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I was asked to try Carnation Breakfast Essentials® powder in a recipe of my own devising for seven days. The major challenge to me would be to actually eat breakfast for seven days. Breakfast at our house can be one of the craziest meals of the day. Normally we wake up around 6am to get ready for school. Andrew gets downstairs first, after he tries to wake us so he can go downstairs. Eva will spend some time in her room and come down utterly unprepared for the day. She has to make several trips upstairs to get everything. In between, lunches are being made and many times I do not eat breakfast. I’m either uninterested or there isn’t anything I like. For a while I had been trying to make oatmeal in a mini crock-pot overnight and then eat that. Do you know how many times I’ve completely forgotten to set up the oatmeal? The answer is many. Sadly, there have been mornings where I’ve had a glass of milk and a brownie or cookies for breakfast. I needed to get my act together.

I went to Walmart and found everything I needed for my recipe. I found the Carnation Breakfast Essentials® powder and Ready-to-Drink Bottles at the front of the cereal aisle.

Creating the recipe (see below) was pretty easy. I had some guidelines to follow and hit them on mark. It made me really take a look at what I was eating and what I could do to make a nutritious recipe with Carnation Breakfast Essentials®. There are three powders to choose from: Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry. I decided upon chocolate. That is my favorite and it would work well with all of the ingredients that I found. I also found that chocolate ties so many flavors together. I wanted something that I could make very quickly and immediately. I didn’t want to end up in a situation where I’d forgotten to get everything ready the night before. I also had to have something portable so I could keep up with the whirlwind that is an average morning in our home. I also needed something I could make easily at work when my schedule flip flops each weekend because I work nights on weekends. If I really needed super convenience I also had Carnation Breakfast Essentials® Ready-to-Drink Bottles to have in case I wasn’t feeling like using the blender.

So, I decided to create a nutritious smoothie Carnation Breakfast Essentials® Chocolate powder and complimentary ingredients. I could make this super fast in a mini blender at home or in the office. My recipe is below.

Chocolate Chia Carnation Breakfast Essentials® Smoothie

Ingredients
1. Packet of Chocolate Carnation Breakfast Essentials®
2. 1 Cup of Almond Milk
3. 1 Container of Yogurt
4. 1 TBSP of Chia Seeds
5. 1 tsp of Cacao Nibs
6. 1 Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
7. Crushed Ice

Directions
1. Add all ingredients to a blender.
2. Blend till smooth and creamy.
3. Serve.

I added the ice to make the smoothie very cold and the cayenne pepper to give it a kick and wake up call. When I make the same smoothie for my wife I leave out the cayenne pepper. In the end, my recipe has 360 calories and 28 grams of sugar plus it has 24 grams of protein. I find this has been a good smoothie to drink before or after going to the gym. I was very happy with my nutritious portable breakfast and it made things easier for everyone in the house to get things done in the morning. I also noticed that I wasn’t picking on junk or hungry right away after having my smoothie. Also, on my gym days this past week I have been way more ready to go for it.

Along with the 7-Day Breakfast Challenge there is a sweepstakes happening.

Ready to get started? Follow these easy steps:

1. Sign up at CarnationBreakfastChallenge.com.

2. Complete a simple yet fun breakfast mission for a chance to win. New prizes will be revealed every day!

3. Come back any day in February to complete missions and see new prizes. The prizes range from a Fitbit to a GoPro and other awesome stuff!

4. Head to your favorite store to purchase a Carnation Breakfast Essentials® Nutritional Product and upload your receipt for five extra entries per day.

I signed up and have done a couple of the missions already. They are fun like what flavor of Carnation Breakfast Essentials® are you. Surprisingly, I am Vanilla. They also offer some valuable tips on getting the most out of your morning. There are many ways in which you can have a more productive morning. Lay out clothes the night before for yourself and the kids. If the next day includes after school activities make sure that things like dance bags are packed and ready to go by the door, if not already in the car. We’ve certainly known the pain of discovering that there were no tights or a leotard ready for ballet class. Making sure that you have things organized as much as possible the night before is a key ingredient in a great morning and makes it so much easier to get in that nutritious breakfast.

What are your tips for a great morning? Will they include Carnation Breakfast Essentials® ? I’m enjoying the 7-Day Challenge and I hope that you give it a try as well.