Thickalicious Exotic Tropical Green Smoothie With Cardamom

Today's lovely Thickalicious Exotic Tropical Green Smoothie is fragrant, sweet, delicious and packed with a ton of nutritional benefits.  The mango, pineapple, and banana are all fruits with endorsed health recognition, as well as the delightful flavour that you expect from yummy tropical fruits.  I use organic frozen fruit from Costco.  A half-cup of pineapple from a huge bag goes a long way and makes smoothies for two adults in our house, so don't be freaked out the initial output of $$.  Believe me, buying organic is worth it if you don't have access to local unsprayed products (many organic growers choose not to pay the rather exorbitant cost of registering their operations, but will advertise as 'unsprayed', etc.  If you shop at the 'farmgate' or a farmer's market, you can ask all about how they grow their fruits and veggies).  

I'm pretty sure you will also love the other items in this smoothie: the chia seed is one of the highest sources of balanced Omega-3 essential fatty acid (meaning that it is not overpowered by Omega-6, a not-so-useful fatty acid, very plentiful) which is great for hearts and brains of all family members, and provides good energy, as seeds often do, packed as they are with everything a plant needs to grow.  Turmeric is used in a lot of our food prep these days since my husband took a longevity class at the local Elder College and learned about ayurvedic herbs, like turmeric.  Besides a whole list of impressive benefits, turmeric is a mild digestive, always nice to have when you are eating a variety of foods like a smoothie contains.  Today's 'new' smoothie addition is the cardamom pod-- $150/k at our local health food store, so we didn't buy much (and it is light-weight).  You can read a little about it on the sidebar.  And of course, the lovely sweetening coconut shards and the rolled oats that get imbibers of Thickalicious smoothies through from breakfast to lunch without cravings!

METHOD:

Layer the following in your blender:

• 1/2 C. organic Rolled Oats
• 1 T. Chia Seed (ground with Cardamom in a Coffee Bean Grinder)
• 5-6 organic Green Cardamom pods (ground with Chia in a Coffee Bean Grinder)
• 1 tsp. Turmeric
• 1 C. Coconut Shreds (organic, unsweetened preferred)
• 1/2 C. Frozen Organic Mango
• 1 organic Banana, ripe, chunked
• 1/2 C. Frozen  Pineapple
• 1-2 Handfuls of Tender Green (what makes it a Green Smoothie)
• 2-? C. of Filtered Water
• small packet of Sweet Leaf Stevia or other sweetener of choice (optional)

Let it sit in the carafe for a few minutes just to allow some soaking by the seeds and oats.  Then whirl up and enjoy!