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Recipe: Spring Green Smoothie, New York and Goal Setting

Hello Spring Smoothie

Hello Spring Green Smoothie…

Spring has finally sprung here in the UK and I am so glad, not least because for the past five weeks, we’ve all been feeling really under the weather. Hence the lengthy blog silence, which I’m really sorry about. February started well. After lots of planning and packing, we spent a week in New York over half term with all three children, braving the chilliest weather there – literally arriving on the coldest day on record. I might have punctuated my trip with lots of visits to the Magnolia Bakery. We came back, extremely elated having had such a brilliant week, but somewhat exhausted…hence this spring green smoothie recipe.

New York
Did I mention it was cold in New York?!

After such a complete high, I think we hit the worst part of the year here for colds, coughs and viruses and we all got pretty sick. Pacing the floorboards through the night with a poorly baby also meant that I got hit the hardest and so it has taken me weeks to shake it off. Anyhow…..I’m determined to pick up the pace now that spring is finally here and banish those bugs for good, which is why I’m sharing this particular recipe today for my super-healthy Spring Green Smoothie.

I’ve probably discovered green smoothies a little too late into ‘virus season’ if I’m honest, but now that I have, they seem to be helping me feel slightly better than I have done over the last five weeks. This particular smoothie is made with apple, cucumber, banana, pak choi, baby spinach, pea shoots and a squeeze of lime. It works, trust me.

Green smoothies, or in fact, any smoothies are awesome for using up odd bits of fruit and veg that you have sitting around and you can experiment with all sorts of flavour combinations for any time of day. One of our favourite breakfast smoothies are these Healthy Hot Chocolate Smoothies, made with avocado, chia seeds, oats and dark chocolate, so don’t forget to give those a whizz, too. Another is this Goji Berry Beetroot Blast Smoothie, which includes a sprinkle of dried goji berries.  And if you like goji berries, but don’t like smoothies then I’d highly recommend these Coconut, Pistachio and Goji Berry Granola Bars from Packed (reviewed here).

What’s really good is that as I’m chopping up things for my smoothies, I’m handing bits of fruit and veg across to my nine- month old, so whilst he’s chewing, I’m blending! He loves cucumber, I think it helps his teeth.

Hello Spring Green Smoothi

Smoothies are one thing, goal setting is quite another, but stay with me on this one. Spring is actually the perfect time to try something new – whether it’s making a simple green smoothie or jumping into something slightly more challenging such as personal goal setting. I’ve been using vision boards to create and track my goals and ambitions for a number of years now.

Having something very visual (a vision board is basically a large sheet of paper with lots of inspiring images, photos and quotes stuck on) close to hand that you’ve thought about and created yourself, can really help to inspire you and keep you moving forward. In fact, on my very first vision board I predicted my career change from lawyer to mother to food writer. I even once stuck food pictures from Jamie Magazine onto my vision board and just a few weeks later began writing my features column for the JamieOliver.com site. Strange, but true! A trip to New York was also on one of my most recent vision boards…

Pinterest has really become the ultimate online vision board for many, but I find paper versions have an even better effect for those big life plans. If you want to create something really impressive at home, take a look at these cool mood boards – I really love the wooden panels.

Melanie’s Big Vision WorkShop

Next Sunday 29th March, I’ll be joining a group of participants at Loudwater Farm in Rickmansworth for a day called the Big Vision WorkShop. It’s a day dedicated to personal growth and development, aimed at helping you to really dig deep and focus on the sort of things that you want to bring into your future. I love workshops – not just cookery classes – and I’m really pleased to be involved in this one. If you’re ready for a day of creative fun and real personal progress why not join us?

I’ll be providing all the food and sustenance you’ll need for the day (including lots of green smoothies, soups, snacks and healthy salads) and Melanie will be guiding you through the process of goal setting and creating your unique vision boards. There’s much more to the day, too.

If you’re interested in finding out more, take a look at Melanie’s page (and generally inspirational website) here. There are still a few spaces left and if you do book a place, tell Mel I sent you and you’ll get a little bonus of some healthy cookery books thrown in, too!

Hello Spring Green Smoothie

Back to the super-green smoothie, I’m linking this post up to Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary who is hosting #ExtraVeg March on behalf of Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Michelle at Utterly Scrummy this month.

Extra Veg included – baby spinach leaves, pea shoots, pak choi.

Fact: Pea Shoots have seven times more vitamin C than blueberries! British pea shoots are awesome and are in season from about April, you could also try baby spinach, watercress, kale or a few wild nettles. You could use a handful of ‘spring greens’ as in, the cabbage variety, why not?

There have been plenty of soup and smoothie recipes keeping me inspired over on this blender Pinterest board and they’ve helped me make very good use of my Optimum 9400 Froothie Power Blender, too. You might remember my Beetroot and Kale Soup post here and Froothie review post here.

In the meantime, here’s the recipe for my simple Spring Green Smoothie that’s finally got me well enough to blog again!

ello Spring Green Smoothie

Recipe: Spring Green Smoothie

Ren Behan
A super-charged green smoothie designed to fight the bugs and get you fighting fit for the spring.
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 2 minutes
Cook Time 6 minutes
Total Time 8 minutes
Course Smoothie
Cuisine British
Servings 2
Calories 228 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • One apple skin on, sliced
  • One banana peeled, sliced
  • 4 slices cucumber unpeeled
  • A handful of greens - baby spinach pea shoots etc
  • Half a pak choi chopped
  • A squeeze of fresh lime
  • 150 ml fresh cold water

Instructions
 

  • Put all of the ingredients into a power blender (I use the Optimum 9400 Frooothie) and blend for 30-60 seconds on high, adding a little extra water if necessary to loosen until the mixture is smooth. Pour into a cup or glass and drink immediately. 

Notes

If you don't have a power blender and want to use a normal hand blender, peel and grate the apple and peel the cucumber to help things along.

Disclosure: I am an Ambassador for Froothie UK and was sent an Optimum 9400 Power Blender to use and review at home. All opinions are my own. Affiliate links included.

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5 Comments

  1. Oooh what a gorgeous recipe – perfect for this time of year! Thank you for sharing with Extra Veg!

  2. Hi Ren, glad your feeling a bit better. Into the healthy smoothies myself lately with my magic bullet that I got for Christmas. As we head into autumn here whizzed soups are going to be the go I think – I might leave out the banana in that case. Love the sound of the healthy hot chocolate too. So in favour of vision boards and they most certainly work! Wished I was closer as that goal setting workshop sounds very good.

    1. Ren Behan says:

      Hi Denise, lovely to hear form you. I’ve heard good things about the magic bullet! Glad you are enjoying some smoothies, too. Yes, I wish you lived closer! Ren

    1. Ren Behan says:

      Thanks Sally! Back on the wagon :-)))

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