Delicious, nutritious smoothie

January is a great time to whack out the blender and detox with nutritious and delicious smoothies (but beware they do contain a lot of sugar) - and lucky for you, this one doesn't contain spinach or kale like my other recipes - although if you want a green kick then feel free to throw some in for extra nutrition!

I'm using Juice Plus Complete vanilla shake powder in mine as a nutritional supplement, so if you are a Juice Plus user then this is a great smoothie recipe for you, but most of you who don't have this, this smoothie is just as fab on its own and has a lovely sweet flavour - with four different fresh fruits, what could be a better way to start your day, or as a nutritious snack!?

Makes 1 large smoothie (about 500ml)

- 3-4 spoonfuls of low fat natural yogurt

- 1 banana, sliced

- 2 pineapple rings, chopped, plus some of the juice (use tinned pineapple)

- handful of blueberries (fresh or frozen)

- handful of raspberries (fresh or frozen)

- half a scoop of Juice Plus Complete vanilla flavour (optional)

- about 100ml of cold water (depending on how thick you like your smoothie)

1. Add the yogurt to the blender, then add the banana, pineapple (plus some of the juice) and the berries.

2. Add the Juice Plus powder if using (or any other supplement like protein etc.)

3. Top off with the cold water then blend for a minute, or until completely smooth!

Enjoy :)

Smoothie & pumpkin seed hype

So I am a massive fan of making smoothies and although they're not always super 'healthy' since they are loaded with sugar from fruit, they are still a great way to get some good nutrients in and I love that you can put absolutely anything you want in them!

Below I have linked two smoothie recipes I have posted before, the pineapple and spinach one I particularly love and it is nearly always the one I go for when making a smoothie. It has such great, tangy flavour from the pineapple and you get all the goodness from the spinach and oooof just is too good.
http://eatrainbowlove.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/pineapple-and-spinach-smoothie.html
http://eatrainbowlove.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/peach-and-raspberry-smoothie.html

My boyfriend has got a new blender recently which he is obsessed with so we've been making a lot of great smoothies. One of our favourites has had pumpkin seeds in which I've recently discovered and love (what have I been doing this whole time!?) - they make smoothies more filling and add a new dimension of flavour. Plus they are a great source of fibre so you can't really go wrong. I also expected them to be quite pricey since nuts and seeds tend to be, but I got these from Lidl and they weren't bad at all and they seem to last ages so I would definitely pick some up. You can also use them in baking, add them to cereal or yogurt etc.

Makes 2
- 2 bananas, broken into smaller pieces,
- big glug of almond (or soya) milk 
- 4 heaped tbsp of low fat natural yogurt
- big handful of frozen berries
- big handful of pumpkin seeds
- big handful of spinach (optional)

(Sorry nothing is very specific - the good thing about smoothies is you can add as much of anything as you want)

Another one we tried was a garlic smoothie which was a shock to the taste buds as you can imagine. Lets just say it kept the vampires away... But, garlic is really good for the immune system as well as many other things, so eating it raw is the best way to benefit from it. We used the same recipe as above but just added two cloves of garlic (one each) and a bit of honey as well. It was so strong! So I wouldn't recommend it if you want to sit back and enjoy your smoothie, but if you want a good detox, health-kick smoothie then that is the one!

I also made a garlic smoothie recently but replaced banana with pineapple hoping it would mast some of the garlic flavour but I was very wrong...

Hope you try out some of these ideas and jump on the pumpkin seed bandwagon! Just to prove how much I love them, here is a picture of the breakfasts I've been having

It's bran flakes, dried fruit (raisins, sultanas and cranberries), pumpkin seeds and soya milk - so delicious!

Enjoy :)

Apple and plum crumble

Firstly, sorry for the bad photo quality - if you read my welcome back post it explains why and I will put more effort into making them more appealing! This was a delicious dessert, perfect for a winter evening. I'm not a huge crumble fan but I do love it every once in a while and it's a lot of fun to make.

Serves 2-3
- 400g apples, peeled, cored and slices
- 400g plums, stones removed and quartered
- 100g demerara/brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp water (add more if needed)

- 75g butter
- 150g self raising flour
- 100g brown sugar

1. To make the filling, add the apples, plums, sugar, cinnamon and water to a pan and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 20-30 minutes, are until stewed. Spoon into a baking dish.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.
3. To make the crumble topping, simply rub together the butter and flour with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs, then mix in the sugar.
4. Press down the crumble topping onto the fruit until compact. Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes, or until hot in the middle and golden brown - serve warm with cream!

Enjoy :) 

Pineapple and spinach smoothie

I know it doesn't sound or look particularly appetising (hence the snazzy bit of pineapple on the side trying to improve it...) but don't turn your nose up at it until you try it! It honestly does taste pretty good, although you have to like the texture of smoothies to enjoy this. I usually opt for really sweet, berry smoothies, and although this does contain berries, it isn't as sweet as I usually prefer. Having said that, I will definitely make this again as I love the tang the pineapple gives, and I love knowing how nutritious it is - perfect if you're having a detox day. It sounds weird, but you really can taste all the ingredients individually, yet they taste delicious together. I got the idea of putting pineapple and spinach together from Jordan's workout DVD, believe it or not - her nutritionist makes a juice with those 2 main ingredients, alongside tons of other fruit & veg.

Ingredients (makes 1 large glass)

- 2-3 heaped tbsp natural yogurt

- 80g frozen strawberries & blueberries (or any berries)

- 2 rings fresh pineapple, cut into chunks

- big handful of spinach

- few splashes of water (depending on how thick/runny you want it)

Put the yogurt into the blender first with the berries and blend. Add the pineapple, spinach and water and blend until smooth. Taste and add more of anything if necessary.

Enjoy :)

Berry smoothie

Smoothies are so simple to make at home, deliciously healthy, and so much cheaper than buying cartons from the supermarket like Innocent Smoothies.

They are perfect for breakfast, a snack/drink, or for dessert!

Ingredients:
- Skimmed milk
- Natural yogurt
- Banana
- Fresh berries (I used strawberries)
- Frozen berries (I used blueberries, raspberries and strawberries)
- Honey
- Oats

Tips:
- Make sure you add the wet ingredients to the blender first (milk and yogurt) so nothing gets stuck. I will usually add milk, yogurt and banana, and blend until mixed, then add the berries and mix, then add honey to taste until it is sweet enough.
- Oats can be added to make the smoothie more filling and thick, but can often change the flavour so they are optional depending on what you like.
- The good thing about smoothies is you don't need exact quantities - you can add as much of each ingredient as you like depending on the texture or flavour that you want! I usually use 1 medium-large banana and then work the other quantities around it. That should make 2 smoothies - like in the picture.
- If you aren't using any frozen berries then add some crushed ice so it's nice and cold!

Other smoothie ideas:
- To alter the flavours, most ingredients can be kept the same (banana, milk and yogurt) and you can just change the fruit, for example using kiwis or pineapple etc.
- You can also buy flavoured yogurt, which I try and stay away from as it tends to be higher in sugar/sweeteners, but it is good occasionally. I used Onken peach yogurt once which was delicious with strawberries!
- Pretty much anything can be blended - all fruits which is obviously the healthy option, but other ingredients like chocolate and nuts could work, and try adding different things to change the sweetness/flavours like jam.

Nutritious breakfast

One thing you need to know is that i LOVE eggs! I will usually have them soft boiled on wholemeal and/or seeded toast, but they're amazing on english muffins for a treat. The reason I usually choose soft-boiled is because i love how they can taste so creamy and rich, particularly from the yolk, without anything extra - no oil, no butter; just good old eggs boiled in water! It can be, however, difficult to time them to the right amount of boiled that you like, and difficult to peel them when they're soft.

Scrambled egg also make a nutritious breakfast - combine with skimmed milk, some margarine and some herbs mmm.

I try to alternate between having eggs one morning and cereal the next, as the yolk is fairly fatty and contains cholesterol, although i'm sure eggs have more health benefits than drawbacks so i don't worry too much about this.

I stay away from sugary cereal and try to stick to filling whole wheat or bran ones like branflakes or shredded wheat. I have noticed recently, however, than branflakes are quite high in sugar. I therefore bought cornflakes the other day which are low in sugar but have noticed that they don't fill me up nearly as much (i guess cause they're corn and not bran?) I also love special k but can get a bit addicted to it!
I have my cereal with skimmed milk because to me it tastes the same as semi with cereal, and it's less fat so win win! In the case of shredded wheat though, for some reason i only like that heated up in the microwave with milk and honey mm.

I really want to get into porridge in the near future as it is so filling, and warming especially in winter. I would probably vary making it with water or skimmed milk depending on what flavours i was adding, if any.

I love cinnamon sprinkled on things, and in porridge it would be delicious - maybe even with chunks of warm apple in as well.

I am a huge fan of honey which would work perfectly with porridge but i get a bit carried away with it (i love it with everything...) and would have to be careful not to make it too sugary, as it defeats the point of the healthy, nutritious breakfast.

I would definitely recommend buying plain porridge oats rather than the ready flavoured ones - like Quakers cinnamon or golden syrup etc. It would work out far cheaper to buy plain and add your own flavours, and that way you can mix it up daily instead of having to use up a dozen of the same flavours.

Other flavours I would want to try would be slicing bananas with it, adding blueberries, or sweetened dried fruits like cranberries or raisins.

If you are on a healthy diet I would recommend putting as much effort into breakfast as possible as it really should be the most nutritious and filling meal of the day - it starts off your metabolism for the day which is key for tackling any weight loss.


Just having fruit would not be enough for breakfast, but if you really want to block out carbs (which isn't the best idea...) then i would suggest teaming the fruit with some low fat natural yogurt, which is delicious and you can add so many flavours! Likewise if you want to make a smoothie make sure it consists of fruit like berries and a more satisfying fruit like banana to thicken, as well as low fat yogurt or milk, maybe some fruit juice, and adding oats in to keep you full for longer is also a good idea!

Anyway, i will definitely be doing more specific posts on natural yogurt and smoothies in the future because yogurt is one of my favourite healthy night time snacks, especially with blueberries and cinnamon.


Hope you start your day in a satisfying, healthy and delicious way :)