Five Glorious Whole-Food Smoothies

By the Gracious Vegan

Delicious whole-food smoothies that are fast to make have eluded me for a long time. Either the easy recipes didn’t taste great, or the great-tasting recipes take too long. So I went at it myself and focused on a balance between taste and simplicity. I used only dried powdered spices and kept the base recipe the same for five variations. You’ll see a 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric in each variation. It’s so healthy for you and adds some nice yellow color. Cinnamon and ginger also bring a lot of antioxidants to the party. You can add any number of other superfoods (flaxseed meal, chia seeds or meal, hemp seeds, etc.) as you wish.

Makes a 2-cup smoothie

Base ingredients. Add the ingredients to the blender (either a bullet-type blender or regular blender) and blend on high for 20-60 seconds or until desired smoothness is reached. Add more water if too thick.

• 1 banana, sliced and frozen (whenever a bunch of bananas is ripe, I slice up each one and spread out the slices in a bag or container so they don’t freeze in a clump)

• 1/2 cup non-dairy milk

• 1/2 cup water

• Sweetener: 1-2 Tablespoons date paste, 1/2-1 Tablespoon maple syrup, or other sweetener of your choice to taste (note that just throwing in a couple of dates didn’t work for me—the blender didn’t pulverize them well enough.)

• Additional super-foods (optional): 1/2-1 teaspoon amla powder (see What is Amla Powder?), 1 or more teaspoons hemp seeds, 2-3 teaspoons flaxseed meal, 2-3 teaspoons chia seeds

• One of the following flavor combinations 

Creamy Chocolate Almond 

• Base ingredients from above

• 3/4 cup crushed ice

• 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

• 2 Tablespoons almond butter

• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric

Matcha Mango

• Base ingredients from above

• 1 cup frozen mango cubes

• 1 cup fresh baby spinach leaves (or 1/2 cup frozen spinach)

• 2 teaspoons matcha green tea powder

• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon dried ginger

• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric

Zesty Mango

• Base ingredients from above

• 1 cup frozen mango cubes

• Zest from one lime

• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric

• Pinch cayenne pepper

Pink Blush 

• Base ingredients from above

• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries or raspberries

• 1/2 cup frozen mango or peach cubes

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric

Gingery Blueberry 

• Base ingredients from above

• 1 cup frozen blueberries 

• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon dried ginger

• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric

Timing: Less than 10 minutes

Gluten-free