Today, we will be talking about smoothies,
and also talking about frozen fruits and vegetables. With the COVID situation,
one way to minimalize trips to the grocery store is by stocking up on frozen
produce, so that you’re not dealing with veggies and fruit going bad before you
use it all. Plus, while fresh fruits and veggies are your best option when it
is the right season, sometimes frozen fruits and veggies can be even more
nutritious. They’re picked right when they’re ripe and then immediately frozen,
instead of being picked before they’re ripe so that they can then be shipped to
your grocery store. The one thing to keep in mind with frozen is that as soon
as you boil frozen vegetables and then drain them, you’ve greatly diminished
their nutritional value versus if you steam or saute them. In general, though, frozen
is a much more nutritious way to go than canned vegetables.
So I’m going to outline the components of ‘The Green Monster Smoothie’ which is provided by Angela Liddon from the “Oh She Glows” Cookbook. This recipe was the first one I made that got me hooked on smoothies, but there are a ton of variations of smoothie recipes out there that are also delicious and healthy. I recommend checking out Angela Liddon’s “Oh She Glows” blog and her two cookbooks. Here is a link to this same recipe on her blog: https://ohsheglows.com/2011/01/13/classic-green-monster/
You can find the cookbooks in our library here.
While this recipe makes the equivalent of
one smoothie, it can be doubled and half can be set aside for future mornings
if need be.
It starts with 1 cup of milk. Angela uses Almond,
and I have recently made a habit of buying dairy milk for my coffee because I
like the taste but also buying either almond milk or oat milk for my
smoothies. Non-dairy kinds of milk tend to have a much later expiry date than dairy, so
it can mean you can go longer between grocery store visits. This also counts
towards using milk for baking – you can’t taste the milk right in the baking so
it makes sense to use non-dairy if you don’t want to go out and get more milk
right away. One reason I promote oat milk is that oats (in the case of
Albertans) are created close to home, and require a lot less water to grow than
almonds.
The next ingredient is 1 large frozen
Banana. I peel bananas and put them in containers where I can separate them out
into individual bananas or halves, so I can easily grab one for a smoothie.
Obviously, you can also use them to make banana bread or other banana recipes,
and you can also make banana ice cream (2 bananas, ¼ cup milk, and a bit of
vanilla and cinnamon).
The next ingredient is 1 cup of destemmed
Spinach, or kale leaves. I buy fresh spinach and then freeze it in a big bag
where the individual leaves can be separated out. Wonderful to add to smoothies
– and smoothies often call for ice so it’s nice to add frozen items for more of
a smoothie/milkshake texture. A word about adding greens to smoothies: I find
that you can toss in a ton of spinach and not taste it. One time I tried
tossing in a bunch of kale, and could definitely taste it. When adding other
greens, add a few at a time (or else stay very close to what a recipe says you
should include for greens) to make sure the whole smoothie doesn’t taste like
it. Plus if your blender is not a super strong Ninja or Vitamix or something
similar, spinach will be more likely to blend.
The next ingredient is 1 tbsp natural
peanut butter or almond butter. I’m not a big fan of ‘natural, salt-free sugar-free’ peanut butter spread on toast, but in a smoothie, it works great and saves
you the salt and sugar.
The next ingredient is 1 tbsp chia seeds or
ground flax seeds. I buy a chia seed/flax seed/hemp seed mix from bulk barn,
and I love that it provides a range of nutrients to my smoothies.
Pinch of ground cinnamon: Cinnamon is one
of the best ways to add amazing flavours to smoothies or baking or even to
sprinkle on fruit, in comparison to something like sugar.
In her book, Angela also includes ¼ tsp
pure vanilla extract.
Angela’s recipe mentions that you could add
1 scoop of your favourite protein powder, but I don’t know a lot about the world
of protein powder so I’m going to leave that one alone.
The last optional ingredient that Angela
mentions you can add to this smoothie is blueberries. Sometimes I freeze my own
if I buy too many, especially during the times of the year when they’re ripe and
ridiculously cheap at the grocery stores. Blueberries will make this recipe not
come out so bright green, but rather a purple-ish hue. I’m not as big a fan of
‘mixed berries’ but some people swear by them for adding to their oatmeal
especially in the winter.
All that’s left is to blend it all together
until it is smooth.
Other things I keep frozen in my house at
all times:
Cherries. One of my favourite smoothies to
make is ‘black forest’ where you combine cherries and cocoa powder in the
smoothie for a decadent treat. Cherries can also be either heated or thawed to
enjoy on their own but do not retain sweetness as though they were fresh.
Broccoli. I’ve learned recently you can
blanche broccoli (so steam it for a few seconds and then submerge in cold water
to stop the cooking process) and then freeze it, but currently, I buy it frozen.
Sometimes I add it to broccoli cheese soup but I don’t eat a ton of fresh
broccoli all to myself.
Peas and/or edamame beans. So easy to add
to a salad or soup or even pasta recipe.
Green beans. Another tasty one for a soup
or salad.
Corn! Soup, salads, eggs, I love adding a
bit of corn to everything for a bit of nutrition and colour.
Avocado…I tried buying frozen avocado
recently since it drives me crazy that fresh avocado can have such a short
shelf life. In the end, I didn’t really like adding it to dishes I would
usually add avocado, like salads because the texture became quite mushy by the
time the avocado thawed. However, throwing some into a smoothie was great! Added
creaminess and nutrients.
Squash. I recently bought butternut squash
frozen so I could toss it in a soup. Means no peeling, roasting, and cutting up
the squash, and means it’s ‘in season’ whenever you need it instead of being
limited. This does limit the types of squash recipes you can make (such as
roasted), but the soup recipe I used the squash in called for 1 squash, 1 cup
vegetable broth, and 2 tsp yellow curry powder. It doesn’t get any easier than
that!
Alternatively, If you’re worried about
produce going bad, make batches of soup and freeze them.