Quick breakfast? Yep.

Healthy, easy snack? Double yep.

Super fun blends with lots of variety? You bet!

When created with the proper ingredient combinations and recipes, smoothies can be a wonderful source of the many nutrients that your body desperately wants and utterly needs. Not only can a smoothie provide you with healthy fruits and vitamins, but you can also incorporate leafy greens without compromising taste. With these recipes to get you started, you'll save money by making your own smoothies and also have complete control of the nutrients that you use to fuel your body.

These recipe amounts can be used to guide you to make healthy smoothies! The wonderful part about smoothies is that you can completely tailor them to your taste. Experiment and have SO much fun with it because that's the only way you'll continue shopping for the ingredients and making smoothies time and time again.

I rarely ever use exact measurements when I'm tossing things into my blender, but here are some guiding measurements to get you started! Just go with your instincts after you've tried a couple recipes, you'll get the hang of it.

(Don't worry if your smoothie doesn't look like exactly like these pictures - different portion changes make different colors prominent in the end!)

1. Morning Magic

This smoothie is for all you coffee lovers out there looking for a pick-me-up! Do you want a little coffee, fruit, and protein to get you started on those "I shouldn't be awake yet!" mornings? Look no further! This smoothie is perfect for you.

Ingredients:

1 cup of cold coffee

1 frozen banana

1/3 cup plain yogurt

1 scoop protein powder

1 tbsp flax-meal

Ice as desired (more ice for a thicker consistency)

2. Detox

It'st just what it sounds like! Check out the ingredients and you'll quickly see why this smoothie is called the Detox.

Ingredients:

1/2 frozen banana

1 cup spinach (a large handful)

2-3 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp fresh ginger

1/4 cup blueberries

1/4 cucumber

1/2 cup coconut

Water

3. Kick-Starter

Energy that doesn't come from coffee?! Count me in.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup blueberries

1/2 frozen banana

1 peeled carrot

2 tbsp rolled oats

1 tbsp flax-meal

1 cup almond milk

Ice as desired

4. Berry Power

A little berry never hurt nobody!

But seriously, check out this delicious blend...

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen berries (any berry, pick your berries!)

1/2 frozen banana

1 cup spinach

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 cup coconut milk

1 tbsp flax-meal

Ice as desired

5. The Green Machine

That's what I call it, anyway! Here's a look at what this nutrient-filled, jam-packed smoothie looks like before it's blended together...

I'd like to take the credit and say that I came up with this recipe, but my aunt actually showed it to me and I've been in LOVE with it ever since. I never thought that I could enjoy getting my greens in this much!! But this smoothie is so, SO good for you and really, REALLY tasty once you figure out what portion and ingredient amounts you prefer.

That said, you can experiment and test different amounts of the ingredients if you taste too much of one thing. For example, I'm sensitive to the peanut butter taste in this smoothie specifically (and prefer it to be less invasive on the taste), so I tend to use a little bit less peanut butter and make up for it by adding more protein in elsewhere (by adding more greens or yogurt).

Ingredients:

1 handful (or two) of spinach

1 banana (half is fine, as well)

1 or 2 tbsp peanut butter

1 tbsp cocoa nibs

1 or 2 dates

3 or 4 strawberries

1 small handful of blueberries

2 tbsp of non-fat greek yogurt (can go without, but is good for additional protein and calories)

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup ice

Okay, now you're set...and you don't have the excuse of "not knowing how to make a smoothie" anymore.

Use smoothies to make health more of a priority in your life today - go shopping and get to blending!!!