The weather is warming up. Pack away those rain boots, dust off that blender and get to making some smoothies. They are the perfect way to jam pack your day with all sorts of healthy stuff in a special frosty, summery package. They’re so easy to put together and everyone just loves them. Am I right? I can put anything in a smoothie and my kids will drink it with a smile and not one of those little fake crooked “thanks mom” smiles, like a giant special dinosaur day smile — kale, spinach, sprouts are all entirely unidentifiable and better yet raw. And to keep the party going all summer long, we’re going to help you out with a darn exciting new smoothie recipe every week this summer. It just makes good sense to help our friends stay cool and healthy.
Smoothie Components
Even something as simple as a smoothie needs a little structure. We can’t be making fluffy sugar water concoctions with no substance — we’re vegans! We need vitamins and protein to fuel our days. The six essential components are fruit, healthy fats, proteins, liquids, veggies, and of course, extras. Here are some suggestions for each.
Fruit: strawberry, banana, blackberry, blueberry, mango, apple, raspberry, avocado, pear, acai, pineapple
Healthy fats: avocado, nut butters, flax seed oil
Proteins: silken tofu, soy yogurt, almond butter, cashew butter, peanut butter
Liquids: coconut water, coconut milk, soy/almond/hemp/rice/oat milk
Veggies: spinach, kale, chard, carrots, sprouts, arugula
Extras: protein powder, chia seeds, flax seed meal, flax seed oil, wheat germ, green super food powder, cinnamon, cocoa powder, ginger, parsley, mint
Smoothie Time Savers
Now that we’ve covered the essentials, let’s start to tackle the smoothie-making-obstacles. When it comes to ease of smoothie making I typically work from home, so I have the good fortune of always being near a blender. I know not everyone has that kinda relationship with their blender, but there are ways to simplify and get all that goodness into your everyday life. One such way is the blend and freeze, which still requires the blender but cuts your prep time. If I had a blender in my office, this method would be a cinch. Make an extra big smoothie batch, as much as your blender will hold. Pour it into ice cube trays or muffin tins. Freeze it up and keep them in a ziplock bag for longer storage. If you go the muffin tin route, once they’re frozen leave them out on the counter for a couple minutes to defrost. Then take a butter knife around the edge to pop them out. It’s a little more trouble than the ice cube tray, but I kinda like the bigger size. And 99% of the time I have an empty muffin tin just hanging out. Then you can just drop them in the blender and you’re done!
Green smoothie muffin tin cubes. Just thaw and serve.
Another trick for those of you without the blender closeness that works especially well for the green smoothie (or other non-frosty smoothies) is to keep it in a clean wine bottle with one of those air sucker tops. Then you can take it to work or wherever you might be headed. You do need one of those fancy bottle brushes to keep the wine bottle clean for this technique, by fancy I mean $3 on Amazon. Maybe you already have one around for cleaning out stainless steel water bottles or baby bottles.
So how about a smoothie to get us started? This strawberry banana tofu number is one of our faves. Check back next week, for another great summer smoothie.
Strawberry Banana Tofu Smoothie
Strawberry Banana Tofu Smoothie
Four servings
Ten minutes to prepare
From Deborah Madisons, This Can't be Tofu!
Tofu smoothies are a nice, high protein way to start the day. You can also use frozen fruit and omit the ice.
Ingredients
- ½ box silken tofu (soft or firm)
- 1 cup sliced strawberries
- 2 medium bananas
- 1 cup soy milk
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- ½ cup ice cubes
Instructions
- In a blender, puree the tofu and fruit until smooth, gradually adding the milk to loosen the mixture. Add the maple syrup and ice and continue to blend until smooth.
Hubert
From next monday i'm gonna lose weight. Summer is comming guys!
Who starts with me? I found a good method in google and want to give it
a try, simply type in go0gle; fitMarikka advices - burn fat
Melis
Love the picture with what needs to go into a smoothie and choices, I can mix and match what things I like and have on hand! also great idea about muffin tins ice cube trays are kinda small!
Great ideas to make having smoothies easier to make!
Well Vegan
@Stephanie - Welcome to clean eatin'!!! That's awesome 🙂 There are a ton of great smoothie recipes on the site or if you subscribe to the newsletter (on the right sidebar) you'll get our free Smoothie 101 eBook with all our favorite smoothie recipes. Good luck and let me know if there's anything we can do to help you in your new chapter!!!
Stephanie Fuller
Thanks so much for this! I'm not a vegan but am a new clean eater. I've been looking for great filling smoothie recipes and the picture above is so incredibly helpful! So excited for my smoothie journey! Just picked up some Silken Tofu for the very first time!
Adolfo
Hi theге, just wanted to tell you, I loved this blog post.
It was inspiring. Keep on posting!
John
I love the smoothie movement. It's great for a number of reasons. There is basically no way to do it wrong, but a lot of little tricks to improve with. I never considered put things like chia seeds and flax seed oil, but it is working great for me. As far as taste goes, I don't notice the difference much. I have found that as long as I put enough sweet stuff like strawberries the taste is good. I think texture is also important so I like to put avocado and banana to smooth it out.
tom
I like to use Flax seed meal and chia seeds in mine... I find it is also a great way to use all the fruit that we buy before it turns on us... I always feel so terrible throwing away spoiled food.
I generally freeze the bananas when ripe and keep on hand for ice cold smoothies!.
Well Vegan
@Tamara - Glad to hear! These are perfect for kids (and Dads) 🙂
Tamara
I've been looking for a breakfast with protein for my 8 year old Vegetarian son and this hit the mark! Not only did he love it but dad liked it too. Neither of them knew there was tofu in it. 🙂 Thank you!
Well Vegan
@Zoe - That's amazing news! Keep me posted and let me know if there's anything I can do to help you out 🙂
Zoe
Love the tofu idea :). On week 2 of mostly vegan eating.
Well Vegan
@Georgia - I like Perfect Fit. I love that it's brown rice protein and organic. Dates are are great addition too! Thanks for the suggestion 🙂
georgia
Strawberry banana tofu smoothie=yum!
I like adding a couple dates in the mix. Natures candy.
Any suggestions for vegan protein powder?
I tried Hemp protein from TJ's but I found it to be a bit too earthy for my liking.
Well Vegan
@Cara - Smoothie popsicles are a great idea! Can't wait to try that one.
Cara
Can't wait to try this one. And I love the idea of freezing the fruit and omiting the ice. It seems like I always have bananas that have turned the corner, and I usually make banana bread with them, but I think next time I will freeze them in chunks for smoothies.
A friend of mine makes her sons smoothies every morning for breakfast. When there are leftovers, she simply freezes it in a popsicle mold- genius snack idea for summer!
Filippa
Beautiful illustration! 🙂