Avo Tropical Custard Smoothie (Vegan, Gluten-Free)

Avo-Tropical Custard Smoothie-- drink it or spoon it! Yum!

Oh Yum! This Avo-Tropical-Custard-Smoothie is just the ticket if you are looking for something to consume that is refreshing and sweet (but not cloyingly so like the butter tarts and chockies you have eaten too many of over the holidays).  Besides the water, it is 100% fruit (including the avo and the coconut shreds).  I added a small packet of "Sweet Leaf" Stevia powder, but that was likely gilding the lily-- you could drink it fine without!  You could adapt it, too, by making it with coconut milk instead of water, and it would truly be a custard pudding effect then!  But here is the way I made it this morning:

• 1 C. Frozen Pineapple chunks (fresh would be great)
• 1/2   Ripe Avocado (flesh only, of course)
• 1/4 C. Coconut Shreds (unsweetened)
• 1 Ripe Banana
• Juice from 1 Fresh-squeezed Lime
• 1 "Sweet Leaf" Stevia Packet (no after-taste, no calories, no weird additives)
• Water to suit

Spin up and enjoy!
Click HERE to scroll other luscious Smoothie recipes containing Avocado

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!

Thickalicious Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Green Smoothie With *Benefits

This morning's smoothie was set up for my husband's jaunt off on his bike for a few miles and back.  It's sunny but cool.  He's just finished a Longevity class from the local ElderCollege and is keen on incorporating the Ayurvedic herbs into his daily diet. This Thickalicious Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Green Smoothie With *Benefits is a mouthful, in more ways than one.  Like my othersmoothies, this contains rolled oats to sustain him from hunger pangs on the trip, chia seed to give him great bursts of energy and perseverence, pineapple, banana, dates and coconut for that smacking good taste (and all those phyto-nutrients), and  ashwagandha and turmeric for the Ayurvedic *benefits: improved immune system, brain power, longevity!

Layer the following in a blender carafe (you might want to do two half-batches if you have a regular blender):

• 2 C. Frozen Pineapple chunks (or Fresh)
• 1 C. Rolled Oats (buy Gluten-Free if you are coeliac or sensitive to wheat / gluten)(Presoak in 1 C.of Water if you have the time)
• 1 Banana in chunks (Frozen is great)
• 6 Pitted Dates (I used Medjool but use what you like / can find)
• 1 T. Chia Seed ground in Coffee Grinder or 2 T. Chia Seed Gel http://techygran.hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Make-Chia-Seed-Gel-and-How-To-Use-It
• 1/4 C. Coconut Shreds
• 1 tsp. Ashwagandha mixed with 3 T.*Coconut Sugar or 1 packet of stevia
• 1 tsp. Turmeric
• Large handful Tender Greens of Choice
• 1 C. Filtered Water, or as much as you wish.  Letting the contents of the Carafe sit for about 15-30 minutes is a good idea for the chia (chia gel) and the oats.. makes digestion easier.

Whirl up and drink right away!  You are going to feel satisfied and won't be given to the usual cravings, probably right up until lunch time!

Valentine's Day Smoothie Recipes

photo from jeannewinters.blogspot.com

Doesn't Valentine's Day just go together with Smoothie like ? hmm... 'sweet' and 'fudge'?
So, this week, NO Smoothie-of-the-Week-- instead here are a whole pile of recipes for Smoothie of the Day (Valentine's, that is!)... Happy Birthday goes out to these Valentine Babies: Bernie, Malyn, Sheryl, Ashe, Bonnie-- all people I personally know and like!


I Heart You Strawberry Smoothies for Kids
Ben and Jerry Cherry Smoothie
Best Strawberry Smoothie Recipes
Chocolate Mint Smoothie
Coconut Mint Chocolate Chip Smoothie


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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 would really appreciate your feedback... please use the comment box below. You can also get SmoothieMoves Ezine delivered free through your email over the next year with 35 delicious, nutritious smoothie recipes by clicking here. To your better and better health, ~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

Sunshine-Shopping-Smoothie (Heaven)

I'm enjoying a terrific day here-- went shopping at the Sally Anne and came home with a stack of great fitness and gardening mags and a wonderful and recent Vita-Mix Whole Foods Recipes Book <--for 99 cents!

Then we had my all-time-favourite smoothie to date-- tasted like "summer in a glass":

• 4 ripe Apricots
• huge handful of fresh-from-the-garden Cilantro
• 1 C. + frozen organic Blueberries
• 3 frozen Bananas
• Liquid and Meat from a Young Thai Coconut
• 2 T. Ground Flaxseed (ground in coffee bean grinder)
• 4-6 oz. of Filtered Water

This recipe provided both my husband and I with about 20 oz. of sheer ambrosia.  Aren't Green Smoothies just the bomb?