Tag: smoothies (Page 1 of 4)

Banana Watermelon Refresher

June 2, 2017 / Jenny / 8 Comments

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.

Chocolate Peppermint Smoothie

December 23, 2016 / Jenny / 2 Comments

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

Servings: 2
Time: 10 minutes
Print

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!

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.