Five Glorious Whole-Food Smoothies
By the Gracious Vegan
Delicious whole-food smoothies that are fast to make have eluded me for a long time. Either the easy recipes didn’t taste great, or the great-tasting recipes take too long. So I went at it myself and focused on a balance between taste and simplicity. I used only dried powdered spices and kept the base recipe the same for five variations. You’ll see a 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric in each variation. It’s so healthy for you and adds some nice yellow color. Cinnamon and ginger also bring a lot of antioxidants to the party. You can add any number of other superfoods (flaxseed meal, chia seeds or meal, hemp seeds, etc.) as you wish.
Makes a 2-cup smoothie
Base ingredients. Add the ingredients to the blender (either a bullet-type blender or regular blender) and blend on high for 20-60 seconds or until desired smoothness is reached. Add more water if too thick.
1 banana, sliced and frozen (whenever a bunch of bananas is ripe, I slice up each one and spread out the slices in a bag or container so they don’t freeze in a clump)
1/2 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 cup water
Sweetener: 1-2 Tablespoons date paste, 1/2-1 Tablespoon maple syrup, or other sweetener of your choice to taste (note that just throwing in a couple of dates didn’t work for me—the blender didn’t pulverize them well enough.)
Additional super-foods (optional): 1/2-1 teaspoon amla powder (see What is Amla Powder?), 1 or more teaspoons hemp seeds, 2-3 teaspoons flaxseed meal, 2-3 teaspoons chia seeds
One of the following flavor combinations
Creamy Chocolate Almond
Base ingredients from above
3/4 cup crushed ice
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons almond butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
Matcha Mango
Base ingredients from above
1 cup frozen mango cubes
1 cup fresh baby spinach leaves (or 1/2 cup frozen spinach)
2 teaspoons matcha green tea powder
1/4-1/2 teaspoon dried ginger
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
Zesty Mango
Base ingredients from above
1 cup frozen mango cubes
Zest from one lime
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
Pinch cayenne pepper
Pink Blush
Base ingredients from above
1/2 cup frozen strawberries or raspberries
1/2 cup frozen mango or peach cubes
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
Gingery Blueberry
Base ingredients from above
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/4-1/2 teaspoon dried ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
Timing: Less than 10 minutes
Gluten-free