Tag Archive | Mango

Post-Workout Salad Smoothie

Sep11

After coming home from the gym this morning, I had a huge craving for a big, thick, fruity, summery smoothie to enjoy on my patio since it’s just so beautiful out today. While I was gathering the ingredients on my counter, I had a laugh because it almost looked as if I were about to prepare a salad because of the amount of spinach I try to jam into my magic bullet when making smoothies. So I decided to take this strange salad “before shot” before I blended it all up because I thought it was quite funny. :)

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Now because I jam all that spinach in, and combine ingredients like cranberries, strawberries, and protein powder with it, my smoothies sometimes turn into an unappealing brownish sort of colour. That’s not a problem for me, as I just grab a spoon and enjoy it for the flavour and ignore the colour, but I realized when I was setting up to take pictures of it that it might be a problem when trying to sell others on trying a recipe… So after having another good laugh, I decided to prepare the second smoothie in layers, which certainly looks a lot more appealing in my opinion. ;-)

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This recipe is a perfect post-workout smoothie because it’s loaded with protein, fibre, fruits, and veggies (I promise, you won’t even taste the spinach!), but could easily be enjoyed at anytime for breakfast, a snack, or even dessert. Frozen cranberries are my new obsession in smoothies because they are extremely good for you, and they help thicken the smoothie while adding a little tartness.

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 Post Workout Salad Smoothie with Cranberries, Spinach, and Mango

Makes 2 large servings

 Ingredients

  • 1 banana
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I used VegaOne)
  • 2 tbsp flaxseeds
  • 1 cup frozen cranberries
  • 4 strawberries
  • 1 cup frozen mango
  • 4 cups spinach or field greens
  • 1 celery stalk
  • Blueberries (for garnish)
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 tbsp coconut sugar

1. In a large blender, blend together banana, 2 cups of water, spinach, celery, and mango.

2. Pour mixture into two glasses.

3. Rinse blender, and then blend together protein powder, flaxseeds, coconut sugar, strawberries, cranberries, and 1 cup of water.

4. Pour half of the new mixture to fill both glasses.

5. Garnish with a small handful of blueberries.

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Tropical Dream Quinoa Salad

Sep9

 

I’m one of those people that use their fridge for inspiration. I’m constantly reading recipes, but I find when I’m actually getting around to making a meal, the outcome will be determined by what’s in my pantry or fridge right now, not what could be if I spent the 20 minutes to go to the grocery store and pick up some extra ingredients. Sometimes it’s great and works wonders! But other times it just results in an incomplete, lazy flunk that’s missing 5000 things.

So today I opened my fridge and my hungry eyes immediately focused in on 3 things: lime, kiwi, and mango. Yummm. Perfect ingredients for a fun, summery tropical dish! With the addition of coconut and cilantro all mixed up with quinoa and chick peas, seriously what could go wrong? And so the Tropical Dream Quinoa Salad was invented, and oh so very enjoyed :-)

Quinoa salads are the new thing recently, and I’ve gotta say it’s making me quite happy! There are endless possibilities and so much room to be creative when working with quinoa, and its packed with all sorts of nutritional benefits. The nutty flavour of the quinoa combined with the tropical fruits and coconut in this recipe just made my taste buds scream with joy! Now all I need are some sunglasses, a beach chair, and my own personal island in the Caribbean and I’m set! Oh and maybe a massage, that would be nice too.

Tropical Dream Quinoa Salad

Serves Two

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup dry quinoa
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 medium-sized mango
  • 2 kiwis
  • 1/2 can no salt added chickpeas
  • 4 tbsp fresh cilantro
  • juice of one lime
  • 2 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 4 tbsp chopped red onion

1. Bring water to a boil, then add quinoa and reduce to low heat to let simmer for 1012 minutes, or until water is absorbed.

2. While the quinoa is cooking, peel and chop up mango, kiwi, and red onion and place into a bowl.

3. Fluff quinoa with a fork, and combine with chopped ingredients.

4. Add chickpeas and tbsp coconut and gently stir until mixed.

5. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and additional coconut.

6. Squeeze lime juice over top before serving.