Cranberry Lassi with Coconut Milk, Cumin, Chia and Ginger (Vegan, Gluten-Free)

This delicious, delightful Cranberry Lassi  is the sixth "Christmas Smoothie" in our series of 7 Daily Christmas Smoothies.

A Lassi is an Indian drink generally made with cultured milk, either yogurt or kefir, and flavours from the 5 basic groups: salty, pungent, sour, sweet and bitter.  If you are not vegan/dairy adverse, you could use either of these for the coconut milk/lime juice in following the recipe.  Seeing cumin and cayenne (or chili powder) in a more or less dessert-y type smoothie is a bit of a shock, or was for me.  But the combination, in concert with the bitter cranberries, is just perfect (my husband thinks so).  I used a recipe for cranberry chutney for ideas of workable blends, but you will be happy to recognize that I did not include garlic or an entire chili pepper.

Cumin has been used throughout history in perfume-making, so you can attribute the lovely fragrance partly to that, and partly to the ginger (a wonderful digestion-helper) and other ingredients.  I was left with a very nice after-taste and a warming feeling.  This is not a drink to bolt down, but to savour over a family get-together early in the morning.

Cranberry Lassi 

 This makes about two (2) good-sized Adult servings.
 Put the following in your Blender Carafe:
* 2 C. Coconut Dream (or similar ready-to-drink Coconut Mylk)
* 1+C. Fresh or Frozen Cranberries (Frozen berries act like ice cubes)
* 1 tsp. Chia Seed (ground in Coffee Grinder)
* 1 tsp. Cumin Seed (ground in Coffee Grinder)
* 1 Small Handful Unsweetened Coconut Shreds
* Fresh-squeezed Lime Juice (1/2 Lime)
* 1 tsp. Grated fresh Ginger
* 3 T. Coconut Palm Sugar
* 1 packet Stevia "Sweet Leaf" powder (Optional)
* Pinch of Salt (I use Celtic Sea Salt for the 82 minerals)
* Pinch of Cayenne or Chili pepper
Merry Christmas!  Happy Holidays!

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

Cranberry-Apple, Green Grape and Chia Christmas Smoothie

Mandaringo-Ginger Smoothie

Christmas Cake Smoothie

Luscious Eggless Nog Smoothie

Sweet Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Chocolate-Mint Smoothie

Green Smoothie Recipes for A Cleanse

           

Today is Day #2 of a 7-Day Raw Vegan Cleanse and I got to eat 3 lovely, fruity meals, two of which were smoothies. Each smoothie recipe is pretty plain-jane and easy to digest as a result. No nut milks, seeds, or any superfoods, supplements or fats of any sorts. I feel very balanced and ready for a good sleep. But if you are interested in checking them out, here they are in their delicious simplicity:

Banana-Cilantro Green Smoothie
*Blend up 1 Frozen Banana and a bunch of Cilantro with as much water (40 oz. for me) as you would like... the less water, the thicker it is. Remember to chew that smoothie!

Kiwi Kiss Green Smoothie
*Blend together 1 handful of Baby Spinach, 2 peeled Kiwi, 2 large Strawberries, 1 Frozen Banana, Water. This is really tasty-- maybe because Kiwi fruit already has a sort of strawberry flavour?

Just picked up a few tips about hanging in with this raw vegan cleanse and warding off the cravings for cooked food:
*Only spend a few seconds thinking about the cooked foods you crave
*Focus on thinking about your favourite raw foods and what you like about them
*Think about how you feel when you eat that special raw food
*Vision what you will look like (feel) when you are eating a 100% pure raw plant-based diet

This smoothie information is for you-- it's my bias-- so please see your own health practitioner to answer questions.  

To your better and better health, 

 ~Cynthia

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

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?