Pre-Workout Smoothies

Yes, downing a smoothie before working out may seem like a bad idea--usually it's a post workout reward.  But I need this little boost of energy that is both easy and quick to make.  It would be amazing to be able to make these with fresh fruit all the time, but that is not always possible where I live.  The following is using mostly ingredients that keep well so they can always be on hand.

In a blender, blend the following:

• vanilla yogurt
• ice cream
• ice cubes
• milk
• ingredients for flavors (see below)
• sugar to taste

You can change the proportions of the ingredients to get the smoothie texture you desire at the moment.  Add more ice cream and less ice cubes and milk to make it thicker.  Add more milk to make it thinner and easier to gulp down quickly.  Add more ice cubes if you are in the mood for a less creamy version.

Flavors:

• Strawberry: 
• I got a large bag of frozen strawberries from Costco.  They last forever.  Drop a few in for each smoothie.
• Strawberry Chocolate: 
• frozen strawberries
• chocolate syrup--the kind you make chocolate milk with :)
• Banana Split
• frozen strawberries
• banana (use only 1/3 or 1/2 banana for a single smoothie)
• chocolate syrup
• Mango
• mango pulp/syrup--I recently discovered this comes packaged in a plastic bottle at Asian supermarkets.  I was used to buying mango pulp in large cans and was always figuring out how to use that much pulp before it all went bad.  This bottle concept is amazing because it allows me to use a little bit of pulp at a time while the rest stays fresh.  
• Strawberry Mango
• frozen strawberries
• mango pulp

I didn't give exact measurements on the flavors because I tend to add some, taste, add some more of this or that, taste, etc.  Just have fun with it!