Acai Banana and Spinach Super Smoothie

Mondays.

Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed when my alarm sounds on a Monday morning. Five days of busy work ahead, commencing with a shower, a fresh change of clothes and something to give me the energy I need to start the day with a spring in my step.

Acai Banana and Baby Spinach Super Smoothie
Serves 1 busy person

2 small ripe bananas
1 generous handful of baby spinach, washed
1 heaped Tbs raw organic acai powder
1/2 cup chilled almond milk
4-6 ice cubes
1 tsp chia seeds

Whizz the first five ingredients in a high powered blender until smooth. Pour into a drinking glass, jar or bottle (if you're on the go), sprinkle with chia seeds and enjoy this chilled super smoothie somewhere peaceful.

It's thick, cold, naturally sweet and full of all the goodness of bananas, chia and baby spinach plus the added health benefits of acai, which include a powerful combination of antioxidants, amino acids and omegas that help to boost the immune system.

It's also a raw and vegan. Ahh the perks of raw super foods!

Not the colour you were expecting? Simply add another tablespoon or two of the acai for a richer, deep purple smoothie.
I prefer the subtle flavour from one tablespoon and looooove this smoothie as a pick-me-up for when I'm suffering the Monday blues!

Happy Monday, friends!

Ahhh-Sighhhh-Eeeeeee!!!!

Bella xx

Tweet

The Green Kitchen: Apple Spinach Smoothie

The clock ticks by as if a cog is broken but instead of slowing down, it accelerates. Each time I glance at it, I am aware more time has passed. Five minutes. An hour. Suddenly I'm looking down the barrel at Friday when it was only Monday a few moments ago, wasn't it?

This week has blurred right by me. If I stop to think about all the tasks I have completed or at least started I can somehow account for the lost time but it doesn't seem to make me feel any kind of reassurance. Time is time.

I'm calling it. This is the moment to recharge with a healthy meal on the run. Sure I'm busy and off to work on the next project in a few short hours. Who cares? This girl must eat and what I put into my body, the fuel, the sustenance is what is most important when all other systems are flashing their red warning lights and blaring their alarms.

It's time to nourish.

Apple Spinach Smoothie
Serves 1

1 Red Delicious apple, cored, skin on
1 large handful of baby spinach
1 Tbs unsweetened Greek or natural yoghurt
1/2 cup chilled, unsweetened organic almond milk
1 tsp ground hemp seeds
1 tsp maca root powder
*1/8 tsp Spirulina (optional)
*small handful of ice cubes (optional for a chilled smoothie)

Place all ingredients into a blender, pulse until smooth. Savour on the go.

Be kind to yourself. Drink this. You'll feel better, I promise.

Bella xx

Tweet

48/52: Me Time

A portrait of my family once a week, every week in 2013

Bella: Relaxing on the last day of spring with a green smoothie.

There's nothing selfish about taking a little bit of me time after a long week. Be kind to yourself, rest when you feel the first symptoms of exhaustion. Drink green smoothies and recline in the shade. You deserve it. x

~Joining Jodi and friends~ This week I am drawn to portraits that reflect my own personal sense of calm. Tamika and Jarvis have a quiet cuddle together; Eulalie patiently paints whilst Marguerite kicks back; and Ronnie's beautiful family sink into a soft green lounge.

You can follow my 52 collection here.

"Ah! There is nothing like staying at home, for real comfort."
-Jane Austen

Love Bella

+++

Tweet

My Green Kitchen: Cucumber Banana Smoothie

It seems we've been hit with the 'I Quit Sugar' craze that is proving as popular as The Paleo Diet and raw living food. Move over chia seeds, you've had your day in the spotlight (just kidding, I still love you, chia!).

Ever woken up and thought to yourself, 'I want something fresh for breakfast, not too sweet.' ? I had one such morning on Tuesday and this cucumber, green capsicum and banana smoothie was the answer. Stand by to have your preconceptions about smoothies blown out of the blender! Think cool, fresh, and green and you're almost there.

This smoothie will give you the energy to take the beach steps, two at a time.

If you are starting out on the I Quit Sugar diet, it is recommended that you exclude high fructose fruit, such as bananas. I've never gone on a fad diet however, I do prepare gluten-free meals to cater for my gluten intolerance- That's not a 'fad diet' choice, it's a necessity. I try to nourish my body with healthy food and firmly believe that what I eat should be a lifestyle choice, not a 12 week plan or a two week detox. Instead I am mindful of what I eat and make an effort to eat fresh, unprocessed and organic foods, substituting in raw foods here and there. Byron and I exercise several times per week, Coco (our little dog) is the best motivator around for encouraging long runs along the beach. I also happen to live in a region famous for local, organic bananas and as such, I have decided to keep bananas in my meal rotation because they taste so good!

Green Smoothie: Cucumber Banana Smoothie
Serves 2

1 Lebanese cucumber, peeled
1 green capsicum, deseeded
1 ripe banana
1 Tbs hemp powder or hemp oil
1 tsp maca root powder
1/2 tsp spirulina
1 1/2 cups chilled, unsweetened almond milk

Blend until smooth in a high power blender, for a thicker smoothie add 1 to 2 tablespoons of unsweetened natural or Greek yoghurt. You can always opt to exchange the banana for an avocado in this recipe. Doing this will lose some of the natural sugar found in the banana. To sweeten, blend a date, two drops of stevia or some agave nectar to taste. Serve with a slice of fresh cucumber to garnish. Enjoy before a relaxing beach walk. Take the stairs.

The fresh flavour of this smoothie lies in the ingredients. It has almost a savoury quality due to the addition of cucumber and capsicum and from a culinary standpoint, it might seem a little strange for a smoothie to be both sweet and savoury but I urge you to try it anyway. It's delicious!

Bella xx

Tweet

Super Green Smoothie

When I was little, this was the holiday of the infamous chocolate egg hunt. My mother would hide the colourful foil wrapped eggs in the vegetable garden, under the leaves of indoor pot plants, behind the bedroom door, some in full view and others in impossibly hard to fathom hiding places.

This Easter I am 28. At 28 years young my mother had already given me life and I was a tender four years old. I find myself thinking about expanding our family and to be honest the idea both warms my heart and scares me completely. I have the maternal urge, if you can call it that. However, there is so much that I don't know that I think I probably should and I catch myself thinking in circles, sometimes for hours.

As I plan my own life for the little one that will join us one day, my focus and cravings have centred on health and wellbeing. No longer do I yearn for the shiny wrapped foil covered eggs of my youth, but the vibrant coloured fruit and vegetables that I have poured my heart and soul into trying to grow in my very own backyard. Today, after I mowed our lawn, raked the clumped grass and shifted our potted plants out onto the grass to catch the rain, I saw it.
In a beautiful tuscan barrel, nestled beneath a small plant with densely packed green leaves sat a shiny red, round egg shaped ball.

Only it wasn't a colourful easter egg, but my very first homegrown ruby red strawberry. I couldn't believe it.

I. Grew. A. Strawberry.

It was plump and shiny and in my opinion, almost ready to be picked but I decided to wait... Until Easter Sunday morning... So I don't tick off any bunnies.

This weekend, instead of overindulging on packaged processed overly sweetened brown chocolate, carefully covered in the familiar thin foil of every colour of the rainbow, we've decided to continue to focus on colourful foods, sourced naturally.

We prepare and eat meals filled with all the goodies our bodies need and we cherish every opportunity to promote good health. Here I've posted a recipe for a super green smoothie. For those who might be allergic to bananas (I'm thinking of you, Saara from Love, Love Lady), then avocado is a suitably delicious alternative that adds a special creamy texture and 'bulks up', or thickens the smoothie. Your flavour options are limitless.

Super Green Smoothie

Serves 2-3

One large handful of baby spinach
2 sweet bananas
1 kiwifruit
1 small cucumber (peeled or unpeeled, it's up to you)
2 granny smith apples or cloudy apple juice
1/2 tsp spirulina
6 ice cubes

Blend all ingredients together until you have a thick, chilled smoothie. Enjoy by the glassful!

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it. To everyone else, enjoy your long weekend, stay safe on the roads if you're travelling and I hope wherever you may find yourselves that you are surrounded by laughter and love.

Immerse yourselves in family and friends and don't forget to drink your greens.

Love Bella xx

Tweet

Living Green

This is what healthy heaven looks like before you blend it.

Following on from Sash over at her gorgeous blog, Inked in Colour, I tried my first ever green smoothie several weeks ago; not counting the occasional Spirulina drink I used to slurp during my high school days.

Green Fruit Smoothie

1 large handful of baby spinach
2 ripe bananas
1 generous handful of blueberries (approximately 30)
2 Tbs natural yoghurt
1 Tbs freshly chopped mint (From my herb garden... YAY!)
2 small apricots or 1/2 cup apricot juice

Place all ingredients into your blender and pulse, pulse, pulse until you have a thick, green smoothie, dotted with tiny indigo pieces of blueberries.

A handy tip is to freeze your bananas because they really make the best smoothies. We're lucky we live in a beautiful region that is famous for them, they're usually quite cheap so we buy bunches and bunches of the curved yellow fruit and freeze them for times like these.

I've enjoyed a different style of green smoothie every day for the past couple of weeks. There's no end to the fruit and vegetable combinations. Add more bananas or mangoes for a sweeter taste, figs work well too and a squeeze of fresh lime will give it that extra kick that will make you want to do cartwheels on the sandy shores of a windy beach.

Living green. It's just another reason to smile everyday.

Bella xx

Tweet

Going Green This Friday

Green smoothie goodness, inspired by Sash over at Inked in Colour and although I'm somewhat of a smoothie buff, I haven't actually made one with spinach before. Shocking, right?

There's something incredible about drinking a smoothie so green and full of the wonder of the earth that makes my heart beat stronger and my mood lift with bubbly happiness.

I made Sash's smoothie, on Tuesday as an afterthought when I remembered I should use a soft mango in the fridge, then a second time when my mother and grandmother came to visit on Wednesday. The third time I made a green smoothie was this morning, but as fate would have it, I had run out of mangoes. Super Mum was helpful by bringing me a fabric bag filled with organic mangoes freshly plucked from her very own mango tree but they're still too bitter green to use in a smoothie, so I made a new version.

Drink Your Spinach Smoothie

3 generous handfuls of baby spinach
2 large, ripe bananas
1 cup of freshly squeezed or cloudy apple juice
1-2 Tbs natural yoghurt (I love Bornhoffen natural yoghurt)
1 entire tray of ice (12 cubes)

Place all ingredients into a blender and pulse until the spinach has been pulverised. Pour a thick stream of the vibrant green smoothie into large cups or glasses and enjoy with your loved ones for breakfast or as an afternoon hunger buster (careful not to spoil your dinner appetite).

We drank ours in our bedroom loft, early in the morning before a barefoot walk on the beach.

Thanks again to Sash for inspiring me to drink green. We've never met in person but I love your blog and I'm so pleased you shared this recipe with us because now I can pass it on.

Now I can drink my spinach.

Love Bella xx

Tweet