This easy smoothie is filled with refreshing watermelon, mint, and lemon balm, plus banana and Greek yogurt for protein and creaminess. The creaminess of the bananas and the sweetness of the watermelon balance each other nicely. In just about five minutes, you can have a delicious, healthy, and revitalizing summer drink for two.
Category: Drinks (Page 2 of 6)
Nutritious drink meets delightfully decadent treat in this chocolate peppermint smoothie. Almond milk, banana, dates, unsweetened dark cocoa, peppermint extract, and maple syrup provide vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, while a handful of crushed peppermint candy adds color and fun. All of these ingredients combined together make a festive drink that is so tasty, you might forget it is so healthy!
The holidays always make me crave the chocolate-peppermint combination, and this smoothie is one of my favorite ways to enjoy it! Plus, it fills the body with lots of good energy, which we all definitely need at this time of year. Treat yourself or treat someone you love to this delicious drink! And with the crushed peppermint candy around the edges of the glass, it looks pretty too.
I am not a huge fan of eating dates, but when they are pureed in a smoothie (or baked in something), they make a really good sweetener, full of minerals natural goodness, and with such a mild flavor that they just kind of blend in, especially with the more powerful flavors of the peppermint extract and dark chocolate. The banana gives this smoothie a bit of richness, while the maple syrup and vanilla extract fill out the flavor.
I hope that you all are having a happy holiday season! It has been a bit hectic for me lately, but I am hoping the next couple of days will be less about rushing and more about savoring time with family and celebrating this special time. (Hopefully the man who was tailgating me on the road today will be able to slow down soon too!!) I plan to make my husband and kids a chocolate peppermint smoothie tomorrow morning, and for a change, nobody has to get up early!
Our daily lives are not always peaceful, and the events going on in the world are not always peaceful either. But in spite of all that, there is a special stillness about this time of year. I don’t know if it is the muted light or the alignment of the stars or what, but if I stand outside and stay still, I can feel a quiet peace. My husband and I were outside with our dog yesterday around sunset, and with the fading light, black tree branches, and white snow all around, I felt a sense of quiet peace. It has always been that way at this time of year. There is a hush to the air. I hope you all have a great weekend! A very festive Fiesta Friday is happening today at Angie’s, and I am sharing this recipe there.
Chocolate Peppermint Smoothie
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of unsweetened almond milk
- 2 dates, pitted and chopped
- 1 banana, sliced
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract
- 2 tablespoons of dark chocolate unsweetened cocoa
- 1-2 tablespoons of maple syrup (to taste)
- 2 ice cubes
- 2 candy canes (or a handful of crushed peppermint candy)
- a bit of honey for the rim of the glasses
Directions:
Place all the ingredients in a blender, except the candy canes and honey. Pour the smoothie into two glasses. With your finger, line the rims of the glasses with honey. Sprinkle the crushed candy canes over the rims of the glasses, so it sticks to the honey. Some candy will fall into the glasses, but that is fine! Enjoy!
Treat your body to a smoothie full of vibrant flavors and important nutrients. Frozen blueberries, tart cherries, and cranberries give this smoothie lots of flavor and antioxidants, not to mention a naturally beautiful color. Ground flax seeds and hemp seeds add Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, protein, and lignans, among other nutrients, which is probably why these little seeds are sometimes called “super seeds.” Just add a splash of cranberry juice and a handful of ice, blend it all up, and you have a bright, tasty beverage full of anti-inflammatory properties.
There is a lot of talk these days about chronic inflammation and how it contributes to a lot of health problems, including arthritis, heart disease, auto-immune disorders, and depression. And apparently, in our modern society, many are at risk of developing chronic inflammation with our processed foods, high sugar intake, and fast-paced lifestyle.
I am definitely not an expert on inflammation in the body, but what I read makes a lot of sense. According to Paul DiCorleto, PhD, in an article for the Cleveland Clinic, inflammation is the body’s natural way of fighting an illness or injury. When the illness or injury is healed, the inflammation response is supposed to shut off. However, sometimes the body’s inflammation response does not stop, due to chronic anxiety, diet, or other factors. “Over time, you can end up with too much of a good thing. With chronic inflammation, your body is on high alert all the time,” says Dr. DiCorleto. This can cause lots of problems within the body.
DiCorleto and other experts recommend making lifestyle choices that will help reduce the risk of developing chronic inflammation. These include regular exercise and eating and drinking lots of plant-based foods, which contain anti-inflammatory properties. Berries, flax seeds, and hemp seeds are all considered anti-inflammatory foods.
Sometimes when I am very stressed out and not taking good care of myself, I can feel like my body is out of balance. That is when I reach for things like this smoothie, and I feel like I am putting good things back into my body, soothing it and energizing it at the same time. It’s all about striving for that balance.
We may not be able to hold ourselves in balance for long periods of time, but we can continually try to keep bringing ourselves back into balance. It’s in that process that we feel alive. According to poet and philosopher Rumi, “Your hand opens and closes, opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralysed. Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birds’ wings.”
I hope you all have a great weekend! One of the things I am looking forward to is Angie’s Fiesta Friday, co-hosted this week by Steffi @ Ginger & Bread and Andrea @ Cooking With a Wallflower.
Mixed Berry Revitalizing Smoothie
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup of frozen cranberries
- 1/2 cup of frozen tart cherries (preferably tart Montmorency cherries)
- 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries
- 1 to 2 tablespoons (depending on your taste) of ground flax seeds (you can buy them already ground, or you can buy them whole and grind them in a coffee grinder)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons (depending on your taste) of hemp seeds
- 2 cups of cranberry juice
- a handful of ice
Directions:
Place all the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Pour into glasses and enjoy!
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