Smoothies That Will Make You Smile

Tags

almonds, apple juice, banana, blanched, blender, blitz, blueberries, bowl, breakfast, carrot, cashew nuts, chocolate bar, cold water, cored, creamy, cucumber, drink, five a day, fresh, Frozen, fruity blend of passion fruit, ginger, goji berries, green apple, green grapes, gym, home, hunger, kiwi, lemon, mango, mid-morning, mid-morning snack, minerals, office, on the go, orange, orange juice, peeled, pick me up, post workout boost, preparation, raspberries, recipe, seeds, sliced, smooth, smoothie, spinach, strawberries, sugary energy drink, Vitamin C, vitamins, warmth, worth it, zing

Whether they are part of your breakfast, a mid-morning snack or post workout boost, smoothies are a brilliant way to get vital vitamins and minerals into your body, and reach that five a day. They can be eaten at home, in the office, at the gym or even on the go, and are way better than grabbing a sugary energy drink or bar of chocolate when hunger strikes.

You don’t need fancy equipment or special powders to make a great smooth, and we have put together some recipes that prove this point.

The Tropical Treat
If you kick your day off with this fruity blend of passion fruit, mango, orange and banana, not only will you be on top of your five a day, but you’ll get a blast of vitamin C, too.

You will need:
3 passion fruits
1 banana, peeled and sliced
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
1 small mango, peeled, stoned and chopped (you can use frozen pieces too)
1 kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced
300ml of orange juice
Ice cubes

Scoop the passion fruit pulp into your blender, then add the chopped banana, mango and orange juice, blend with the ice cubes until smooth and drink immediately.

Go Green
This gorgeous green smoothie is great for breakfast on the go and also makes a great mid-morning pick me up.

You will need
1 banana, peeled and sliced
200g of fresh or frozen spinach, washed if fresh
1 handful of green grapes
1 green apple, cored but with skin left on
10 cm of cucumber, sliced with skin left on
250ml of apple juice
1 lime
Ice cubes

To make:
Put the banana and spinach in a blender and pour in the apple juice together with the spinach, grapes and apple, then blitz.
Cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice into the blender, then add the ice cubes and blitz all the mixture until smooth.

The Seed Smoothie
This is a great smoothie if you are hungry and while it takes a little preparation, it is so worth it.

You will need:
20g of cashew nuts
20g of blanched almonds
45g of mixed seeds
2 teaspoons of goji berries
1 banana, peeled and sliced
100g of raspberries and the same of strawberries
100g of blueberries
Water
A lemon
Ice cubes

To make:
The night before, put the cashews in a small bowl and pour over 100ml of cold water, then cover and leave to soak overnight.

In the morning, put the seeds and goji berries into the blender and blitz until you have a fine powder, then add the soaked cashews and almonds, then blitz again.

Next put in the raspberries, blueberries, strawberries as well as the banana in the blender, squeeze in half the juice of the lemon, plus the ice and blitz until smooth.

You can either drink straight away, or put in a flask and enjoy later.

Ginger and Orange Blitz
This is a really lovely smoothie with zing and warmth.

You will need:
A 2cm piece of fresh ginger
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
1 small mango, peeled, stoned and chopped (you can use frozen pieces too)
200ml of fresh orange juice
1 lime

To make:
Scrape the skin off the ginger, then finely grate into your blender and add in the carrot, mango and orange juice. Blitz, add the juice of the lime and the ice cubes, then blend until smooth and enjoy.

The Big Purple Smoothie
If you love your berries, you will love this smoothie which is perfect if you are peckish and don’t want to eat cake!

You will need:
1 cup of blueberries
1 cup of purple grapes
1 banana, peeled and sliced
8 strawberries, chop off the stalk
1 large banana, peeled and sliced
1 cup of almond or oat milk
2 teaspoons of honey
Ice cubes

To make:
Place all the ingredients in a blender and whizz until smooth and creamy. Pour into tall glasses and serve, or take with you to work in a vacuum cup.

Got a recipe you think we will like?

Send it over, we would love to try.

Team Pure Beauty

Clean eating recipes

Tags

apple, avocado, bay leaves, bean salad, blender, breakfast, can, carrot, cheese, chicken, chickpeas, chunky, coconut water, cucumber, cumin, dates, dinner, dressing, drizzle, garlic, heart, ice, ice cubes, joints, kale, kidney beans, lunch, mint, new potatoes, oven, pepper, pitta, pumpkin seeds, recipe, salad, sandwich, season, sesame seeds, slump, smoothie, spinach, strawberry, wholemeal

Last week we looked at getting to grips with the concept of clean eating. Today we are following on with some easy to make, delicious recipes so you can put theory into practice.

As we said, clean eating doesn’t have to be a radical departure from the way you eat today but a shift towards enjoying more the good stuff and dropping the less healthy, processed foods that can be so tempting.

Clean eating meals tend to be lower in salt, sugar and calories and because they don’t contain processed ingredients you know exactly what’s in the food you’re cooking.

So here we go with a breakfast, lunch and dinner option.

If you start the day the clean way, you’re more likely to carry on the same. This clean strawberry, avocado and mint smoothie is the perfect way to kick start your system.

You will need:

1 organic banana
2 cups fresh strawberries
3 teaspoons of fresh mint
1 avocado
2 pitted dates
1 cup of coconut water (mineral water if you prefer)
A few ice cubes

Put all the ingredients in your blender, whizz until smooth and enjoy. You can add a handful of organic oats to keep your fuller for longer and of course if you want to go green, blast some spinach or kale into the mix too.

A chunky, bean salad loaded with goodness and nutrients will not only protect your joints and heart but also stop that mid-afternoon slump a cheese and mayo packed sandwich can cause.

This is really simple but really filling and can be made the night before and taken to work.

You will need:

Small can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
Small can of kidney beans, rinsed and drained
Salad leaves of your choice
A large handful of fresh shredded carrot
One chopped apple
½ a red pepper, sliced
¼ cucumber chopped
1 tablespoon of pumpkin and sesame seeds

Mix these ingredients together then create a dressing from half the juice of a lemon, two teaspoons olive oil, a small teaspoon of ground cumin and a pinch of salt. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and enjoy with a wholemeal pitta.

A chicken and potato tray bake is a super-easy, totally tasty dinner that the whole family can enjoy together ad it is perfect when entertaining friends.

You will need:

4 large organic chicken thighs
3 tablespoons of olive oil
500g of organic new potatoes (halved)
1 organic, unwaxed lemon
140g green olives
8 bay leaves – preferably fresh rather than dried
6 cloves of garlic
Watercress and spinach salad to serve

Set your over to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Pour the oil into a roasting tin and add the potatoes, olives, lemon, bay leaves and garlic. Mix everything together and insure all ingredients are equally coated in the oil. Next add the chicken, skin-side up, season and put in the over for an hour. Check the potatoes are softening after one hour, then cook for another twenty minutes to ensure the meat is perfectly cooked. Serve with a salad and iced water with lemon and cucumber.

During the day enjoy healthy clean snacks, drink plenty of water and keep caffeine and alcohol to a minimum.

If you have a clean eating recipe, let us know about it.

Put soup on the menu this winter

Tags

anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, carrot, herbs, mushrooms, potato, soup, soya, spices

If someone convince you that one little pill taken three times a day throughout the ‘darker’ months would prevent you from falling prey to colds or flu would you take it? Of course you would. A really bad cold or, even worse the ‘flu’ is guaranteed to make you feel totally miserable, be forced to take time off work and see friends and family giving you a very wide berth while you suffer!

Studies continue to show that a deficiency of certain vitamins and minerals reduce our immune response and render us more prone to catching something but as cold and ‘flu’ viruses that sweep the globe each year are rarely the same as the previous year or the year before, there is unlikely to ever be one pill or vaccine that offers all-round protection so we are pretty much on our own on this one, I’m afraid!

However, there’s a lot we can do to up the ante and this is where soup can be our saviour!

Soup is so much more than just a warm and comforting bowl of deliciousness – a good soup is like a medicinal tonic, offering a whole host of natural, anti-viral goodies rich in immune-boosting micronutrients like folic acid, vitamins A, B6, C and E plus zinc, copper, iron and selenium. Not any old soup will do, however. It’s all about the ingredients and perhaps more importantly, the cooking method – the secret is in the simmering.

A great soup base makes for a great soup and a slow sauté over a very low heat until the vegetables used are soft (onions, leeks, garlic, celery, carrots and other roots) not only forms the basis of a really tasty soup but also helps the vegetables retain their disease-fighting nutrients. The addition of herbs and spices at this stage and another spell of slow simmering adds yet more immune-boosters. Thereafter, it’s simply a matter of slinging in all the other ingredients according to the cooking times required (e.g. beans, lentils, rice and other grains first, meat, poultry and game next and leafy greens and seafood last) until you have a pot of goodness you can’t wait to get your spoon into! The same goes for broths that involve meat, poultry or fish bones – keep it low and keep it slow for maximum protection!

Top foods with anti-viral, anti-bacterial, antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties to include in your soups:

• the onion family (red and white onions, leeks, shallots, garlic, spring onions, chives)
• roots (turnip, carrot, parsnip, celeriac, sweet potato, beets)
• mushrooms (whatever is in season but particularly shitake)
• greens (everything from lettuce to spinach – the darker green the better!)
• the citrus family (lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit)
• herbs and spices (everything from A to Z but particularly ginger and turmeric)
• bones (meat, poultry, game and fish)
• probiotics (yoghurt, kefir, buttermilk, fermented soya products)

For some excellent recipes take a look at Fiona Kirk’s website and be totally inspired and super-healthy this winter.