Organic Tropical Smoothie Surprise

Amberly asked if we could make a smoothie. I was busy working at the computer so I asked her to give me 30 minutes to wrap up. She agreed and dutifully went off to play video games with her brother. Well, 37 minutes later she came back to peer over my shoulder and take note of the time on the laptop. Alright, alright, alright....

She got busy getting out the ingredients and asked that we only use half the amount of yogurt that we normally do because this particular brand in our fridge (our first and last time ever picking this one up) had too strong of a taste and changed the flavor of the smoothie. Okay. Now I had to put on my thinking cap and think about what else we would add to make up for using half the amount of yogurt. Looking at the bag of organic frozen fruit I noticed it was a tropical feel. "Hmm... I think we'll add coconut oil." To be honest, we made this twice, the second time with the tweaks made it perfect!

We had just enough mango nectar (juice) left. Whew! Nothing like having an idea in your head and your fridge makes you change your plans.

INGREDIENTS FOR ORGANIC TROPICAL SMOOTHIE SURPRISE

1 cup mango nectar
2 heaping cups frozen fruit (I got this Organic Wawona daybreak blend at Costco - pull out the strawberries so what is left are frozen pineapple, mango and peach chunks)
1/2 cup yogurt
1 banana
1 ice cream scoop coconut oil (we love Nutiva)
1 heaping tablespoon hempseed (again Nutiva)

Directions:

As I've mentioned in my last smoothie post, start by putting the juice into the blender first. I happen to have a Vitamix and love it! Next add the yogurt, the idea is that the more liquid ingredients go in first. Add everything else except coconut oil. Liquefy the coconut oil. I did this in a glass measuring cup in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. Go back to the blender. Cover blender. Blend on high for a minute or two. Now pour in the liquid coconut oil through the blender opening while still blending, continue blending on high for 45 seconds.

I've been adding in hempseed to our smoothies for a boost of protein and omega 3s. My kids can taste it if I add too much so I stick to the 1 to 2 TBSP and it is undetectable.

I happened to have fresh mango on hand and thought to garnish my tropical treat!

I hope you give this one a try! If you want to save it for later PIN THE IMAGE BELOW  to your "smoothie" or "healthy snack" or "breakfast" board!

If you enjoyed this post you may want to check these out... just click on the image!:

                 

Organic Mango Strawberry Power Up Smoothie

I knew we needed milk and forgot to stop at the store yesterday to make sure we'd have some for breakfast. The kids hate having dry cereal. Owen didn't feel like having eggs. What could I make that was quick and delicious? A smoothie of course! We've been on a smoothie kick and carefully charting our recipes so we can replicate them. Yesterday's Mango Berry Boost was a hit but I didn't have enough frozen mixed berries to go with a proven winner. I did find some organic frozen strawberries hidden in the freezer so that's what we went with. We were fresh out of bananas too.... but knowing that strawberry and mango make a good pair I didn't think it would matter. Since a majority of our ingredients were organic I was quite please with this being another example of how our efforts to slowly switch to cleaner eating is showing up.



Of course I had kitchen helpers because the kids have been loving making parfaits and smoothies lately. I let them measure, scoop and give ideas on what we could do to improve the taste. Their input came in handy this morning. Because we had places to be I had little time to take action shots, but they were definitely in the mix!

Organic Mango Strawberry Power Up Smoothie Recipe

2 cups Mango Nectar (juice)
1 cup Organic Plain Yogurt
3 heaping cups Organic frozen strawberries
2 TBSP Nutiva Organic Hempseed

Add the ingredients to the blender, start with the liquid first.

Blend for 2 or 3 minutes on high. Frozen strawberries seem to take longer than smaller berries.

Now, to be honest, at first I had put in just 1 cup of mango nectar.... but with all those frozen strawberries it takes quite a bit longer to blend so I turned off the blender and added another cup of mango nectar.

These came out just beautifully - oh and they were delicious! Plus, healthier because we used mostly organic items.

If you like a nuttier flavor, by all means add more hempseed. In a smoothie recipe that has fewer ingredients you're going to taste more of each of those items and what I've learned is that my kids don't mind the hempseed so long as they don't detect it. Hempseed is a great source of protein and omega 3s which is why we have been adding it to our smoothies, just like I did with the Banana Berry Hempseed Smoothie I call this fortifying our treats!

Now you have a delicious breakfast smoothie to enjoy with the kids! Be sure to pin this one.

Here's where I've linked up:

Fortified Pumpkin Muffins

Sometimes I want something with pumpkin flavor that is sweet - but don't want all the guilt of eating a traditional pumpkin dessert or pastry. That's when we make my fortified pumpkin muffins!

Years ago after getting Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious, I began to take extra effort to incorporate purees where I could and see if there were other things I could do to make something a little healthier for the entire family.

When October rolls around, one of the first pumpkin things I buy is a box of pumpkin bread mix at Costco. If I can keep it easy and not make it from scratch that's just what a busy mom's gotta do sometimes.

Here's how we adapt the box instructions to add a little bit of goodness to make these muffins even better...

Ingredients:

Ingredients:

1 pkg of pumpkin spice quick bread mix
2 organic eggs
1/3 cup Nutiva  organic virgin coconut oil, melted OR 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
3 TBSP of Nutiva organic shelled hempseed
a few shakes of pumpkin pie spice
60 Enjoy Life dark chocolate morsels (so much better than that "other" brand)
about a tsp of Nutiva coconut oil to grease the muffin tin

Kitchen Tools:

Muffin tin pan
Medium mixing bowl
Small dish for cracking eggs
Scissors
Spatula
Ice cream scoop
Liquid measuring cup
Regular measuring cup


Directions:

Turn oven to 400 degrees
Grease muffin tin with coconut oil. I use a sandwich baggie.
Mix the first 5 ingredients in the mixing bowl. When it is pumpkin season I use the pumpkin puree if I have it, otherwise I use Nutiva coconut oil in place of any vegetable oil that is called for in any baking recipe.
Scoop batter into muffin tin evenly to make 12 muffins.
Top each muffin with 5 dark chocolate morsels.
Put into the oven and bake 18-22 minutes

As soon as they come out my kids are grabbing for these! See how one is missing before I got a chance to take a photo?

I am happy to have learned that Nutiva has a whole line of super foods that I look forward to using to fortify more of our meals and snacks. We've been using their coconut oil for a number of years and I really had no idea all of the other products they make until they became a sponsor of ShiftCon, an Eco-wellness blogger conference.

Do you have any tricks in your apron pocket to give foods a boost in health benefits?