supergirl smoothie

Whether you enjoy a supergirl smoothie for breakfast or post-workout there's a lot of good-for-you stuff going on. Let's start with the recipe, this makes 2 servings of approximately 16 oz. each.

In a blender combine:

3 c frozen fruit
2 scoops protein mix (see below)
1 c organic, low fat vanilla yogurt
3/4 c milk (dairy, soy, almond, your preference)
3/4 c juice

protein mix
Here's a little supergirl efficiency to speed up the daily shake making process. In a clean dry container mix 12 servings each of: whey protein, wheat germ (too many good vitamins and minerals to talk about here), ground flaxseed (omega 3 source) and crystallized vitamin C. Use the large scoop that comes with the protein to measure two scoops of this mixture into your shake. Obviously you can mix more or less of each serving depending on the size of your container. I like 12 servings of everything because it gets me through about two weeks worth of shakes.

frozen fruit
Select your favorite types of fruit so you enjoy the shake. At the same time, do your best to incorporate different fruits so you get the widest range of vitamins. I buy BIG bags of frozen fruits at Costco and then mix-and-match in a zip-lock freezer bag. Strawberries, peaches, blueberries, raspberries, honeydew, mango...

milk
I use rice milk, substitute organic nonfat milk, almond or soy milk - whatever makes you happy. The point is to get a bit of added protein and calcium.

juice
100% Pomegranate juice is my preference. Lots of antioxidants without the sour taste. Blueberry works, too.

Make the shakes in the evening and drink for breakfast - just store in the fridge. I've been known to forget my morning shake and it turns out it will keep until the second morning, no problem. So you can make them daily and share or whip them up every other evening. If you need it on the go use an insulated coffee mug to keep it cool for an hour or two.

Because I eyeball my ingredients quantifying the nutrition info is sketchy. My best guess is 350-400 calories per shake with 5-6 grams of fat, 11-12 grams of protein and 60(ish) grams of carbs. I think it's carb-heavy because of the juice. You can switch to all milk if you're getting you're antioxidants somewhere else, you won't hurt my feelings.

shortcuts to efficiency

Like a lot of folks out there, I feel like there is not enough time to get everything done. Whether you are a Super Mom, Super Administrative Assistant or Super CEO you've probably searched out better ways of doing things. I certainly have. I read Lifehacker, I've tried David Allen's "Getting Things Done" principles and I've perused numerous blogs like 43 Folders and the Four Hour Work Week. I hope I'm not the only one that feels this way, but learning and repeating a new process until it is a habit feels more overwhelming than reverting back to my pile of "To Do" lists. My supergirl solution is shortcuts.

Tiny, bite-sized time-savers = shortcuts. What am I talking about? Using the Ctrl and Alt keys to rock your world. You may be familiar with some of these shortcuts. i.e., Ctrl + X, C and V to cut, copy and paste. You might know Ctrl + P will print. There are so many of these efficient little shortcuts I'm not sure anyone could remember them all. A few stand out amongst the rest though. How often do you switch between email and calendars in Outlook? What if I told you could could pop over from one to the other by using shortcuts? Ctrl + 1 gets you to your in-box, Ctrl + 2 to your calendar and, bonus, Ctrl + 3 to your contacts. Go ahead, try it. Ctrl + 1, 2, 3. You can make yourself dizzy moving between them this quickly.

Similarly, you can switch the program you are looking at on your monitor. Press Alt + Tab and hold. A little window appears that has an icon for each of the programs you have open. Press Tab (without letting go of Alt) until you reach the program you want. When you let go of the Alt key your screen will switch to the program.

While every program has its own shortcuts there are a number that are common to all software. Microsoft products in particular share a lot of commands. Whether you are typing in Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook you can format your text with shortcuts. Ctrl + B will make the text you have selected bold and Ctrl + I makes the selected text italic.

If you want to learn more shortcuts you can usually get a list of keyboard shortcuts from a program's help file. Or Google the name of your software with the words "keyboard shortcuts". Just like learning a new way to control your task list can be overwhelming learning 20 different shortcuts is a bit crazy. Pick one or two and try them out. Put a sticky on your monitor so the shortcut is front and center. Try using it for a week. If it works for you, great. If it doesn't try a different one. Every little step counts.

long live sticky notes

As a kick-ass Supergirl you’re BUSY. Me, too. And when my to-do lists are overwhelming I go on the hunt for a new and/or better time management technique (not the most efficient path, but more on that later). Recently the articles all seem to be some variant of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done”. In the cubicle-land that I work in its safe to say at least 10% of the population has their Master To Do List with them at all times. Whether they carry a mead spiral bound, a moleskin or their blackberry, action items are duly recorded.

If you haven’t heard of Getting Things Done one of the characteristics is to consolidate all of your to-do lists in one place. The very simplified theory behind this is you 1) get peace of mind because you always know where to look for your notes and 2) since you know what all your tasks are you can make efficient decisions about what to work on at any given time. The entire system of Getting Things Done is more complex, I’m taking a moment to focus on the to-do list. I loved the idea of consolidating my lists. At least once a month I leave my grocery shopping list on the refrigerator or lose my homework assignments in a textbook. Because I knew this system would work I went straight out and bought a little notebook with a clasp and attached pen. Obviously the 25 other notebooks I have stashed around the house were not good enough. The Master To Do List was going to streamline my life. And it worked! For three weeks. Inevitably I would leave my cute little notebook in my purse or somewhere equally inconvenient for scribbling a note to myself. I have to admit, I gave up on the idea pretty quickly. Old habits die hard.

Until I had a brainstorm. The sticky note. They’re everywhere. Work, home office, kitchen, heck, I even have some in my exercise room (don’t ask)… My brainstorm merges the best points of lazy note taking and the efficient consolidated list. Wherever I may be I jot my notes down on sticky notes. When it is convenient I pile them up and bring them to my notebook. All my tasks end up in one place and they’re easy to organize to boot. Priority change on a project? I’ll just move that sticky to the front page. Need to make a couple of phone calls? Peel those stickies out while I’m sitting in traffic and make the calls. Can you tell how pleased I am with myself? And a pleasant side effect is my monitors don’t have a multi-colored frame reminding me of how busy I am.