Middle Eastern inspired afternoon snack smoothie

4pm is one of those in betweeny sort of times.  It's too late for lunch, not early enough for dinner, and if you eat anything too substantial it'll spoil the next meal.  That's what happens when you have brunch at midday really (which was delicious by the way, creamy spinach and leek omelette with chorizo courtesy of Fego's).

So, what to do since I also can't really be ar*ed to cook anything right now on top of all the bits and bobs of prep for the week going on in the kitchen at the mo.

The answer?  A delicious mid afternoon snack smoothie/milkshake thing.

Serves 2:

2 bananas
2 cups unsweetened almond milk (ish, clearly I didn't measure it)
dessert spoon almond butter (peanut would work as well)
3 pitted medjool dates
dessert spoon honey / maple syrup (I used manuka honey)
1/2 tspoon cinnamon
1/2 tspoon nutmeg
pinch saffron

Just whiz it all up.

I normally put cinnamon in my smoothies but decided to add the nutmeg and saffron today as I just fancied a slightly more sort of sweet, comforting, warming eastern sort of a twist.  And it worked!  I could have got away with a bit more of it as well but didn't want to use too much just in case.

I don't have a picture as we drunk it all up straight away.  It was yummy and certainly filled the in betweeny hole in our tummies without spoiling dinner a few hours away.  If you make it yourself you can see what it looked like ;)

Happy weekend x

Home-made Almond Milk

So, I finally got around to making my own almond milk.  I followed this recipe which was super simple and just involved soaking a cup of almonds for up to 2 days (but at least over night), then blitzing in a blender with 2 cups of water before straining and squeezing all the milk out.
Just using 2 cups of water keeps it a nice consistency and I didn't add any sweetener, no need.

I'm not sure if it tastes nicer than shop bought - it tastes different put it that way, and more wholesome.  But I just love the fact that I made it myself!  I don't think I'll be able to make enough to supply my entire need so I'll keep the shop stuff for when I run out of home made stuff.

I'm going to look into recipes for the left over almond pulp but in the meantime have added some to smoothies and porridge to add a little nuttiness and bulk them up a bit.

All in all was much easier and quicker than I thought it would be and immensely satisfying so if you haven't yet given it a go, do!

A date with dates

WOW!

There are no words to describe how absolutely delicious the smoothie I just made was.

I was lying in bed perusing my pinterest board trying to decide what to have for breakfast.  Give the smoothies a rest and just have berries and greek yogurt?  Try the fruit salad with avocado that a good friend recommended to me yesterday on the back of my avocado post? Some variety of clever gluten/egg/etc free pancake?  Something to do with the coyo (yogurt made with coconut milk) that Alex bought me home yesterday (SO excited to try that), a wholemeal bagel with peanut butter (may have overindulged a tad last night, not sure the berries are quite going to cut it!)...

Then I remembered a whole heap of recipes I've seen using dates recently and that I had bought some the day before to experiment with a few, so I ended up settling on this recipe for a banana, date and almond shake on DeliciouslyElla.

Woah Wah Wee Wah!

Translated as gosh, that really was incredibly yummy.

You can follow the link above for the actual recipe.

As per usual, I didn't really bother with the whole recipe, measuring thing.  I had a brief glance at the ingredients then just sort of went from there.  I had actually run out of almond milk so I substituted with coconut milk...not the stuff in a tin, you can buy it in cartons like almond milk, soya etc as a dairy alternative.  Alpro have just started doing one available in supermarkets but there are several other brands such as Koko.  I bought some maca powder yesterday having never tried it before so seeing the recipe suggested adding some for added energy, and feeling in need of any help I can get in that area thanks to a busy week, not sleeping so well and mild over indulgence last night, I went for it.

When I first made it using the ingredients suggested, I found it quite runny (I may have used too much milk given I couldn't be bothered to get the measuring cup out to do it accurately!), so I added half a trusty avocado which not only added a few more super nutrients, but also made it super thick and creamy.

Good enough for an early morning, unwashed, no make-up selfie!

I have to tell you, it was so so delicious.  If, like me and my brother, you used to (pah, who am I kidding? Still do!) like licking the bowl/spoon when mum made cakes, then you will LOVE this.  I'm not joking, it tasted exactly like that gorgeous indulgent cake mix taste.  It didn't last very long in my glass!

The only thing is, I'm not as convinced health wise about this one.  I know the ingredients are all very good for you and are full of lots of lovely healthful benefits but I'm a little bit funny about any kind of dried fruit because of the high sugar content, so coupled with the sugar from the banana and the fat from both the nut butter and avocado (which admittedly I added myself), it certainly doesn't pack as much of a healthful punch as the green smoothies I normally drink.  To be honest I don't really mind the fat bit, but I'm not so keen on eating so much sugar first thing in the morning.

So, I think this one will be for occasional guilt free indulgence as opposed to an every day staple.

I already know that next time I have a craving for some kind of oreo milkshake or some such other naughty concoction, I will be getting out the blender and making this instead...I might even experiment with adding some cacao next for a chocolatey kick...

Hello sunshine

While I enjoy making up my own meals, I also collect hundreds of recipes I intend to try out one day.  This mango and cashew smoothie from DeliciouslyElla is one such recipe.  I love a smoothie for breakfast and love messing about trying new combos, but sometimes it's nice to try something tried and tested from somebody else.  Plus I absolutely LOVE mango, it is sooooooo nice. And so sunshiney yellow.

I was really looking forward to this one and had my first go yesterday.  I even bought some of the famed chia seeds I've been wanting to start trying and using (those aren't compulsory for the recipe so don't let that put you off).  I got everything in my blender ready, then realised I didn't have any limes.

As a result, the smoothie was lovely and creamy and did taste nice, but I thought it lacked something so decided to try it again this morning having now purchased said limes.

Second time round (now also with a smidge more cashews) it was definitely much better.  The recipe makes quite a big portion so very filling too!

For somebody who's been drinking green smoothies for a while, it didn't blow my socks off.  It was very nice, but no nicer than others I've had really.

BUT, for anybody who's yet to enter the green smoothie world, it's absolutely excellent.  Nothing about it tastes even vaguely green yet it has a whole big handful of spinach in it.  It tastes sweet, creamy and yummy like a milkshake or just a really nice fruit smoothie but is so so good for you.  The consistency is really lovely too thanks to the exact right mix of almond milk vs fruit, the banana and cashews ,and the chia seed gloop it up a bit nicely.

So, if eating spinach or anything else green for breakfast scares the hell out of you, or drinking vegetables sounds totally revolting to you, do try this smoothie and you'll be converted instantly.  Apart from the chia seeds all the ingredients can be found in any supermarket, big or small.  The only thing is, when buying almond milk, pick the one that says 'unsweetened' or else you're getting a whole load of added sugar for no reason.  Alpro do one which is stocked in every supermarket I've been in (some of the smaller ones might not carry the unsweetened variant but my Tesco Metro does).  If you fancy trying the chia seeds too, I got mine seeds at Holland and Barret but any health food shops or online whole food places will do them

If you're feeling brave, mess about trying different combos.  Bananas are a great base as they're so sweet and creamy, avocados have the same effect but aren't quite as sweet, spinach is a good green to add, or kale but I find it doesn't blend down as well and has a stronger taste.  In fact I think I'll try a kale and quinoa smoothie recipe I've spotted next...

Green goddess

Since discovering green smoothies...um, whenever it was, I do like to experiment with different varieties every now and again.  This morning I fully intended to have an almond, avocado, spinach, banana and peanut butter one. Only I didn't have any spinach or bananas which made that quite tricky.

So, I bunged in what I did have instead. Which turned out to be:
A skin friendly, anti-inflammatory, slow energy burning baby avocado
Some frozen super food, iron-rich spinach I rooted out of the freezer
An apple for antioxidants and fibre
Some anti-inflammatory celery (which uses more calories to digest than it has in it)
Almond milk (always the base of choice and always unsweetened. I hate it when they sneak sugar in for no reason)
A drizzle of pure maple syrup  - not the nasty mucky 'maple flavoured syrup' kind. It's not great but it's better than sugar especially in baby drizzles.

There are so many reasons to drink green smoothies for breko. It's a great and yummy way to get more veggies in, and super nutrient rich green veggies at that, they set you up all fresh and clear headed for the day ahead, they release energy slowly, they can be drunk on the go, they're filling and they're yummy.  Plus, if you're having one of these you're not having sugar laden cereal or lard ridden bacon butties.  I do eat other things for breakkie but a smoothie is my go to especially during the week as all I need to do is chuck a load of stuff in, whizz it up, bottle it and take it with me to school.

Anyway, the result of today's experiment was clearly quite nice as this is all there was left...