something I do. so today I'm gonna show you how to build a delicious satisfying
smoothie that will keep you full for hours. I'm also going to share with you the
ratios so you can build a perfect smoothie without a recipe and also share
how to best clean your blender.
My first tip is actually very easy. it is to go
down to the description box, find the blog post about smoothies, go to the blog
post, and check out the chart in there because there's a very helpful chart in
that blog post that's gonna give you the ratios you want to use for a perfect
smoothie - the amount of liquid, the amount of fruits and veggies, the amount of like
fat sources and other add-ons or mix-ins. and I would recommend bookmarking the
blog post on your desktop or taking a screenshot with your phones you can
always have it handy. or you know print it out, carry it around with you in your
wallet. that's not weird. totally do it. have a smoothie consultation guide in
your wallet.
my second tip is to use frozen vegetables and fruits wherever
possible. it's gonna create that really creamy thick texture that you want in a
smoothie and it's also gonna give it that nice iciness without having to add
ice. so if you're using room-temperature fruits you're gonna have kind of a
room-temperature smoothie. I don't know about you, but that doesn't really sound appetizing
to me. so try to stick with frozen fruit when you can. if you're looking for low-
sugar fruits to add to your smoothies, berries are the best option. of course
you can buy them frozen at the grocery store. They're
actually picked during their peak season and then flash-frozen
so they've got all the nutrients. but if you don't want to buy plastic packaging,
you can always buy your fresh berries in the summer and then freeze leftovers so
you can have them throughout the year. that's something I love to do. I buy a
ton of fresh berries as well as stone fruit in the summer, and then I freeze
the stuff I can't use and then I can have delicious fresh fruit in my
smoothies year-round. and it's also gentler for the environment. and of
course the most popular fruit to add to a smoothie is the humble banana. they're
starchy and creamy and they add that natural sweetness so they are perfect
but when they're frozen they're even better. your smoothies are gonna be so creamy
and thick and luscious. it's almost like a dessert. like a healthy dessert of
course. but like almost like a healthy dessert. so I love using bananas. but if you
are trying to limit your sugars, then you can try to use one of the two
vegetables I'll suggest in the next tip.
I like to think of smoothies kind of
like cold soups. You toss a bunch of vegetables in there, add some liquid,
you blend it all together. and hope that it tastes good.
in all seriousness I do think there are some limits. you know, maybe don't add
roasted eggplant to your smoothie, but you can add quite a few different
vegetables to your smoothies and still have them taste delicious. You're probably
already familiar with green smoothies because it's 2019, so you probably have had a
smoothie with spinach or kale in it, but you can also use other greens. you can
use collard greens which are so healthy for you. you can also use like mustard
greens or arugula. those are gonna be a little bit spicier and more pungent, so
go slowly - just add a little bit, see how you like it. you can also add things that
would otherwise go to waste like beet tops or carrot greens if you want
like a zero-waste smoothie. and then these aren't technically vegetables but I
love adding fresh herbs like basil and mint. they both add a really nice fresh
refreshing taste. I don't really know how to describe it beyond that but they are
fresh herbs, so yeah, they add a little bit of a fresh pop to your smoothie.
Two other vegetables I love using in my smoothies but are not going to change
the color of it are cauliflower and zucchini. I know it sounds a little weird
but hear me out. When you steam cauliflower and then put it in the
freezer it is gonna have this same effect on your smoothie texture-wise as
banana but without any of the sugar. of course you can buy steamed cooked
cauliflower that's frozen in the grocery section, but you can also steam your own
cauliflower and then pop it in the freezer,
it's up to you .for the zucchini I just take a vegetable peeler and I peel this.
I use this skin part - I put in salads like as a topper or in stir fries.
once you get past the green flesh you'll see some white flesh. I just slice that
into rounds like I would a banana, pop it in the freezer and then it acts again
like a banana. it's not gonna be as creamy but it is gonna give a lot of
heft and creaminess and nutrition to your smoothie without the sugar. the last
type of vegetable I love in a smoothie is sweet potato. so when you bake a
sweet potato, you know it gets like really caramelized and soft. take off the
skin, put the flesh in the smoothie. it's gonna add that really nice sweetness.
it's gonna add some creaminess and thickness - just all-around delicious.
I'm looking for a full meal replacement with my smoothies, so I want to add
ingredients that are going to help me stay full. one of those is oats. yes you
can add oats to your smoothie. one option is to add quick or instant oats to your
smoothie directly into there. they don't have to be cooked - it's just going to
make it thicker. your other option is use rolled oats, which is what I have here.
and that is usually what I do. and it will change the texture a little bit. it
will make it thicker but if you want it to be really smooth, you can soak your
oats for just like 5 to 10 minutes before adding them to the smoothie.
to make things really simple you can just soak them in the liquid that you're
gonna add to this smoothie, so your almond milk or your cashew milk or whatever.
just soak your oats in there for like 10 minutes, prep the rest of your
ingredients and the smoothie will be really thick and creamy. I don't really
like to use protein powder in my smoothies unless I've had a really tough workout.
but I haven't had a really tough workout in a long time because I haven't been to
the gym in a really long time. kind of a moot point for me. but if you are looking
for creative ways to add protein to your smoothies that do not include protein
powder, here are some options. the first type of ingredient are beans. and before
I lose you, let me quickly explain I don't mean all kinds of beans. I don't
really recommend using black beans, for instance, unless you want a Mexican salsa
smoothie. but I do like using chickpeas or garbanzo beans as well as white beans
because they're pretty neutral in taste if you add them to a smoothie. as long as
you don't go overboard, it's gonna add some creaminess and protein without
tasting like hummus. the other type of ingredient is silken soft tofu. this is
the softest form of tofu. it's almost like a jello-y form. it has no taste so
it's just going to make your smoothie thick, creamy and add protein.
If you want a smoothie to be a meal replacement and to really fill you up,
you want to have some balance of protein, complex carbs and healthy fats. and my
favorite source of healthy fat - shouldn't come as a surprise - is an avocado. if you
add the flesh of like half an avocado to your smoothie, it is gonna turn so creamy
and thick, almost like a milkshake. t's just so satisfying. I also really love
adding coconut yogurt to my smoothies. so you're gonna get that rich creaminess
from the yogurt and the healthy fats from the coconut. and if you're using a
homemade coconut yogurt like I am, you're gonna get that really nice subtle tang
from the yogurt. this is the homemade coconut yogurt from my cookbook
The Vegan Instant Pot Cookbook. You can find the recipe in the breakfast chapter of
the book and you can buy my book on Amazon or wherever books are sold.
I've included links to buy my book in the description box below. The other
sources of healthy fats I like to use are raw nuts and seeds, but if you don't
have a high-powered blender you might wanted to stick to nut butters instead
like this almond butter because your blender might not be able to fully
pulverize the nuts and you might just have weird pieces of nuts in your
smoothie. I like to add almonds, cashews, walnuts - really any kind of nut or seed.
we've got some chia seeds here. there's also flax seeds and hemp seeds.
they've got healthy fats, and with hemp seeds you've also got protein so a great
addition to your smoothie in the morning.
Smoothies are an excellent opportunity to add in some superfoods that you might
have trouble incorporating into your diet otherwise. so one of my favorites is
spirulina. this is you, as you see, this beautiful blue-green color. it smells
terrible. it smells like salty fish. but it is
actually one of the most - if not the most - nutrient dense foods on the planet. if
you put in a smoothie, just like a half teaspoon,
you're not gonna notice the taste or the smell. it's gonna blend in perfectly.
the next superfood I love to add to smoothies is turmeric. you do want to
make sure that you add one of two ingredients to your smoothie to make the
active compounds in turmeric bioavailable for your body to digest.
either some healthy fats like coconut oil or some black pepper. if the
sound of black pepper in your smoothie sounds weird, just know that you need
just a tiny tiny bit of black pepper - so tiny - you won't taste the difference. and
then finally if you're making something like a smoothie bowl, and you want some
toppings, I love adding raw cacao nibs - adds a nice little crunch and if you want
something chewy you could try goji berries and I love
those in smoothie bowls.
If you've made smoothies a lot, you know that your
blender never really feels or looks clean and you might have struggled with
taking the blade out. especially if you have a Vitamix like I do and you can't
actually remove the blade at the bottom so you can't put it in the dishwasher. I
take a little bit of dish soap, put it directly in here. then I fill the blender
up with some water, maybe like a third of the way full so something like this, and
then I put it back on the blender stand. don't forget the lid. and then I just put
it at medium, medium-high speed for like a minute or so and that's going to be
the best way to clean your blender. It has really changed my life since
I've learned this tip. I promise it will change your smoothie life as well. if you
learn something new today, found this video useful, enjoyed it... please give it a
thumbs up. I always appreciate it when you do.