Topped with toasted coconut and sliced almonds
So this is only day 2 of my weaning myself off of caffeine, and I feel like this:
Copyright Melissa Iwai 2005
All I want to do is sleep. Which probably means I am sleep deprived. Which is why I decided to stop drinking coffee in the first place. I have been struggling with insomnia and stress, and hopefully this will help with that. Unfortunately, I have a lot of work to do, and my daily coffee seemed to help make me so much more productive! Have any of you dealt with this issue? Any advice or tips you can give?
In the meantime, I’m still trying to keep a healthy lifestyle. I’m still drinking my smoothies. Jamie too. Remember this one? It’s his favorite Chocolate Banana Smoothie (with Secret Ingredient).
These days, I drink one daily and it’s a riff on Jamie’s Chocolate Banana Smoothie and my Strawberry Bliss Smoothie.
Strawberry Banana High Fiber Smoothie
It has the frozen fruit, spinach (whoops! there goes the secret!), and pysllium husk that those have, but I’ve also added protein powder and coconut milk as well. I often try to make it as thick as possible so I can eat it with a spoon. I top it with a little toasted coconut and almonds, and it makes me feel like I’m eating a soft serve ice cream for breakfast. This is especially nice in these hot summer months!
I toast unsweetened coconut and sliced almonds on foil in the toaster oven.
I keep frozen banana, various fruits, frozen spinach in a bag, and frozen coconut milk in the freezer at all times.
One can of Trader Joe’s Light Coconut Milk fills one ice cube tray. How convenient!
I freeze the coconut milk in an ice cube tray. One cube equals 2 tablespoons, if you are curious. When it hardens, I transfer the cubes to a ziploc freezer bag and store for future use –i.e. almost every morning.
This is what I put in the blender:
The fruit I used this time was nectarine, but that varies.
Frozen Coconut Milk, Banana, Nectarine, and Spinach–pretty!
I know it looks green and icky, but it is SOOO good!
Here’s a more Martha Stewart photo for ya!
Coconut, Spinach, Chocolate Protein Smoothie
2-3 ice cubes
1/4 frozen banana (I slice them and freeze, so this is about 4 slices)
1 cube of frozen coconut milk (or 2 tablespoons)
a handful of other frozen fruit — I use nectarines and strawberries often
1 teaspoon psyllium husk (if you want more fiber — also it acts as a thickening agent. You could also use Chia Seeds)
a little less than 1/4 cup milk (or almond milk if you want to keep it vegan), depending on how liquid you want the final to be
teaspoon of toasted coconut and almond for garnish (optional)
1. Crush ice cubes in blender.
2. Pour in remaining ingredients and blend. If you make it thick, like mine, you need a tamper to press everything down — I use a Vitamix. If you don’t have a tamper, I would just keep stirring it every now and then by hand to remove clumps, and blend again.
3. Pour into a wide rimmed glass or bowl and top with crunchy toasted coconut and almond topping if you desire!
