The weather is starting to get warmer and I find myself in the mood for smoothies more often now. Smoothies are a frequent after-school snack for the boys on warm sunny days, as you might recall from my post on after school snack ideas. I let the kids customize their drinks by tossing in whatever fruit they can find in the fridge and/or freezer. When my bananas get overripe, I cut them up and put them in the freezer so that we can use them in smoothies. My favourite add-in is pineapple. There’s just something about pineapple. It makes the smoothie frothy and sweet without adding extra sugar.
The thing I love about smoothies is that you can pack a lot of nutrition into one drink, and you can sneak in healthy ingredients that your kids might otherwise balk at. I’ve been known to add things like kale, spinach, chia seeds, oats, oat bran, and flax seeds in our smoothies without anyone noticing.
When KURA Nutrition offered to send me some of their smoothie starter powder to try, I was very interested. I had actually never used protein powder before, and I was curious to try it out in our smoothies. I learned that KURA’s powder has pure protein from grass-fed, free-roaming cows from New Zealand. And it has so much more than just protein – it also has loads of vitamins, fibre, Omega-3s and probiotics. It has all the stuff I want in my smoothie, and none of the stuff I want to avoid, like added sugar, preservatives, and artificial sweeteners, flavours and colours.
Here’s a breakdown of what each serving contains:
– 14 grams of KURA’s pure, bioavailable protein
– 100% RDA of Vitamin D, C B6, B12 and six other vitamins & minerals
– 26 essential vitamins and minerals
– 5 grams of fiber
– 5.4 grams or 4 times the Omega-3’s found in a single serving of Salmon
– 4 billion CFU Active Probiotics
– Prebiotics
– GMO Free
– Gluten-Free
– No Added Sugar – only natural occurring lactose from milk
– No Preservatives
– No artificial sweeteners, flavours or colours
So what was the Whine Critics’ verdict?
A big thumbs up! All three of the kids really loved the smoothies with KURA smoothie starters, and so did I. It made our smoothies really rich and creamy. You can even skip the yogurt and bananas and still get a nice creamy smoothie with this powder. It comes in three flavours: berry, chocolate, and vanilla. We use the berry one a lot, usually adding in frozen blueberries, fresh strawberries, ice, and milk (I like almond milk in mine). I liked the vanilla powder with pineapple (of course!) and oranges. It reminded me of an Orange Julius. I think everyone’s favourite, though, was chocolate. We had a chocolate, banana, and peanut butter smoothie that was to die for. I wish I had a photo but we gulped it up too quickly!
Giveaway!
KURA is giving one lucky winner a 16.9 oz bag of each of the three flavors of KURA and a shaker bottle ($85 US value). This contest is open to residents of Canada and the U.S. and will run from Friday April 10 until Friday, April 24. Good luck!
And, I also have a discount code for you to use if you’re purchasing KURA products on Amazon, valid until April 30 2015: KURAFOODS
Disclosure: I received complimentary products from KURA for the purpose of this review. This post contains Amazon affiliate links. All opinions in this post are my own.
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Food and Whine 
I love to put anything in my smoothies! Especially berries! 🙂
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I make smoothies daily. Would love to win this!
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I make smoothies for my kids every day. Would love to try this product!
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I like putting strawberries and raspberries in my smoothies.
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i love putting bananas, strawberries and blueberries in my smoothies!
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I’m on a huge Mango kick right now, so definitely mangos go into the smoothies, plus bananas and oranges!
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I love to put strawberries, flax seeds, pineapples!
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usually fresh (in season) or frozen fruit. thanks
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Strawberry , kale and chia seeds
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I add whatever is available – usually fruit.
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I love smoothies!
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We make smoothies with whatever veggies and fruits that we have on hand.
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pretty typical things – mango, bananas, berries and greek yogurt
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I think I have found a new favourite breakfast here, and my daughters will love this. Thank you!
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Smoothies for me would be with any fruit. Makes a healthy yummy drink.
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Re: mango & pineapple. Divine. Wow, prize pack is fab. & splendid. 2 fingers snap. It is tight, fly & off the chain. Thank you for the awesomeness, the contest, and generosity. Pick me, pick me! Dear Santa: I’ve been nice. My X-Mas wish this year is to win this contest. Starving artist here desperately needs the prize to eat. A life changing exp.
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strawberries
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I love to put frozen fruit in my smoothies. And Greek yogurt. Then some protein whey or salba. The smoothies you made sound amazing. Thanks!
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I like to add some fibre like flaxseeds.
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Sounds delicious!! Would love to try this
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I love using fresh fruits and veggies in my smoothies!
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I put strawberries, blueberries, yogurt, milk and honey in my smoothies 🙂
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I like to put almond milk or coconut silk combined with strawberries, kiwi and a frozen banana to thicken it up. Sometimes I will add a bit of spinach to make it even healthier.
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Almond milk, cinnamon, frozen berries and pieces of apple or banana
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I tend to make smoothies with banana, chocolate, blueberries, and almond milk. They are pretty yummy!
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I like to put mangoes, pineapples and bananas in my smoothies.
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yogurt and berries
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I like strawberries and bananas
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I have just recently started drinking smoothies. I put kale, spinach, swisschard, roasted peppers,pineapple, cantaloupe, celery, onion, cucumber, carrot and garlic. Quite often I make it with just ice but when I want the creaminess i add in greek yogurt that I have frozen to replace the ice. Plus water to thin it out to my desired consistency.
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I like strawberries, bananas and vanilla yogurt
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I like pineapples, strawberries, orange juice and vanilla yogurt.
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Almond Milk, strawberries, berries 🙂
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I love anything with mango or strawberries!
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I love putting bananas, strawberries, yogurt and mangos
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i drink smoothies nearly every day ! i like raspberries pineapple and mango
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I put fruit, almond milk and protein powder in mine.
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i like bananas and strawberries in my smoothies 🙂
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I like to mix it up so I never get bored with my smoothies. The grandkids love them too. No better way to get chia and kale into their diet!
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I like to put fruit, especially banana
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I like to add strawberries, peanut butter, Almond milk to make my smoothies 🙂
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I like fruit and plain yogurt and chia seeds.
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Love making smoothies extra nutritious by sneaking veggies in them! It would be awesome to win this prize pack and get to try KURA.
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