Maple Oatmeal Smoothie
slightly adapted from Closet Cooking

Ingredients
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen) 

4 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup milk or fruit juice 

Directions:
1) Mix the rolled oats into the yogurt and let sit in the fridge over night.  
2) Puree everything in a food processor.

I thought this was great for my first homemade smoothie.  The oatmeal provides great texture and everything goes really well together.  When I pureed everything in the blender, it looked like the consistency was off, but when drinking it, I decided it was the perfect smoothie consistency.

I couldn't taste the maple syrup at all at two tablespoons, like the original recipe called for, so I upped the amount, and finally could taste it in the mixture of ingredients.  In Kevin's description of this recipe, he said that he would throw in a banana if he had one.  I definitely think the blueberries need a little assistance in this drink.  While it tastes good on it's own, it seems like a supporting fruit was missing (my husband thought strawberries would be great, and I kind of thought the banana was an awesome suggestion).  I look forward to playing with this recipe some more and enjoying some other great smoothie combinations.