Tropical Smoothie

This week we’ll be eating:

Spicy Beans + Cornbread

General Tso’s Chicken

Beijing Fried Sauce Noodles

Crispy Sassage Stir Fry

Satay Chicken

I’m especially keen for the Spicy Beans, any recipe from The Pioneer Woman is going to be hearty and delicious. I couldn’t find pinto beans so I’ll be using black-eyed beans instead.  I missed the menu for this week because the Boyfriend and I were galavanting around the coast visiting his parents. By galavanting of course I mean I didn’t leave the house and watched The Real Housewives of Atlanta for two days straight. We both got the Monday off which turned it into a luxurious three day weekend and considering I haven’t even had a two day weekend for a while it was even more welcome.

I don’t have a good segue for getting into this smoothie, it’s just delicious, refreshing and tastes like a holiday. Coconut extract is an easy way to get flavour in there but you could use coconut milk instead of water if you prefer. Adjust the amount of liquid to make the consistency thicker or thinner, I go for a thinner smoothie because I chug it quickly before leaving for work

Tropical Smoothie

2 cups chopped mango, frozen

1 banana, peeled and frozen

1 cup chopped pineapple

1 orange, peeled and de-seeded

1/2 – 1 tsp coconut extract

1/4 cup oats

Place all of the ingredients with a blender, fill with water half-way up the fruit and puree until smooth.

Taste add more coconut extract if desired, mix briefly if adding anything.

Serve immediately.

 

 

Malted Nutell-Oat Smoothie

I’m on a smoothie rampage, after drinking the same thing for breakfast err-day suddenly I’m obsessed with trying every smoothie recipe that comes my way. I’m a creature of habit, though, so that means a Mango Passionfruit Smoothie to start the day and a new recipe to take to work (I’m convinced that my daily smoothie is what’s keeping my immune system going even though I’m having trouble sleeping). This recipe in particular has everything I want in a milkshake but the addition of banana and oats makes it feel more nourishing. I figure as long as I’m getting some fibre and nutrients with my sugar I’m all good. Banana also has the magic property of keeping your smoothie thick even after sitting for a while, although you have to give it a stir to incorporate the oats having a rest at the bottom. I’m not a major banana fan but there is enough going flavour-wise to keep it in the background, although the sweetness it brings to the party is welcome. A smoothie to get you past 3 o’clock without getting into that family size bag of Malteser’s that keeps looking at you.

It still tastes great without the malt (not that I would ever sanction leaving out malt) but don’t pass up the vanilla extract and salt. Experiment and add more or less milk to change the consistency.

Malted Nutell-Oat Smoothie

Adapted from Nutella Oatmeal Cookie Shake over at How Sweet It Is.

1/3 cup oats (any kind)

375 ml milk

2 bananas, peeled and frozen

1/4 cup ice

4-5 tbsp nutella

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp malt powder

pinch of salt

(If your blender needs a little help getting the oats smooth, combine oats and milk in the blender, allow to sit in the fridge for 1 hour).

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until combined.

Taste and add more Nutella if desired, blend again if adding anything.

Serve immediately.

Mango Passionfruit Smoothie

The internet is back! We would have had it sooner but our set up was timed perfectly with a nation-wide problem setting up cable internet for Telstra. Moving house went well, despite jettisoning half our worldly goods due to lack of storage space. A bit of perspective helped, looking at an object that has sat in your garage for four years unused, you have to be realistic about the exact same thing happening in the new house. My kitchen stayed mostly intact, I have all of my essentials and it’s lucky that the kitchen has the only cupboards to be found in the house. My sister and her boyf purchased an amazing kitchen island from Ikea that is the new home for my kitchen appliances, with space for two stools on the opposite side. I’m still adjusting to the COMPLETELY NORMAL OVEN that doesn’t burn the base of everything. The first time I put something in to bake without two trays protecting it I broke out in a sweat (or was that just the charming Queensland weather?). The blender once again has a permanent place on the counter for my daily breakfast smoothie and this is the recipe that I will be making for as long as I can get my paws mangoes.

5 passionfruits might seem a little excessive but what’s the point of putting them in if you can’t taste them? I add the lemon juice because I like everything to be sour but leave it out if you like your mango beverages sweet.

Mango Passionfruit Smoothie

pulp of 5 passionfruits

1 orange, skin and pith removed

juice of 1/2 lemon

flesh of 2 mangoes, frozen

big handful of kale

1 tbsp chia seeds

2 tbsp psyllium husk

3 tbsp rolled oats

Combine all ingredients in a blender and add enough cold water to just cover everything.

Blend until completely smooth and serve immediately (this does make a lot, sometimes I keep a cup of it for breakfast the next day and it keeps quite well).

Green Smoothie

I’ve got into the habit of drinking a smoothie every day for breakfast and I feel like it’s the best thing I’ve ever done for myself, health-wise. I’ve never been big on breakfast and for most of the time I just never ate anything. For a while I ate muesli and yoghurt but then overnight my stomach started rebelling against dairy, so that wasn’t really an option anymore. My smoothie enlightenment began with receiving my gorgeous pink Kitchen Aid blender from my significant other. I’ve never had a blender strong enough to handle frozen ingredients so I never had too many smoothies at home (mostly milkshakes!).

I have found that the easiest way to drink a smoothie every day is to have everything ready so that I don’t have an excuse not to. On Saturdays after the Farmers Markets I cut up all of the fruit I want to use, lay it out on baking trays and allow it to freeze solid. Then I transfer it to ziplock bags and keep them in my freezer. Grapes are my favourite because you just have to pick them off the stem and pop them in a bag. I chop up and freeze my kale because it gets really dried out and withered when I keep it in the fridge. If you’re not a fan of kale then baby spinach has a great mild taste that disappears behind the fruit flavours. As well as the ginger, mint goes really well with pineapple so if I have some in my fridge I throw in a small handful. I buy my chia seeds and psyllium husk in bulk because they are less expensive that way, I even found an Indian Supermarket that sells psyllium husk on the cheap. Don’t worry about buying in bulk if you don’t think you will use it all up, though, they’ll just clutter up your cupboard.

What I add to my smoothies changes depending on what’s available at the markets but this is what I’m drinking at the moment. I don’t actually like banana but I know it’s good for me so I chuck it in anyway, in this quantity you can’t even taste it. This recipe makes one smoothie cup plus one small glass of smoothie. I drink the smoothie cups worth and it’s first in best dressed for my housemates for the leftover glass of it. I bought this clear plastic smoothie cup off eBay so that I could smuggle my smoothie onto the bus and finish it off at work. I also find it a lot easier to drink smoothies with a straw. I’ve given the quantities in handfuls because I never really measure, I just tip the fruit out of the bags into the blender. Have you discovered any winning smoothie combos? Tell me about them, I always appreciate new smoothie ideas!

Green Smoothie

1 handful frozen pineapple

1/2 handful frozen green grapes

2 handfuls frozen kale

1/2 handful frozen banana

1 green apple, quartered, cored

1 small knob of ginger, roughly chopped

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 tbsp psyllium husk

1/2 handful rolled oats

1 1/2 cups water

Place all ingredients in a blender.

Pulse on the ice setting then change to liquidise once the frozen ingredients are partially chopped.

Liquidise until the smoothie becomes one homogeneous colour.

Add more water if you prefer a wetter smoothie.

Over time the psyllium husk will cause the smoothie to become thicker, add more water and mix to make it easier to drink.