Fit February: Smoothie Challenge Update

Wow, there’s so much on my mind to blog about but I have no idea where to start! The next few days might be “post heavy” but hopefully it would make up for my slightly sporadic posts. Anyways I thought I’d come and brag about how well my smoothie challenge is going. So far I’ve only missed 2 days and that was out of pure laziness to go and restock on fruit and stuff. Also I tried the green smoothies, they are actually soo delicious! It’s kinda weird how great they taste! Although I can’t say that I’m fully over the colour… It still looks and feels weird to me!

Omg, I was so excited! I actually got people to join me on the challenge as well, it’s been really fun swapping recipes and comparing notes all this while. I’d share some recipes and photos at the end but before that, the one question I get asked the most is how I keep the fruit from going bad. Bad fruit is such a downer in smoothie land, it just kills the taste and everything else. Have you ever seen expired avocado? Gross! So anyways what I do is, I ‘prep’ my fruit. I freeze all the stuff that goes off the quickest which for me is my berries, so I chop up the strawberries and freeze them before putting them in a bag, I do the same to the blueberries and raspberries too, without the chopping. Oh yeah, you have to freeze them on a tray of some sort first so they don’t end up sticking together in clumps during the freezing process.

         

Smoothie Prep :) Strawberries, blueberries and raspberries 

After Freezing

I don't pre-prep the actual recipes I want to make because I love the flexibility of just throwing some things in the blender and watching the magic happen but the process would be the same if you wanted to but in the bags instead of having just one fruit, you'd have your mixes ready to throw in, this is also more efective in terms of time! I know it looks long but fruit freezes pretty quickly. I don’t usually freeze my bananas and other fruit, partly because I can’t be bothered most times and also because the more frozen things you use, the thicker your smoothie would be and I don’t like them too thick. Before I put up the pictures of my smoothies I think I should add a little disclaimer here: “I’m really not the most creative person out there, don’t judge my photos!” Haha. Also half the time I take these I’m about to be late for class. Lecturers that start teaching at 9 on the dot are just awful. Everyone knows about the 5-minute contingency rule! Geez! So anyways here are a couple of recipes for any interested parties. Interestingly enough, I realised I don’t really know how much of each fruit I put in the smoothies but I would try and do a rough guide. Most times I just feel it, adding more of the stuff I know I like.

Recipes:
1. Berries and Bananas:

This was the only smoothie I had tried before I started the challenge, made it for my bf and he really liked it! Added a bit of cranberry juice to his for sweetness though.

1 banana, 5-6 strawberries, handful of raspberries, water/cranberry juice.

2. "Brown" Green Smoothie:

First ever green smoothie, I decided to use my then favourite recipe of bananas and berries and just add the spinach and hope for the best! The blueberries and the spinach ended up fighting for colour and so it looked a bit more brown :s. It tasted quite nice though! Also bananas are excellent for covering up the taste of spinach. Trust me when I say you cannot taste it AT ALL. I promise!

1 banana, handful of frozen blueberries, 4-5 strawberries, handful of spinach, water

3. Tropical Smoothie:

So I saw this recipe on Instagram and decided to go crazy with it! So many different types of fruit! It tasted nice but I prefer having less fruit in my smoothies so I can actually taste them (the more fruit you add, the less of the individual tastes there are). Also I read, if you blend the greens first, it eliminates the chances of getting random leafy bits in your drink. (I used the wrong cup image here but can't find the right one! Your drink might turn out less green!).

Water, 1 banana, handful of blueberries, handful of raspberries, 4 strawberries, 1/2 a mango, some pineapple, handful of spinach.

4. Pear and Banana:

This smoothie turned out so bright I almost didn't drink it! But it's been my favourite so far and the only recipe I've actually repeated! Note: Peel the skin of the pears first! I tried one with the apples and left the skin on and it had the most disgusting texture to it, bits of unblended apple skin floating everywhere in the glass. Yuck!

1 pear, 1 banana, 2 handfuls of spinach, apple juice/water.

5. Kiwi Delight:

I don't particularly like this one. I thought kiwis would do great in smoothies but the seeds make them really annoying to drink and they're also a bit too sharp! I can't deal.

1 kiwi, 1/2 a banana, handful of blueberries, 2 tbsps greek yoghurt, 1 tbsp honey.

So there you have it! Hope some of you join me for the rest of the challenge, or at least try one of the recipes! Leave a comment below if you decide to :)

Ttfn,

Reni x