We are almost at the end of our quarantine summers, ready to enter the monsoon season — and also, dun dun dun… Back to our professional lives! While we wake up lazily to get ready for a day full of tasks and duties, there is rarely any time to prep a hearty breakfast. Yes, we all want the eggs, dosa’s and fried Bombay toasts plated for us — but waking up at 6 AM can be quite a task on a lovely cold rainy morning.
Need a tasty but yet quick breakfast on your table or to-go? Smoothies are super-easy and pack in a bunch of nutrients to kickstart your mornings — at work, or at the gym — or simply while you spend the day catching up on house chores. No overcomplication, a quick whizz on the blender, and voila! — a nutritious breakfast in your glass in minutes! Here are my top 5 go-to smoothie recipes for a nutty, crunchy and nutritious beginning to my days:
6-Color Wheel Smoothie:
There are just 3 base ingredients to this recipe, and the fruit and vegetable can be added as per your choice for the smoothie colour of your choice — one colour every day is quite a boring way to live our days!
Main ingredients:
1/4th cup Greek yoghurt/cashews
½ cup ripe banana mashed
½ cup water — room temperature
Add these ingredients along with ½ cup chopped fruit and ½ cup chopped vegetable of your choice to a blender (list per colour below) and blend until smooth.
Hot Pink Smoothie: Raspberries, Beetroots
Light Pink Smoothie: Strawberries, Cauliflowers
Green Smoothie: Avocado, Baby Spinach
Orange Smoothie: Orange, Carrot
Purple Smoothie: Blueberries, Red Cabbage
Yellow Smoothie: Mango (or Pineapple), Pumpkin
Note: These can be made a night prior and refrigerated for a next morning consumption too!
Oatmeal Breakfast Smoothie:
Skip the porridge bowl and blend some oats with fruits and dairy for a quick and nutritious start to the day. All you need is:
1/4th cup uncooked oats
½ ripe banana, mashed
½ cup Greek yoghurt or homemade curd
¾ cup mangoes, chopped
¾ cup strawberries, chopped
¾ cup milk or your choice of dairy (almond milk, soy milk, etc)
Method: Blend all the ingredients until smooth. Consume, or refrigerate if you like your smoothies cold
Carrot Ginger Turmeric Smoothie: Orange you glad we found a perfect immune-booster smoothie for your cold & lazy mornings. Turmeric is the perfect ages-old antidote to any ailment, inside or outside or bodies, and ginger is the perfect way to charge yourself up for a big day ahead! All you need is:
2 cups carrots 1.5 cups water
1 large ripe banana, mashed
1 cup fresh pineapple, chopped
½ tbsp gresh ginger, grated
¼ tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup unsweetened almond milk, soy milk, normal milk (the choice is yours)
Method:
1. Use the carrots and water to make carrot juice. Keep aside ½ cup of the juice.
2. Blend the rest of the ingredients along with ½ cup carrot juice for a perfect orange kick-starter!
The Hearty Smoothie:
An apple a day keeps the doctor away — let’s always believe this. A lovely red smoothie is all you need for a pick-me-up morning or afternoon. All you need is to blitz the below ingredients for a power punch to your day!
2 small raw beetroots — peeled and roughly chopped
1 small apple — peeled and quartered
50 grams of blueberries
1 tsp grated ginger
300 ml of water
Peach Smoothie:
Make the most of this perfect monsoon fruit, one of my personal favourites — nothing beats the fresh tang and flavour of a juicy peach! A great source of Vitamins C and A, peaches also offer a good amount of fibre that helps with your digestion. All you need to do is give the below ingredients a quick whirl in the blender and you’re good to go!
1 banana, cut in chunks
2 ripe peach, pitted & sliced
30 grams low-fat yoghurt, or homemade curd
¼ cup orange juice (fresh is always better!)
1 cup small ice cubes
At the end of the day, it only matters how you like your smoothies — adds some honey if you like them sweeter, some more greens for a larger portion of fibre and some nuts to give it a crunchy protein! My favourite thing to do is mix in some of my ready Gouri’s Goodies cereal mix or a chopped up Dark Chocolate Energy Bar into the already made smoothie — an indulgence in itself! So, get started with your own version of your favourite smoothie — the perfect go-to when you need a quick breakfast or mid-meal snack! But always remember, too much of anything is rarely a good thing — a good balance of ingredients including protein, carbs and healthy fats is the perfect path to good nutrition!
Written By Gouri Gupta
Week 28, Jul ’20
