Frozen Smoothie Pop Madness

     

This and other frozen smoothie recipes found HERE

Now that it is summer (well, in this part of the World), there is the usual desire for frosty summer treats to beat the heat!

While ice cream is ever-popular, there is also the great sweet heat-wave-contender in the popsickle. Today moms everywhere keep their freezers full of frozen pops of all descriptions... some humble kool-ade in ice cube trays and some more elaborate chunky fruity concoctions in specially-made frozen treat makers.

I know that frozen smoothies have already made into store coolers and I suspect that moms are making their own healthier versions at home (with less sugar and more love). So, here is my contribution to the delicious Frozen Smoothie Pop tradition.

These frozen smoothie treat recipes have no added artificial flavours, colours, or preservatives-- they are mostly without added sweeteners (it's up to you) and the ones they use have to be natural (organic sugar, honey, stevia, maple syrup)or they just don't pass-- absolutely NO commerical crap is allowed-- especially NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP.

Oh, and after you have tried a couple of these frozen smoothie pop recipes, come back here and experiment with some of the other smoothie recipes at Smoothie Moves. Please let me know how they work out as well!

Sweet Pumpkin Pie Smoothie (Thickalicious, Vegan, Gluten-Free)

When I was a child, pumpkin pie (with whipped cream or ice cream) was a dessert that my Grandma Sanders always contributed to the holiday meal.  Since I continue to love pumpkin pie but can't make pie crust to save my soul (perhaps fortunately), this lovely sweet pumpkin pie smoothie is a great tribute to that great tradition!

Ingredients:

1/2 C. Rolled Oats (Gluten-free variety, if you are wheat-sensitive)
1 T. ground Chia Seed (Grind in the Coffee Bean grinder)
2 cups Almond Milk
1 cup frozen Banana chunks
1/2 cup Ice
3/4 cup canned organic Pumpkin (unsweetened)
2 organic Mandarin oranges, segmented, seeded if they have seeds
1 Tbsp. Maple Syrup
1+ tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice or a mix of Cinnamon/Nutmeg to suit you

Method:

1. Put the Oats and the Chia Seed into the blender carafe first and then pour in the Almond Milk, letting the Oats and Chia soak for 15 minutes or longer.  Their rehydration really helps with digestibility.
2. Put other ingredients in to the carafe and spin up for as long as it takes to produce a nice silk-blended smoothie.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Here are the other 6 Christmas Smoothie Recipes for you to sample!

Cranberry-Apple, Green Grape and Chia Christmas Smoothie

Cranberry Lassi with Coconut Milk, Cumin, Chia and Ginger Smoothie

Mandaringo-Ginger Smoothie

Christmas Cake Smoothie

Luscious Eggless Nog Smoothie

Chocolate-Mint Smoothie

Smoothie of the Week: Pumpkin Howl

courtesy of JillWellington at Pixaby

Pumpkin Howl is just a real scary name for a delectable 'pumpkin pie' type smoothie. I think you'll love it:

Put the following in your blender canister:

• Meat and Liquid from one Young Thai Coconut (or 12 oz of Coconut Water)
• 1/2 C. of canned Organic pumpkin puree
• 4 soaked dates (pit removed) or Stevia to taste or Maple Syrup to taste
• Cinnamon (1/2 teaspoon or as desired)

(makes enough for two adult portions)  

Bwahahahahahah

Apple Cider Green Smoothie

Mmmmm.... Apples are definitely a nice clean crisp fall fruit choice for smoothies.  And they 'warm up' with a couple of shakes of cinnamon or cardamom... as you wish.  

When I was a kid and went out trick'n'treating I remember the smell of MacIntosh apples being crunched into in the cool (sometimes frigid lol)night air. 

 I grew up where we didn't grow big apples (just crabapples and small tart pie apples)-- the MacIntosh of that day was such a treat!  Well, on the weekend at the Farmer's Market in Steveston, we picked up some "old fashioned" MacIntosh and some Ambrosia, great locavore varieties.  Organic, of course-- apples are highly sprayed fruits so please buy organic... if you scrimp on the cost of other fruits, buy something like oranges that have a thicker skin.  

Here is a perfectly delightful and tasty Apple Cider Green Smoothie, all made up in your blender... no dairy (yogurt, etc.) and really just 3 ingredients (besides water) to give you a real clean start to your day or to refresh you somewhere along in your day... you really can't miss with apples for taste and nutrition!

Put the following in your high speed blender:
*2 Tasty organic Apples (not too soft), cored and chopped, but with skin still on
*Chopped organic Celery, including the leaves (cut off the bottoms)
*2 shakes good quality Cinnamon powder, or perhaps Cardamom seed ground in your coffee bean grinder
*2 C. Filtered Water, more or less, as you desire
(you might choose to add 1 T. Braggs Apple Cider-- with the "mother" in it-- and perhaps 1 T. Maple Syrup for extra enzymes)

Whirl up and go climb a tree!

Did you know that....

• apple, like other fruits, is 'antidepressant'?  Try it-- feeling down? Grab an apple and munch!
• pectin-- soluble fibre-- in an apple slows down the release of sugars into the bloodstream and thus controls insulin levels... the apple is a pancreas-friendly fruit
• by lowering insulin levels, the pectin also reduces cholesterol levels
• the antioxidant activity in one medium-size apple with skin is equal to 1500 mg of Vitamin C.  Studies show that both human liver cancer cells and human colon cancer cells are inhibited in growth by the application of apple extracts in vitro
• people eating lots of apples have lower rates of lung cancer than those who don't
• Quercetin, a flavenoid in apples, is found right under the skin, so don't peel your apples to get the most benefit from eating them

~facts above from AtoZ of Health, Beauty and Fitness 


This smoothie information is for you-- it's my bias-- so please see your own health care professional before making any health-related decisions. If you found anything useful, intriguing, or have questions, I would really appreciate your feedback... please use the comment box below. To your better and better health, ~Cynthia

Smart Pineapple Sage Smoothie (vegan)

Salvia elegans, photographed at the San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum- Wikipedia, Eric Hunter, cc-

Okay, I've been wondering this all summer: what would a green smoothie with sage in it taste like? More specifically, what would a green smoothie with some of my abundant pineapple sage (Salvia elegans) in it taste like?  It smells like pineapple, it tastes slightly like pineapple and a lot like a mild version of the sage you put in your Christmas turkey.  I'm thinking it will have a sharp bitter flavour that will punch through any fruity flavours.  I decide to give it a try anyhow.

Ingredients:

• Water drained from 1 Young Thai Coconut (gel/meat reserved for another recipe)
• Handful of cleaned (with water) Pineapple Sage Leaves
• 2 Bananas
• 1/4 C. Organic Shredded Coconut (unsweetened)
• Dash of Cinnamon (optional)
• Filtered Water - as much as you want (1-2 Cups?)

Whirl up the above in your blender.  

Result: Actually, this is one of the mildest, sweetest Green Smoothies I've ever made. I may try it again and only use 1 banana.  It tastes very tropical.  I think some fresh pineapple would be very nice in this as well.  Sage is an herb with many ascribed natural healing properties.  Go here to read an interesting article from that perspective (also a recipe for Pineapple Sage Pound Cake). 

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This smoothie information is for you-- it's my bias-- so please see your own health care professional before making any health-related decisions.

 To your better and better health, 

 ~Cynthia

Smoothie of the Week: Sweet Beet Smoothie

I've been dehydrating beets this week... tediously slicing and then when they are dry, grinding up the chips in a wee coffee grinder (don't get me wrong, I like doing everything the hard way lol). So now I have a fair amount of 'beet powder'. I know about the idea for instant borsch, and it's a good one, but I also thought of what I could do to augment smoothies with beet powder. Here is the delicious result of that pondering:

Combine the following in your Vitamix carafe:

• 2 T. Organic "Raw" Beet Powder (dehydrated beets at less than 115 degrees) OR 2 C. cooked beets
• 4 C. filtered Water
• 1 Banana
• 2 Lg. Handfuls of Kale leaves
• 1 Braeburn Apple, cored
• 1-2 T. "raw" Organic Apple Cider Vinegar

Blend until smooth and yummy!  The beet fibre will stimulate your body's production of glutathione-S-transferase, an enzyme that speeds the liver's removal of fat-trapping toxins.  

The phytonutrient betaine in beets will soothe chronic inflammation and will also suppress the output of the belly fat-storing stress hormone, cortisol.  

The apple cider vinegar's acetic acid switches on genes that are key to creating fatty acid oxidation enzymes.  These enzymes block the storage of incoming dietary fat and break down and eliminate almost 10% of existing stored body fat.  You might want to try the "Apple Cider Vinegar" diet as a result of having enjoyed this delicious smoothie... go here to read more.

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This smoothie information is for you-- it's my bias-- so please see your own health care professional before making any health-related decisions. If you found anything useful, intriguing, or have questions, I appreciate your feedback... please use the comment box below. ~Cynthia

Smoothie of the Week: Coconut-Peach Punch

Peach Smoothie @pixabay

This is my absolute favourite green smoothie in a long time.  If you are new to the 'green' in a green smoothie, you might be surprised by the ingredients... but keep your mind open... I think you'll be surprised!  It's fair to preface the recipe with a few other ideosyncratic details of my own: I freeze all my fresh fruit and berries and then I don't have to use ice cubes.  Sometimes I will throw in unfrozen, fresh off the vine fruits, but quite often not.  The peaches in this recipe were peeled by hand (they were that ripe) and sliced and put into a medium freezer baggie (I also really like to use mason jars in the freezer, but more for berries).  I hack about 1/8 of the resulting block off-- maybe a couple of peaches.  We'll go with that.

All smoothie recipes have a "you-decide" quality-- you can decide if you want more or less or different ingredients!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 peaches, cut in sections (no pit)
• 4-6 ribs of celery, including leaves
• 2-3 frozen bananas
• 1 coconut, water and meat (or a small container of coconut water from the store)
• Water to the top of the blender container, or as much as you wish

Whirl up to heavenly smoothness.  Drink.  Enjoy!

This smoothie information is for you-- it's my bias-- so please see your own health care professional before making any health-related decisions. If you found anything useful, intriguing, or have questions, I would really appreciate your feedback... please use the comment box below.
To your better and better health, ~Cynthia

Smoothies for Health

Smoothies are made by combining fresh fruit and/or veggies and/or other healthy stuff with a liquid (I go for water or coconut water most of the time).  My husband and I mostly drink what are called GREEN SMOOTHIES.  We make them ourselves in a heavy-duty blender called a VitaMix although there are certainly other heavy-duty blenders that do a good job, and there are actually cheap-o blenders you can pick up at the Sally Ann Thrift store that will serve you well enough (they may just break down earlier).  The chief advantage of the VitaMix is that it will rupture the plant cells in a few seconds and create a smoooooooth blended drink without strings and chunks and other things we sometimes come across in less powerful blenders.  However, in a less rugged blender you can still get the task done: simply run things through in several smaller batches and then re-combine when they are to the smoothness of your liking.

Some Questions that have come up about Green Smoothies include:
Q: Why do you add greens to your smoothie?  Doesn't that make it taste...um... bad?

>The delicate, mineral-dense greens that one adds to a Green Smoothie are generally over-ridden in taste by the intense flavour of whatever fruit you have added.  Use a 60% fruit to 40% greens ratio.  In putting together her thesis for the greens going into a Green Smoothie, Victoria Boutenko researched what the strongest, healthiest vegetarian mammals in their natural habitat, the gorilla, eat--  not only bananas, as some might think, but about 60% of their food is greens-- branches, grasses, etc.  A chimpanzee eats similarly in nature.  While humans generally begin to look older as they enter their mature years, an elderly chimp (35-60 years old) often is indiscernable from an adolescent chimp in her/his early teens.  Diet certainly has a lot to do with longevity.  Boutenko and others point to the high mineral bio-availability of greens that are well-chewed.  They are easily digested, full of chlorophyl and digestive enzymes, and the perfect match for a delicious, nutritious fruit.  Because most of us have weak jaws or compromised teeth, it is difficult for us to chew the greens and rupture open their cell walls as a chimp is able to do.  However, we now have these fabulous blenders to make up for our deficient jaws!

And yes, some people are called "tasters" and will find the flavour of the various greens unpleasant for sure-- so it is a good idea to up the fruit ratio until you no longer feel ill with the taste of the greens.  Victoria Boutenko herself said that she felt like vomiting when she first began to drink "green" drinks.  But, hang in there, because the health benefits far, far outweigh any unpleasant initial reactions.
Q: What about food combining?  I heard you're not supposed to eat vegetables and fruits at the same time... isn't that what you are doing with green smoothies? 
>I know that I sound like I'm chronically quoting Victoria, but she is the woman in the know.... she states that she sees "greens" as a category separate from vegetables and fruits... its own new category.  When blended up in the VitaMix or other high speed blender, the greens perfectly combine with the fruit-- no worries about indigestion.  I do practice a couple of precautions: when I use melon (cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew) I use it with greens, water and nothing else.  I know that cucumber is in the same family as melons but I don't seem to have any issues with using it with other things like tomatoes, garlic, and other ingredients in a "blended salad"....which I think I will have for supper! 
So, that's it for today!  Just screw up your courage and pick a fruit and some greens to try with some water, 60-40.  Blend until smooth and enjoy! If you are used to a lot of processed sugars, you could use a little Stevia, but you will be amazed at how quickly your body will adjust to cutting down on, and eventually out, processed sugars, table salt, etc.. SMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSSMSMSM

This smoothie information is for you-- it's my bias-- so please see your own health care professional before making any health-related decisions. If you found anything useful, intriguing, or have questions, I would really appreciate your feedback... please use the comment box below.  

To your better and better health, ~Cynthia

Smoothie of the Week: Blueberry Breakfast Bomb Green Smoothie (vegan)

This morning my breakfast smoothie was sooo fantastic-tasting that I thought I had better pass the recipe along before I forget:

Into the blender canister, add the following:

*1 large cup frozen organic Blueberries

*1/2 C. Chia Gel*

*2 scoops Vanilla protein powder (there are lots out there-- my husband buys Brendan Brazier's Vega brand)

*1 organic Banana (peeled of course)

*Large Handful of Fresh Parsley (leaves & stems)

*About 4 C. of Filtered Water (or 2 C. Water, 2 C. nut milk)

To make Chia seed Gel, place 1/4 Cup of whole chia seeds in a quart mason jar and add water to the top. Stir until the seeds are dispersed. Let absorb the water for at least 15- 20 minutes. Stir again. Put on lid and keep in the fridge to use with other recipes. Provides a high source of protein (4 gm in an ounce), fibre, calcium, magnesium, and more Omega3's than any other plant source, including flax seed. Use the "whole seeds" and not milled seeds. There is some indication that milled seeds lack the nutrients.

This is a 'green smoothie' but it turns out purple because of the blueberries (they are almost always the dominant color-maker). Position the 2-piece VitaMix lid securely and then start the VitaMix on low, increasing the speed gradually, and ending by flipping over into the highest speed until homogenized (about 1 1/2 minutes?). You can use a regular blender, but it will just take longer-- pulsing to break the stuff up helps. Enjoy!