Smoothing it out
Smoothies can be a good way to sneak in some wholesome ingredients that we have a hard time adding to our daily meals but they can also add **lots** of unnecessary calories. Even if we make a smoothie with wholesome ingredients only, they may not be something we want to have in excess at once. It's just too easy to overeat when we drink a smoothie.
I've been making smoothies for years, the header pictures are from some of my experiments, there are literally endless possible combinations for smoothies. I remember when I first heard about the concept of adding greens to smoothies, they were called blended salads. Now we call them green smoothies.
My smoothie preferences have changed quite a lot over time as my awareness of nutritious ingredients has grown. In our home we slowly transitioned into a less sweet smoothie changing the fruit/vegetable ratio slowly.
A couple months ago, I made one of those Wordless Wednesday posts with just pictures showing a very wholesome smoothie:
How many wholesome ingredients can you fit in a blender?
That was actually the smoothie we make the most nowadays, with a few variations depending on what we have in the fridge. We don't measure the ingredients exactly, but the basic combination is this:
🌿 1 or 2 lemons depending on the lemon size
🌿 A few Brazil nuts, usually 4 for some daily dose of Selenium
🌿 1 banana – room temperature or frozen
🌿 Fresh ginger – we love the gingery flavor so we use a large piece
🌿 Hemp seeds
🌿 Flax seeds
🌿 Water
🌿 Unsweetened non dairy yogurt – some days we use a bit less water and add about ¼ cup of yogurt
🌿 Frozen peas
🌿 Frozen broccoli
🌿 Frozen berries – mixed or just one type of berries
Greens – we rotate between these greens, sometimes we add a bit of each, sometimes just spinach or just kale, it really depends on what we have in the fridge
🌿 dandelion greens – has a strong bitter flavor
🌿 beet greens
🌿 baby spinach
🌿 kale
🌿 collard greens
This is not a sweet smoothie, the predominant flavors are lemon, ginger and dandelion greens. We really enjoy it but it's not for everyone. Years ago we would have added more banana, less lemon, less ginger and no dandelion.
*Creaminess:*
Here are some ingredients that will make smoothies creamier, these are wonderful especially when making smoothie bowls instead of a drinkable smoothie:
- frozen bananas - if you read my Refreshing Summer Treats article, you saw how frozen bananas can turn into several wonderful and colorful deliciousness, they really contribute to the creaminess of any blend. Never let a banana go to waste! When they start to get overripe, just peel them, chop them and freeze them. Make sure to spread them in a bag like this, otherwise you will end up with a clump of frozen bananas that are hard to pull apart when you want to use them.
- frozen peas - ½ cup of frozen peas add some creaminess to smoothies and also add an extra protein boost without adding any flavor.
- avocado – definitely contribute to smoothie creaminess but be aware that avocados add lots of calories despite being a nice healthy fat. Definitely not an ingredient to add in large amounts if the amount of calorie intake is a concern.
- Yogurt instead of water or milk – depending on the amount add some thickness or some creaminess, remember to use unsweetened versions to avoid undesired extra sugar in your smoothie!
- flax or chia seeds – a couple Tbsp of either seed will contribute to a thicker smoothie, not necessarily creamier, and if you don't consume it right away, the texture may end up a bit funky as the texture will continue to thicken for a bit.
I enjoy smoothies and especially smoothie bowls as a post workout meal, I find them to be a nice way to refuel after workouts where we can add quite a few nutritious ingredients. I also find smoothies to be quite handy when we have those super busy days where it's hard to find time to prepare nutritious meals, they are an easy way to make sure our body is well fed. And I'm not saying we shouldn't ever enjoy a delicious fruity smoothie, I'm simply pointing out that we can very easily pack lots of extra calories in a drink and not notice we're consuming lots of simple sugars at once. It all depends on our goals, if the goal is weight loss, smoothies should likely be avoided unless there are more vegetable rich with just low calorie fruits.
Here are some other smoothie ideas I shared in older articles:
And here are some fun smoothie bowls I've made:
Tip: for bowls use more frozen ingredients and less liquid.
Topping ideas: cacao nibs, coconut chips, flax meal, chia seeds, goji berries, mulberries.
Cintia