Peach Banana Chia Smoothie

Smoothies are staple breakfasts and snacks in our home!  Most experts agree, that the human diet should consist of at least 50% raw foods.  A smoothie chock full of raw fruit, is an easy delicious way to get your raw foods.  Raw foods are full of enzymes, micro and macro nutrients such as phyto- nutrients, and vitamins in tact.  Cooking foods removes some of those benefits, especially the enzymes.

Enzymes are critical to health!  They are what allow nutrient uptake, and are responsible for a whole host of chemical, immunological, and metabolic processes.  If you don't eat enough enzymes via raw foods, your body needs to work extra hard to make more of them!  When enzymes are present in the food, you readily digest, and easily utilize the nutrients in that food.  Makes sense, right??

So, this is one of the main reasons we make lots of smoothies at our house.  In addition, smoothies taste like a TREAT, but are a nutritional POWERHOUSE.

Smoothies are nothing more than throwing raw fruits or raw fruits and veggies, with a liquid, into a blender and VOILA- health shake!!




Peach Banana Chia Smoothie

2 C frozen peaches
2 ripe bananas
3 C coconut milk (or any milk alternative)
2 TBL chia seeds
1 TBL probiotics

1 TBL flax oil (or flax seeds)

Everybody goes in the blender bowl!  Start at a pulse, and pulse until incorporated, then blend on high!  This will make 2 large smoothies or 3 regular smoothies.

For a thinner smoothie, you can add liquid to above the fruit in the blender.  If you like a thicker smoothie,  you should fill the liquid just to the top of the fruit in the blender.  You could also add ice cubes if desired.

I used only the peaches from this bag!

Chia seeds seeds are a super power seed, rich in Omega 3's.  You do not need to preblend, or grind the chia seeds before putting into your smoothie.

I used Barlean's Omega Swirl in banana strawberry flavor , which is delicious right out of the bottle.  You could use flax seeds, but you need to grind them in the dry blender first, then add your ingredients.

Omega 3 fatty acids are ESSENTIAL fats, and are not only good for you, but essential for good health.  The benefits are too many to mention here.

I used Garden of Life Primal Defense for kids, a powerful probiotic made especially for kids. 

A breakfast, a snack, a super healthy treat!

Yours in health,

Natalie

Tropical Smoothie

Knock-your-socks-off-smoothie right here folks!!  It tastes like the tropics, but can be whipped up in a matter of minutes in your blender!  I have many, many smoothie recipes- (in my mind, because I usually just wing it,) but this is one of our favorites in the warmer months.
This was an after school snack, BUT can be made for breakfast, OR for adults you could put in a little rum, vodka, or tequila!!  Oh yea!

Tropical Smoothie

1 banana
1 C frozen mango
1 C frozen pineapple
1/2 C of juice (o.j., mango, pineapple, or omit)
fill blender with coconut milk, or other dairy free milk, just until it reaches the top of the ingredients in the pitcher. 
1 tsp of probiotics

Blend in spurts until it is mixing well, then let it blend on high for a little while.  That's it!  Voila!

I used a frozen banana- after a banana is too ripe to eat, I throw it whole in the freezer to use for smoothies.  I simply warm it a bit with my hands, then peel and break into pieces.  I used organic mango from Trader Joe's, but you could use fresh, or even a frozen puree that you can find at the store.  The pineapple I took out of a bag of our favorite blends of frozen fruit, Dole's Wildly Nutritious Fruit Blend, that has strawberries, peaches, pineapple and mango in it!  I put whatever is frozen in first, and add whatever is softest last- then pour the juice and milk, then any add-ins.  Today I used Good Belly in Mango flavor as my juice.  It is a probiotic juice!  Then I added my favorite kids probiotic, Garden of Life Primal Defense.  Yep, a probiotic with a probiotic.  The latter is made up of soil organisms.
They think it is a rockin' special treat, when it really is a nutritional POWERHOUSE of magical nutrition!

If you add alcohol, you will think YOU ARE a magical POWERHOUSE.  While getting loads of healthy stuff in a cocktail!  It's a win, win here folks!  Many more smoothie recipes to come...

Yours in health,
Natalie