Smoothies - Smoothing out your mornings
We all need something quick and easy to have on those mornings that we sleep in or are in a rush to get out the door. So, why not have a smoothie to help smooth out your morning! They are quick and easy and you can premake them and keep them in the freezer for a busy morning. Let’s go through the building blocks of how to make a smoothie and we will include some of our favourite recipes too for you to try!
Building blocks of a smoothie:
● Liquid - You will need to add a liquid ingredient to your smoothie to help it blend well. These can be any milk, water or juice
● Fruits and Vegetables - This is your base to your smoothie, the main ingredient. There are so many different combinations to try when making a smoothie.
● Protein and fibre - This will be your nut butter, yoghurts and oats.
● Flavour additions - this can be a sweetener, such as honey or maple syrup, or a spice, such as cinnamon, nutmeg or ginger.
● Ice - This should go in last and will create a smooth, thick, chilly texture to your smoothie
Don’t forget:
To rotate your greens - This will create you to blend a variety of greens. Start with mild leafy greens such as spinach, radish greens and kale. Then move your way up to more pungent greens such as collard, chard, beet greens and arugula.
To watch your combinations - this is because bloating can become a concern. Pay attention to which foods you are combining. When you blend certain fruits and vegetables with each other it can become problematic. Try not adding too much fruit or sugar to blends, or drinking high-water-content foods after other concentrated foods.
To prep and keep it in the freezer - This is because its so much easier just grabbing a premade bag of fruits and vegetable and putting it in the blender with your choice of liquid while you are in a rush in the morning.
Recipes:
● Banana Smoothie ○ 1 Sliced Banana ○ ¼ cup Greek yoghurt (plain or vanilla) ○ ¼ cup milk (dairy, almond, oat milk, etc.) ○ ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
● Banana and Oat Smoothie ○ 1 1/2 frozen bananas ○ 2 Tbsp peanut butter ○ 1 Tbsp chia seeds ○ 1 1/2 Tbsp honey ○ 1/2 cup oats ○ 10 oz milk
● Immunity Smoothie ○ 1 large orange (peeled) ○ ½ medium banana ○ 1 cup frozen mango pieces ○ ½ cup almond milk ○ ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
● Pumpkin Pie Smoothie + Apple ○ 1 apple - peeled, cored, and chopped ○ 2 tablespoons water ○ ⅔ cup unsweetened vanilla-flavoured almond milk ○ ¼ cup pumpkin puree ○ 1 ½ teaspoons brown sugar ○ ¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice ○ ⅔ cup crushed ice cubes
● Coffee Smoothie ○ 1 medium banana ○ 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee chilled ○ 1/2 cup milk (any variety) ○ 1/4 cup rolled oats ● Blueberry Smoothie ○ 1 cup fresh blueberries ○ ½ cup Greek yoghurt ○ ¼ cup orange juice ○ 1 tablespoon white sugar, or to taste ○ ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract ○ 1 pinch ground cinnamon, or to taste ○ 3 ice cubes
● Green Banana Smoothie ○ 2 cups baby spinach leaves, or to taste ○ 1 banana ○ 1 carrot, peeled and cut into large chunks ○ ¾ cup plain fat-free Greek yoghurt ○ ¾ cup ice ○ 2 tablespoons honey
