Rainbow Smoothies

Hi everyone!! Spring is already here (at least in Barcelona)!!! I'm so happy to go back to my spring clothes, I don't like to wear layers of clothes in winter, but in spring I just use one or two and that's it hehe. Well clothed things aside, what about the spring foods?? I love all seasons when it comes to food, but the good things is that I can go back to eat smoothies, yaaayy!! That's why I made 5 different recipes of smoothies all of them with different colours and different ingredients, I hope you like these 6 colourful smoothies.

Before the list of ingredients I'd like to explain some of the ingredients I'm using in this recipes.

Flaxseeds

Flaxseeds are one of the best foods you can eat, they have a ton of fibre (2.3 gr) which is good for digestions and to feel satisfied after a meal. It also has a good amount of good fats 28.7 grams of the total 42.2 grams of fat that flaxseeds contain are polyunsaturated, and that's really good. These polyunsaturated fats are the omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, since western culture eat too much oil which is full of omega-6 fatty acids we need to compensate eating more omega-3 fatty acids, and flaxseeds are awesome for that, they have 22813 mg of omega-3 and 5911 mg of omega-6 and that's awesome :) they also have a good amount of proteins (18.3 gr). All the data is per 100 grams of flaxseeds.

Turmeric powder

In theory this one has a lot of benefits and all of them come pretty much thanks to the antioxidants in it. I don't know a lot about antioxidants, and the studies seem to not be 100% sure about their benefits, I don't think that this is a cure for everything, because on the internet they say it's like the holy grail and can treat even cancer... that's a very foolish thing to say in mi opinion. I think antioxidants are good, but not that good.

Purple sweet potato or ube

Ube is a great source of vitamin A, and vitamin C, magnesium and potassium. It also have fibre which can help with digestion. As all purple coloured foods ube has anthocyanin, which is an antioxidant and therefore it has all the good benefits from them. Again I won't go all crazy about the antioxidants because we don't know their benefits for sure, but at least berries and ube taste great :)

Raspberry Smoothie (I couldn't get vibrant red, so hot pink it is)

1/2 Cup coconut milk (unsweetened)
1 Orange
1/2 Banana
1 Cup raspberries
1/4 Cup rolled oats
1 Tbsp flaxseeds
2 Tbsp dry shredded coconut
Sweetener

Energy: 421.6 Kcal

Carrot Smoothie (Orange)

4 Medium size carrot cut into chunks
1 Cup almond milk
1/2 banana
5 Walnuts
1/4 Cup rolled oats
1/2 Tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon powder
Sweetener if you like

Energy: 346 Kcal

Mango Smoothie (Yellow)

1 Cup coconut milk (unsweetened)
1 Mango cut into chunks
1/2 Banana
1 Tsp turmeric powder
1 Tsp flaxseeds
2 Tbsp dry shredded coconut
1/4 Cup rolled oats

Energy: 369,5 Kcal

Pear Smoothie (Green)

3/4 Cup almond milk
2 Small pears (the juicy kind)
1/2 Banana
10 Pistachios
1 Tbsp flaxseeds
1 Tsp matcha powder
A handful of spinach
Sweetener

Energy: 375 Kcal

Chocolate Smoothie (Brown)

1 Cup of coconut milk (unsweetened)
2 Tbsp cocoa powder (defatted if possible)
1 Orange
1 Banana
90 grams silken tofu
1/4 Tsp vanilla extract
1/4 Tsp ground coffee
Sweetener

Energy: 330 Kcal

Purple Sweet Potato Smoothie (Purple)

100 gr Purple sweet potato
1/2 Banana
3/4 Cup cooked quinoa
1 Cup coconut milk (unsweetened)

Energy: 376.6 Kcal

Process

Toss all the ingredients into a blender and process everything together, enjoy!!

Veggie Cupcakes

Veggies on cupcakes? You might be thinking... this girl went nuts hahaha, I love to use vegetables in baking, because... why not? Beets are actually sweet like carrots and carrots have their own cake, why not beets? I was a little bit disappointed though… in my mind I saw these beautiful red and bright coloured muffins coming out of my oven, and what did I find? Brown coloured muffins… I know I used whole wheat flour... I know that red coloured things normally get brown in the oven… but I’m a dreamer and I dreamed about my red and bright muffins!!! Anyway I must say that even though this muffins are not the sexiest, they definitely are beautiful on the inside, they are very very moist and I think if you add some tablespoons of cocoa powder you will have an amazing chocolate cake batter.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup whole wheat flour
• ½ Cup coconut Oil
• ½ Cup Milk
• 2 Eggs
• ½ Cup honey
• 1 Tsp baking soda
• 1 Tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 Tsp vanilla extract
• ½ Cup of grated vegetables (cucumber, beets or carrots)
• 100 grams of apple purée
• 50 grams of chopped walnuts

Process

• Mix all the dry ingredients together (whole wheat flour, baking soda and cinnamon powder).
• Put the eggs in a bowl and whisk them with energy. Then add the rest of the wet ingredients (coconut oil, milk, honey, and vanilla extract).
• Combine the dry ingredients mixture and the liquid mixture together. Then add the apple purée and the chopped walnuts, mix very well and divide the preparation into 3 equal portion.
• To each portion add the three different veggies.
• Bake at 190 ºC for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Let them cool and eat them ;)

Overnight Oats

Hello guys, how is it going? Lately I've been loving foods in season, right now persimmons and pomegranates are in the groceries, so I've been eating them a lot. I use persimmons as jam, because the texture is similar and also because they are 100% natural :). Pomegranates are not my favourite, not because of their flavour but because of the time you spend getting the seed out of the fruit, so I don't use them that much. When I made this recipes, figs were also in season unfortunately these fruits are expensive in comparison to apples and bananas, so I can't eat them as much as I would :( but anyway maybe you are lucky and can get them more often. I hope you enjoy this combinations and try to make them at home :)

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup of rolled oats
• Milk (any kind) to cover the oats
• 2 Tbsp of yogurt (regular, Greek, soy yogurt, coconut yogurt, etc.)
• 1 Tbsp Chia or flax seed

To give your overnight oats more flavour add whatever you want, I usually add chopped pineapple, banana, apple or any fruit that I like/have. Also some spices like mint, cinnamon, vanilla extract can  be added. To sweeten it up you can use whatever you prefer, sugar I you don't mind it or some natural alternative like honey or maple syrup of you are like me just use artificial sweeteners.

Procedure

• You can make this on a jar or a bowl, that's up to you.
• The night before you eat your overnight oats, put half a cup of rolled oats in a container.
• Then pour some milk over the oats just to cover them.
• Add the yogurt and the chia or flax seed.
• Give it a good mix or a good shake if you are using a jar (of course don't forget the lid).
• Next morning add your favourite fruits, some classic combos are: pineapple and dry shredded coconut, apple or banana and cinnamon powder. The options are endless :)

Banana Pancakes

Hello everyone I hope you are doing great this week, today I'll show you how to make some really easy to make banana pancakes, enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 Mashed banana
• 1 Egg
• 1/4 Cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 Tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/4 Tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 Tsp baking powder
• A splash of milk or water if necessary

Process

• Mash the banana really well
• Crack an egg in a bowl and whisk it.
• Add the mashed banana and mix it with the egg.
• Add the whole wheat flour, mix until everything is well combined.
• If you want to add a little bit more of flavour add the vanilla extract and the cinnamon powder.
• Depending on the size of the banana and the egg you will need to add a splash of milk to adjust the consistency, the consistency should similar to the one of normal pancakes.
• Finally to get a more spongy pancakes add the baking powder.
• Using a paper towel spread the oil through out the pan.
• Add some of the batter to the pan and when the bubble start to pop on the surface then it is time to flip the pancakes over.
• Then wait about half a minute and remove it from the pan.
• Finally you can add some fruit and maple syrup on top.