Smoothie recipes

You know we’re smoothie fans in this family so I thought I’d share a few of our treats with you.

There is a certain little miss who steals mine if I dare to put it down for a second and Jude is known for his love of any banana or strawberry flavoured smoothies. Never chocolate though (weird child), they’re all Emmelines’.

I thought I’d show you a few recipes that we love. I don’t have images of them all so feel free to share pictures if you many of the below recipes.

First up, Jude’s favourite. He calls it Banana milk because I started making this version to replace the shop bought carton of banana milk that he loved so much. I couldn’t justify the amount of sugar involved so wanted to make a healthy version.

Banana milk

1 frozen banana
1 Tablespoon of pea protein powder
a cup of plant milk (oat, soya or anything you prefer really)
a dash of sweetener such as maple syrup (to taste)

I’m sneaky and add a capsule of DHA omega 3 as well. This is the brand I use. It doesn’t taste of anything so no one knows shhhh

Emmeline loves banana milk at the moment. But, we often replace the omega 3 capsule with a teaspoon of spirulina * to make it green banana milk! It doesn’t affect the taste and I’m confident that she’s getting some amazing vitamins and minerals inside her.

Why is this child always so grubby? Supping her green banana milk!

Elsa loves a fruit smoothie such as this mixed berry joy.

Mixed berry joy

1 frozen banana
a cup of frozen mixed berries
a cup (or more depending on texture) of coconut water
dash of agave (or other sweetening agent)
teaspoon or spirulina/dried barley grass *note below about these two ingredients because they are incredible!

fruit smoothie

Others to try:

Vanilla green smoothie

1 cup of coconut water (more of you want it thinner)
1-2 cups of spinach leaves
1 cup of frozen banana
1-2 Tablespoons of almond butter
a dash of vanilla
Ice
2 Tablespoons pea protein powder

Peanut butter and jam

1 frozen banana
a cup of frozen strawberries
a cup or so of oat milk
2 Tablespoons of peanut butter
3 Tablespoons of oats

THIS is awesome. I love it. It’s a great breakfast smoothie or just something to have when you’re hungry.

Garnished with a strawb for little Miss Emmeline Hero (adorning an incredibly grubby t shirt following a day in the garden!)

Or sprinkled with a little coco powder and sesame seeds

Green mangoes

Ice cubes
One chopped up mango
Handful of kale (take out any woody bits)
Minced ginger (I use a tablespoon but you can always add more if you start with a little less!)
Squeeze of lemon
A cup or so of water, or coconut water if you’re as obsessed with the stuff as me
dash of agave if it needs sweetening up

Peachy Melon

Watermelon
a chopped up peach
Ice cubes
mint leaves to garnish.

So so simple but a favourite in our house, especially on a hot day. Elsa would possibly live on watermelon if she was allowed to so she loves to make this one. You can add a squeeze of lemon for extra tang. The mint leaves are fab if you leave it to add its flavour to the drink.

Smoothie drink in the garden

There are a million other smoothie recipes I could share with you but I guess the beauty of these are that you can just trial and error and see what you enjoy. Emmeline loves chocolate ones but Elsa doesn’t. You start to know what you like and can build on that with additional flavours and colours.

Ingredients I’ll regularly include are cinnamon, turmeric, different milks, coconut oil, a dash of this, a drop of that. Try it all out and see what you love.

I’d love to hear about your creations.

*Notes on spirulina and barley grass

So what is spirulina?

We affectionately call it pond slime because that’s what it smells like and actually, that’s pretty much what it is. Honestly, it’s gross. BUT you only need a tiny bit to feel the benefit and therefore the taste is irrelevant.

Why is it so awesome?

To name but a few, here are some of the reasons I love spirulina:

It is considered “the most nutrient dense food on the planet” by many people because of the amazing benefits within such small quantities of spirulina consumption (for example, I’ll only use a teaspoon at a time).
It contains a high (complete) protein content – 1 tablespoon contains 4 grams of protein!
Lots of Vitamins B1 (thiamin) which is needed for digesting fat and protein. It also boosts energy, eye health plus brain and nerve function.
Lots of absorbable Iron
Huge amounts of calcium. In fact it has over 26 times the amount of calcium in cows milk.
Spirulina is 65% protein and amino acids including the essential fatty acid gamma linolenic acid (GLA) – GLA is often hard to find in food sources and is regularly created by the body because of the lack of food options.
Spirulina is a great source of Omega fats, in particular that elusive Omega 3 that people eat fish for. Where do you think the fishies get their Omega 3?? Pond slime!
Spirulina also contains vitamins B-2 (riboflavin), B-3(nicotinamide), B-6 (pyridoxine), B-9 (folic acid), vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin A and vitamin E, potassium, calcium, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, selenium, sodium and zinc.
Antioxidants!
Spirulina is very high in Chlorophyll which helps remove toxins from the blood and boosts the immune system.
I could go on…but this is even boring me. It’s good stuff. Let’s leave it at that…

What is dried barley grass? It sounds such a ridiculous name.

It’s literally the shoots of barley grass! Dried. Obviously.

There are tons of vitamins and minerals in this stuff such as…potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, phosphorus, manganese, zinc, beta carotene, B1, B2, B6, C, folic acid, and pantothenic acid.
Barley grass is thought to have 30 times more vitamin B1 and 11 times the amount of calcium than there is in cow’s milk,
It has 6.5 times as much carotene and nearly 5 times the iron content of spinach. Rarrrr.
Dried barley grass has almost seven times the vitamin C in oranges.
Barley grass is high in organic sodium which dissolves calcium deposited on joints. It also replaces sodium on the stomach lining. This inevitably helps digestion .
People with arthritis should really think of including dried barley grass into their diet because it has 775mg per 100 grams. Awesome!
Antioxidants…
Similar to spirulina, it is high in Chlorophyll, cleansing the intestines and ridding the body of junk.
I won’t go on…I can see all your eyes glazing over…