Make it Monday

Smoothie

I watched a video yesterday that was in response to seeing a long term high-carb low-fat (was raw but now promotes cooked) vegan pouring sugar onto "cardboard" cereal and topped with soy milk. The message in the response was something I had not considered and I am taking on board.

I admit that I am a person who often does not try to see something from every angle and this has caused naivety and ignorance in the past. I will do my best in the future to look at everything objectively and from every possible angle.

The videos I am referring can be watched them here and here.

So with the message that Hannah delivers I am taking things back to basic.

Are you new to raw foods? New to a vegan diet? Finding your current food routine boring and want to switch it up a bit?

Well today I want to give you all some smoothie ideas and I want to make it as simple and as cheap as possible. The excuse that fruit is too expensive or it is unsustainable is nonsense and I will not accept it!

The base for these smoothies is simple, ripe bananas.

Make sure they are spotted, soft but not squidgy and easy to peel.

Depending on what you're adding to your smoothie I recommend using as many bananas that will provide you with 90% of the calories you require from this meal. Want a 1000 cal smoothie, then you will need just over 1kg bananas and then you can make up the rest of the cals with some of the following.

Berries

I love my berry smoothies. Raspberry, blueberry, strawberry and blackberry. I'm sure there are more, but these are the most common ones I buy. I buy frozen berries in winter and fresh berries in summer. I use about 100g mixed berries in my banana smoothies and this is quite affordable.

Dates

If you are using dates, my recommendation is to go 50/50 with the calories, so for 1000cal you'll need just under 600g bananas and 200g dates.

Mango

Personally I tend to only add one or two mangoes to my smoothies because I am not a lover for prepping this fruit. I like it when they are juicy enough to just squish and then suck!

Persimmon with a hint of cinnamon

A perfect combination if you have any left over juicy persimmons. Most people have cinnamon in their cupboard so just add a half or full teaspoon depending on your taste for cinnamon.

Spinach/lettuce

Always a winner to make banana smoothies green. You can have this at any time of the day and sometimes I would have it for breakfast and then again for dinner. I find that if you are too busy to make a salad in the evening then adding lettuce or spinach to your smoothie is a great alternative.

Home made almond milk

This is to make your smoothie creamy and fatty. It's a real treat and delicious to drink. Read my post from last year for the instructions on how to make it. Probably not on the cheaper side of things, but if you want to try something new then I recommend it.

I hope that you are able to enjoy your smoothies. There are so many more different combinations that you can try with other fruit as the staple, but I find bananas are the most versatile fruit and combine well with others (I wouldn't use melon though). I can get organic bananas for £4 - £8 a box for 18kg. It is the most reliable fruit and the best staple around. 

Jennifer x

Tasty Tuesday

I have been enjoying my breakfast smoothies recently because they've been berry delicious :-) I tend to have 1.2kg bananas and then a handful of mixed berries. The colour is a really deep pink and the taste is sweet, for a small amount of berries it doesn't taste like bananas at all.

I've been having at least 5 different fruits a day too. During September/October I had been on banana island. I had bananas for breakfast, lunch and dinner, followed by a salad or sometimes replacing bananas for dinner with a cooked meal. I think the lack of variety for a long period did not help me in some ways (lack of enthusiasm for eating only bananas), but since buying more fruit varieties I have been feeling excited about eating.

I started having B12 shots in October and then I got an outbreak of spots on my face, chest and back. Not sure what caused it, but the spots are still around. One good thing I have noticed a lot more recently is that my skin feels silkier than normal and although I have spots on my face, it looks healthy.

Bananas are great, hands down, but I think sometimes you can exhaust a particular food. Now I really appreciate my banana smoothies and I look forward to getting up for one after my morning jog.

I haven't taken a recent photo, but I shall update the post tomorrow.

Fruit it up everyday!

Much love

Jennifer x

Tasty Tuesday

It's Tasty Tuesday and also the last day of 2013!

To me the start of a new year means change. I always try to think of ways to enhance my life and improve what I already do. For me this year I will focus more on my diet (as in what I eat on a daily basis) and my fitness.

So, without further ado here are some of the foods I will eat in 2014.

A heck of a lot more fruit smoothies!!

And a heck of a lot more greens!

May you choose to do something life changing in 2014. 

Love and best wishes

Jennifer x

Tasty Tuesday

Hello again! It is Tasty Tuesday, which means you're in for a treat.

I dedicate this post to tasty smoothies as it's what I have for breakfast everyday! They are simple to make and as long as you have ripe fruit you can make whatever you dare to experiment with!

This is my breakfast smoothie, 10-12 bananas, an entire head of romaine lettuce (and not the small ones you get from the supermarkets, I mean HUGE!) and some water. Blend it up and serve in your biggest jar

If I remember rightly, this is bananas, strawberries and water. I know summer has gone now but it would be such a perfect reminder (if you can still buy fresh strawberries) of how summer tastes! (I have some frozen)

Now this one is about 5 bananas and 4-5 sharon fruit, with water. I wouldn't exactly write home about it, but it's a great way to increase your iron intake! I much prefer to eat sharon fruit whole but these were a little too far gone for eating so I blended them!

I guess it's a juice more than a smoothie, but this is watermelon juice mmmm...
p.s. it is a jar not a vase :P

This is my usual breakfast smoothie (banana and lettuce) but I added spirulina. I shall not do that again! In fact I do not want my spirulina so message me if you're interested.

My drinks are so colourful, why would you want anything else?! Fuel your body with fruit sugars and it will reward you.

So...for those of you who do not know me, I am "trying" to live a 100% raw vegan lifestyle. Now it has many ups and downs mainly because of having to unlearn to like foods I have eaten for over 20 years (I am 100% vegan so that was probably the biggest challenge for me, especially as I "loved" lots of dairy). 

Once we start eating fruit for breakfast and then lunch and snacks in between meals we do not crave biscuits, cakes, sweets, etc because we are being satisfied from the fruit. I was a chocoholic, ate whole packets of biscuits and even ate 3 cakes in a day regularly in my previous jobs, so for those who do that right now there is hope and you can stop! 

I mainly struggle with cooked foods because when it is cold I have always had hot food. It's just something I am trying to unlearn and relearn. This lifestyle is all about learning and it is amazing, especially when you have great people around you (join facebook groups, meetup pages, etc).

Well I am not a tattoo kind of gal, but I thought maybe if I had one on my hand I would reconsider what I put in my mouth to eat... so here's my vision..

What are your thoughts? Will you try a smoothie if you haven't already? Will you experiment more with the fruit you use? Do you like my tattoo idea? Am I actually influencing you to eat more fruit and veg?!

Much love

Jennifer x