Category: Drinks (Page 3 of 6)

Soothing Smoothie

January 22, 2016 / Jenny / 15 Comments

Soothe your soul and calm your nerves with this smoothie. Medjool dates, banana, almond milk, vanilla, and a handful of chocolate chips give it a luxurious taste and lots of important vitamins and minerals. Normally I would crave a warm drink in the middle of winter, but for some reason, this smoothie hits the spot right now. Maybe my body is craving the minerals that dates and bananas contain. And almond milk is so smooth and creamy. In any case, it tastes decadent and comforting, though it is really quite healthy.

Maybe it’s partly because of the New Year, and maybe it’s partly because my husband will have knee surgery soon, but I have been searching for new ways to eat well. (We already eat really well, but there’s always room for improvement!) He and I want to find foods full of nutrition to help his body heal faster after his surgery. He recently got a new book called “Thrive Energy Cookbook” by Brendan Brazier. This book looks really interesting, and has all plant-based recipes. I am not wanting to go completely vegan or gluten-free at all. However, I am always interested in expanding my knowledge of food and how what we eat affects how we feel, and I would love to incorporate more plant-based foods into my diet.

Using dates in a smoothie is something new for me, and I really, really like it. This smoothie recipe is very loosely adapted from a recipe I found in the “Thrive” cookbook. I say very loosely, because I changed it quite a bit, except for the idea of using dates in a smoothie, for which I am very grateful. It tastes sweet and flavorful without using much sugar (just from the little bit of chocolate chips, and the almond milk is unsweetened), because the dates are naturally sweet. If you are wanting to cut back on dairy, or just like the taste of almond milk, this is a great option. Or to make this a vegan smoothie, just substitute vegan chocolate chips for traditional chocolate chips.

Smoothies are so easy to throw together, and this one tastes delicious–kind of like an ice cream shake, yet it is full of lots of nutrition to make us feel good, and the creamy, smooth texture is calming. It feels like a tonic for my sometimes-frazzled nerves. This recipe is for just one serving. If you are making smoothies for more than one person, just double or triple the recipe accordingly. I hope you all have a great weekend! Fiesta Friday is happening right now, and I am taking this recipe there! As always, coordinated by Angie, and co-hosted this week by Sonal @ Simply Vegetarian 777 and Petra @ Food Eat Love.

Soothing Smoothie

Servings: 1
Time: 5 minutes
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Ingredients:

1 cup of unsweetened almond milk
1 banana, sliced
2 medjool dates, pitted
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of chocolate chips
4-5 ice cubes

Directions:

Place all the ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Some flecks of date and chocolate will remain, but that’s ok. Pour into a glass. Enjoy!

Cherry Cranberry Smoothie

December 11, 2015 / Jenny / 14 Comments

Bursting with flavor and color, this smoothie will pick you up and infuse you with vitality. Tart cherries and cranberries are sweetened with a splash of cranberry juice, and a banana makes the texture thick and smooth. With only four ingredients, this smoothie is a breeze to make, yet it tastes like a special treat.

Tart cherries freeze beautifully, and I like to keep a bag or two of Montmorency tart cherries, grown right here in Michigan, in my freezer. Then I can pull them out throughout the year to make a cherry pie, or in today’s case, a smoothie. With the cherries and the cranberries, this smoothie is loaded with antioxidants. There has been a lot of press about the health benefits of tart cherries–that they help with arthritis, sleep, fighting cancer, and many other things. Whether or not all the hype is a little over the top, I still believe cherries are good for us. Just a sip of this smoothie, and I know I am drinking in lots of good nutrients. There is some sugar from the cranberry juice, but otherwise the cherries and cranberries are too tart for most people, and there is not a lot of juice in this smoothie–just enough.

With all the things going on surrounding the holidays, it is good to keep fortified with nutrients. The vibrant flavor and color will lift your spirits. It is not always easy to keep up with all that is going on, and small treats help. Stopping to drink a smoothie. Several deep breaths. A walk with a trusted friend. I hope you all have a great weekend! I will be taking this over to Angie’s Fiesta Friday, co-hosted this week by Sadhna @ Herbs, Spices, and Traditions and Natalie @ Kitchen, uncorked.

Cherry Cranberry Smoothie

Servings: 4
Time: 10 minutes
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Ingredients:

2 cups of frozen tart (preferably Montmorency tart) cherries
1/2 cup of cranberries (frozen or refrigerated is fine)
1 banana
1 and 1/4 cups cranberry juice (I use one that is 27% juice, so it has some sugar in it, but not as much as some do)

Directions:

Place the cherries and cranberries in a blender. Add the sliced banana and cranberry juice. Blend until smooth. Pour into four glasses. Serve with a straw. Enjoy!

Strawberry Smoothie with Lemon Balm and Mint

June 19, 2015 / Jenny / 4 Comments

Many of us long for fresh strawberries all year long. There is nothing like the sweet, bright taste of a strawberry that has been recently picked. This smoothie is bursting with freshness with local, in-season strawberries and a hint of mint and lemon. The banana and Greek yogurt give it a smooth, creamy texture. It truly tastes like summer in a glass. (I guess it is not technically summer yet, but it will be very soon, and it feels like summer already!) Not to mention the nutritional benefits of drinking a smoothie with fresh strawberries and fresh herbs, and the Greek yogurt for protein–there are lots of vitamins and antioxidants in both the strawberries and the herbs.

Yesterday I was doing errands with my kids in the city near us, amidst strip malls, big box stores, and parking lots, when a pickup truck in a parking lot caught my eye. Next to the truck, under a tent, there was a man selling quarts and quarts of fresh strawberries! He was a farmer from the countryside near here. I was very excited. My kids and I were getting aggravated from all the traffic, construction, and the tedium of errands, but this was one last errand we had to do before we went home. I bought a couple of quarts and got to work as soon as we unloaded our groceries. First I made some strawberry shortcake, the recipe for which I posted on this blog last year, and which is always a favorite in my house. It was delicious.

I had a few strawberries left over, and wanted to use them soon, since truly fresh strawberries do not keep well. Smoothies are a good way to start the morning, so the next morning I made this delicious smoothie with strawberries, Greek yogurt, and bananas, sweetened with a touch of honey. My daughter suggested we add lemon balm and mint, since we have them growing abundantly in our garden. She went out and picked some for me, and they add a wonderful background flavor to the strawberries.

It has been a strange couple of weeks, with the transition from school to summer break for the kids, all-consuming soccer tournaments, and other issues that inevitably come up when one lives in this beautiful, difficult, imperfect world. We have had rainy day after rainy day, bringing mosquitoes and lots of wet shoes that take forever to dry. But we have not had to water our garden once yet this year. I have made some good things in the kitchen that just did not make it to the blog–rhubarb and red grape crisp, pizza with broccoli rabe, and chocolate oat muffins. As my kids and husband would say, they were not quite blog worthy. Yet these non-blog worthy dishes got eaten anyway, and they were quite good. I just have not been organized enough to have a well-stocked kitchen lately, and have been doing a lot of substituting and throwing things together at the last minute. We are almost to the summer solstice, so I would like to slow down and make time to truly experience the summer– watch the fireflies at night, and get to one of the many lakes around here as much as possible.

This strawberry smoothie is definitely blog worthy, just bursting with flavor and freshness, so I will share the very simple recipe below.

Strawberry Smoothie with Lemon Balm and Mint

Servings: 1-2
Time: 10 minutes
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Ingredients:

1 cup of strawberries (add more if you wish), with their tops removed
1 banana, peeled and sliced
1 cup of plain, Greek yogurt
1-2 tablespoons of honey or maple syrup, according to your taste
1 tablespoon of fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped
1-2 teaspoon of fresh lemon balm leaves, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Wash and prepare the strawberries and herbs. In a blender, place the strawberries, banana, yogurt, honey or maple syrup, mint, and lemon balm. Puree until smooth. Pour into one or two glasses, and enjoy!