Recovery Spinach Super-Smoothie

Hallo!



A serious arm-sculpting and squat session today called for sharpish recovery fuel - in the delectable form of a super-smoothie, to guzzle within 15 minutes of finishing my workout for optimum muscle forgiveness (verdict to come when I wake tomorrow morning and can/can't drag myself out of bed...we'll see).

There's something deeply nourishing and satisfying about drinking smoothies. Perhaps I'm recalling the happy (slash not-so-happy, and not-so-pretty) fat-days; the bogof Frijj milkshake deal from the local Co-op in fresher's year played a likely role in my inevitable university weight-gain. Oh, it's all flooding back now....

But, equally, smoothies just quench the thirst in a way that presents itself as a unique sensory experience; the thickness of the liquid that you could almost chew, the natural sweetness and multi-dimension of flavours to tickle your tastebuds, and the knowledge that you're giving your body the ultimate fuel for energy and/or fast recovery - depending on your chosen contents, of course. Top marks if it's green, too (cos let's face it, it must be healthy if it's green, right?).



Spinach Super-Smoothie ingredients:

2 handfuls of freshly washed spinach
200ml almond milk (can add more if desired)
1 banana
1/2 teaspoon honey
Juice of 1/2 lemon
A few grapes for extra sweetness (optional)

Blend all ingredients in one go, and then devour to your heart's content. Admittedly, this took a bit of trial-and-error to reach drinkable standards, but the sweetness of the lemon and honey soon sorted that one out. Also, some reading matter for any other smoothie-advocates out there: the perfect smoothie formula over at No Meat Athlete will pretty much guarantee your smoothies are fail-safe everytime (or can at least usually be redeemed by some kind of sweetness, or failing that, peanut butter...99% of the time, anyway). Such a good blog! Check it out, I wholly recommend (but not quite enough to see me quitting meat any time soon, I'm afraid to say), so much so that I signed up to the mailing list today too!



In other news, a few days ago I lost my coconut-cracking virginity (after draining the water out first, of course - mmmm) and used a melon-baller to remove the meat from inside - a pretty simple process that followed through without any messy mishaps, surprisingly enough (side note: I smashed the coconut against a large tree branch in my garden - there was no way a knife was getting through that beast!). However, before I knew it the meat had gone all fluffy - despite it being kept in the fridge. I was planning on making a batch of coconut butter to bake something wonderful with; alas, another coconut day will soon come, no worries! I found the coconut on offer at 55p, quite a steal considering how much meat it contained!

Kale Blend

Ah, Kale. My new fave.

Following from the whole kale/carrot crisp escapade, I decided to use up the leftovers of my kale in a delicious smoothie blend. This was the (very green pigmented) outcome.




Ingredients for one large glass:

1 Banana
A few handfuls of Kale (more leaves, less of the stalk)
Juice of 1 lemon
150-200ml almond milk
100ml water
1 tbsp manuka honey (to sweeten)

Some experimentation was necessary to get the mixture to the desired sweetness, but the whole lemon did the trick. I enjoyed this as a lunch replacement smoothie because I was in a rush before work - luckily for me, it satisfied my appetite until dinnertime. However, there's not a great deal of protein in the mix so if you were looking for something a bit more substantial, I'd suggest adding a scoop of protein powder (something fairly neutral in flavour, like vanilla) or the addition of ground almonds (or a spoonful of peanut butter if you fancy).

Ultimately, this is packed full of energy and nutrients, which is why it can be suited for meal replacement purposes. Kale is big in the game of detox/cleansing smoothies - so the more the merrier, I say. Happy slurping!

Sumptuous Smoothie

If you're anything like me (bad luck) then you probably have a big soft spot for anything SMOOTHIE related. Just a mere uttering of the word sends your tastebuds into a quivering saliva-induced wreck (nice image for a late Sunday afternoon).

I mean, come on - it's practically a milkshake, but made of entirely healthy ingredients, and very, very little of the so-say 'bad' stuff, i.e. fat (unless you're a rascal and add a sneaky something else to the blender unsuspectingly. In which case, shame on you!).

So, this Sunday's post is therefore dedicated to the not-so humble smoothie. I fancied something in liquid form to treat a mid-afternoon slump, and this recipe for maple peanut butter smoothie just fitted the bill.

Ingredients (1 serving):

125g non-fat cottage cheese
100ml almond milk
100ml water, plus ice cubes
1 TBS peanut butter (Whole Food)
1 TS maple syrup
1 TBS low-fat greek yoghurt
Possible additions: 1/2 banana, sweetener, ground nuts, vanilla extract

After having made one smoothie with just the first 6 ingredients, I went ahead and had another go at blending, this time replacing the yoghurt and maple syrup for 1/2 banana and some gingerbread syrup (for an added Christmassy effect - it just had to be done). It was even better second time round - just goes to show what joy half a banana can bring to any smoothie recipe (all hail the graceful banana!).

This is surely one of the most protein-packed smoothie out there (bonus points if you add some protein powder, but to be honest, it's not necessary considering the main ingredient - cottage cheese - is protein-loaded in itself). If you wanted the nitty-gritty of how powerful this blend is, a break-down of the nutritional info follows (based on one serving of the cottage cheese smoothie with banana alternative, sans yoghurt):

285.5 cals | 6.3g fat | 30.4g protein | 27.8g carbs | of which sugars : 17.4g
If you analyse this percentage-wise, the fat/protein/carb proportion is amazing at 10%|47%|43%. Compared to many of the corporate smoothies out there, this kind of smoothie is far more effective in that it packs in as much protein as a chicken breast, combined with slow-releasing carbs of which 60% are sugars (mostly all-natural), and essential fats (mostly unsaturated), all of which combine to effectively fight away any pesky hunger signals.

Best consumed as a lunch replacement (like I did today with my greedy double portion size), as a quick energy fix or even as an on-the-go breakfast shake. Go on - blend and slurp to your heart's content.