The raw adventure continues this morning with my satisfying Mango Monster Smoothie. Why is it a "monster smoothie" you ask? It's green, that's why...and green makes me think of monsters.
And beside my weird color associations, this smoothie is a beast because of all the nutritional goodness packed into it. Flax is one of the key ingredients, providing me with my full daily value of Omega-3s, as well as being a great source of fiber AND as I learned in this extensive article, they have this fancy feature called "Mucilage", which actually help prevent your stomach from sending things on to your small intestine too quickly, thus improving the absorption of all the other goodies this smoothie contains...more info than you were looking for? Perhaps. But my food nerd IQ just went up two points in the research of flax seed alone, so wasn't it worth it? I think so.
Back to the smoothie! Other players in this monstrous concoction are raw pumpkin seeds, kale, mango and bananas. Here's the recipe- enjoy!
1 tbs flax seeds
2 tbs pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds)
1 ripe mango, cubed
1 frozen banana*, quartered
2-3 kale leaves
1/3 cup water
3 ice cubes
Preparation:
First, blend flax seeds on puree (it's is the second highest setting on my blender) and once ground, add pepitas and grind those up as well.
Stop blender, add remaining ingredients, and blend until smooth and uniform in color (no distinct kale pieces). Add more water or ice as needed to reach the consistency you'd like. I like adding ice to my smoothies so that they're nice and cold.
This smoothie is so yummy and you can feel great drinking it because of how good it is for you!
*Do you suffer from the guilt of watching your bunch of bananas turn freckly and brown before you get a chance to eat them (or whip up a batch of banana pancakes/bread/muffins/etc)? Well, here's the solution! Peel and freeze the bananas whole. I just have a dedicated gallon freezer bag that I toss mine into. They make awesome smoothie and shake additions and are good in the freezer for 2-3 months!
And beside my weird color associations, this smoothie is a beast because of all the nutritional goodness packed into it. Flax is one of the key ingredients, providing me with my full daily value of Omega-3s, as well as being a great source of fiber AND as I learned in this extensive article, they have this fancy feature called "Mucilage", which actually help prevent your stomach from sending things on to your small intestine too quickly, thus improving the absorption of all the other goodies this smoothie contains...more info than you were looking for? Perhaps. But my food nerd IQ just went up two points in the research of flax seed alone, so wasn't it worth it? I think so.
Back to the smoothie! Other players in this monstrous concoction are raw pumpkin seeds, kale, mango and bananas. Here's the recipe- enjoy!
Raw Mango Monster Smoothie
Ingredients:1 tbs flax seeds
2 tbs pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds)
1 ripe mango, cubed
1 frozen banana*, quartered
2-3 kale leaves
1/3 cup water
3 ice cubes
Preparation:
First, blend flax seeds on puree (it's is the second highest setting on my blender) and once ground, add pepitas and grind those up as well.
Stop blender, add remaining ingredients, and blend until smooth and uniform in color (no distinct kale pieces). Add more water or ice as needed to reach the consistency you'd like. I like adding ice to my smoothies so that they're nice and cold.
This smoothie is so yummy and you can feel great drinking it because of how good it is for you!
*Do you suffer from the guilt of watching your bunch of bananas turn freckly and brown before you get a chance to eat them (or whip up a batch of banana pancakes/bread/muffins/etc)? Well, here's the solution! Peel and freeze the bananas whole. I just have a dedicated gallon freezer bag that I toss mine into. They make awesome smoothie and shake additions and are good in the freezer for 2-3 months!
