Vegan Almost-Like-Tropical-Ice-Cream Pineapple Nectarine Smoothie

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Hannah

That stupid stupid vicious cycle of demon-doom whereby you can’t sleep because the stress won’t stop clawing at your consciousness and blurring your vision despite your attempts to calm yourself down by singing Air at 3am in a faux-happy-semi-hysterical voice (just watch me spark / I glow in the dark) and then the dragging sense of tiredness that turns your shadow into anxiety because how can you possibly get everything done you can’t you feel sicksick about it and also you don’t have any forks at home only spoons and your new housemate is moving in and you still haven’t bought a bathmat for the shower and you really can’t keep using a towel for that purpose any longer and you hate that you’re downing paracetamol but you have to think straight and now the dentist is giving you your own personal plastic syringe and then you’re laughing so hard during your 11am coffee-making rendezvous at work that you and Jenni both collapse on the floor and you remember that life is brilliant and ridiculous and searing and breathless and knife-like and charming and there is somuchsomuchsomuch to look forward to and be thrilled about and half the fun is not knowing where you’ll be in a year’s time and sometimes a purebred huge fluffy puppy a giant giant puppy on the street this giant puppy worth thousands of dollars licks all the way from your ankle to your knee in one swift puppy-tongue movement and if that’s not a good omen then what is?

It’s times like these you need a wonderful smoothie.

The kind of smoothie that’s so thick it’s like ice cream, and so full of sweet-fresh-zingy-in-season-vibrantly-stunning fruit that every sip (or spoonful) is like taking a step away from anxiety and a step closer to the kind of giddy delight that makes it all worthwhile.

Frozen bananas, juicy pineapple, crisp pristine white nectarines, sweet vanilla, rich coconut milk, and a scoop of Sunwarrior to help you take on the world.

This smoothie.

My happy place: smoothie, blog-reading, The West Wing, sunlight.

Vegan Almost-Like-Tropical-Ice-Cream Banana Pineapple Nectarine Smoothie

Serves 1

1 large banana, frozen in slices
½ cup frozen pineapple, in chunks
1 medium white nectarine, chopped
½ – 1 scoop Vanilla Sunwarrior protein powder (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup coconut milk (or more, if you want your smoothie to be more smoothie-like than so-thick-you-must-eat-with-a-spoon-like-soft-serve)
dash of cinnamon, to taste

Blend everything in your Vita-Mix , adding more milk of water if you need or want to (you made need to in a less high-powered blender, but it’s up to you), to an almost-smoothie-almost-soft-serve consistency.
Sip slowly, reveling in the fact that this smoothie is almost as refreshing as sleeping.

Question Time: Where is your happy place? I must admit, the above photo is but one of mine. That said, it’s a good’un!

I’m adding this to Ricki’s Wellness Weekend event and Lisa’s Allergy-Friendly Lunchbox Love.

The Strawberry Rose Smoothie Of My Dreams

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Hannah

This Strawberry Rose Smoothie is the most delicious smoothie I’ve ever made.

It’s the smoothie of my dreams.

(It could well be the smoothie of your dreams, too, if you’re willing to give it a try.)

Truth be told, this creation is actually the smoothie of my insomnia-before-the-dreams, as it came to me in a vision at 3am. (Right before I saw Gizmo’s shadow creep across my wall and, panic-stricken, completely stopped breathing. However, I soon remembered that Gizmo himself isn’t dangerous, and so I calmed down.)

In the shimmeringly hot summer day following that insomniac night, I couldn’t stop thinking about a frosty smoothie made with sweet strawberries, a hint of rosewater, creamy almond milk, and something, something, something to give it a jazzy edge.

I needed the jazzy, you see, because post-Melbourne life has been lacking in pizzazz.

There was the usual anticlimax of coming home after an exhilarating holiday, but that wasn’t all. There was also the strange mélange of sadness and guilt that comes with being the one who ends something. There was the uncertainty of a work situation in flux, the hopelessness of being unable to fix things for people you care about, and dropping a canister of sprinkles all over the kitchen floor. Sticky-crunchy-sadface.

But soon enough and sure enough, little things appeared to make life dazzle again. There was uncontrollable giggling over Facebook-banter with someone who’s popped back into my life. Texts and tweets from people who knew what was going on and wanted to send smiles and support. Promises to drink Butterbeer at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Chocolate. An email full of ridiculously cute animals and a link to this website (Thanks Jess; every time I read “Missing Missy”, I feel proud to be Australian*). Having enough sprinkles left to create a smiley face on my peanut butter toast.

And, of course, there was this smoothie. This perfectly sweet, zingy, creamy, frosty, fruity, perfect perfect Strawberry Rose smoothie, with its ruby strawberries, hint of rosewater, nutty almond milk, and dried tart cherries to gave it a jazzy edge.

My Strawberry Rose Smoothie was everything I wanted and imagined it to be. The small scoop of dried sour cherries nicely balanced the sweetness of the strawberries, and the rosewater and vanilla were subtle enough to create a taste that was not so much floral as queen-like and ethereal.

Yes, I just described the flavour of this smoothie as “queen-like and ethereal”. No, I don’t know what I mean either. All I do know is that, right at this minute, I’m walking on sunshine. And that’s all that matters.

Strawberry Rose Smoothie

Vegan, Dairy-Free, Optionally Raw
Serves 1

3/4 – 1 cup almond milk (homemade for raw version)
1/2 tsp rosewater, or more to taste
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (200g) frozen strawberries
2 tb (13g) dried tart cherries
sweetener to taste, optional

Throw everything in your blender and blend to the most glorious, pretty, refreshing, deliriously wonderful smoothie of happiness. If possible, enjoy whilst fluttering over exciting dreams.

Question Time: Have you ever dreamed up a recipe in the middle of the night? And what excites you about this coming year?

* Speaking of, Happy Australia Day! Vegemite Tim Tams Bonza Mate Beneath Our Radiant Southern Cross Damper Lorikeets Cockatoos Platypus Wattle Esky Hills Hoist How’s The Serenity to you all!

I’m submitting this to Ricki’s Wellness Weekend, and Lisa’s Allergy-Friendly Lunchbox Love, first time in weeks and weeks. Hurrah!

Raspberry Pineapple Smoothie, The Calm Before The Storm

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Hannah

As I write this, it’s raining raining lightning hailing raining cool-breeze-beautiful-blue-flashes crackling crashing storming outside and I want to run out my door and spin around in the wind and lift my head back and woop and twirl holding hands with my brother while performing a made-up Madcap Helter Pelter Skelter Rain Dance together just like we did when we were kids at the coast and he afterwards said for the very first time that he was glad he had a sister and I was so happy so happy so happy I could burst.

But it’s late, and I’m scared that if I run outside in this wildness I might never stop running.

And so I’ll write about the smoothie I made earlier instead, while the lightning intermittently turns my room from dark-grey to diamond-blue-white and the floor rumbles beneath my feet as I imagine lions in the skies roaring at each other with a passion that defies reality.

I spy with my little eye… a Telstra Broadband stick, cinnamon, free mints from the plane, a business card from someone I met at a work meeting, the little box for my glass dharma straw, a fantasy novel, and my keys.

This Raspberry Pineapple smoothie is raw, vegan, made of only four (or five, or six) ingredients, perfectly balanced between sweetness and tanginess, thick and creamy, and exactly what you need on a 32 degree just before the heat breaks with one of the strongest, scariest, beautiful-est, longest, and crackling-est storms you’ve ever experienced.

This smoothie is also the perfect elixir to power you through an exuberant, breathless, gasping-sobbing, who-cares-if-the-world-sees Rain Dance… but I won’t tell if you won’t.

Raspberry Pineapple Smoothie

Serves 1

1 heaped scoop (25g) Sunwarrior Vanilla Protein Powder
1 cup (100g) frozen pineapple
1 medium banana, frozen (remember to peel and slice before freezing)
2/3 cup (80g) frozen raspberries
1 cup-ish cold water, or as much as you need to blend to your desired consistency
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
coconut, to garnish (optional, but scrumptious)

Place all ingredients in a blender (Vita-Mix, wooooot!) and blend to creamy thick refreshing incredible sweet deliciousness.

I’m submitting this to Ricki’s Wellness Weekend, huzzah!

Question Time: If you were in Canberra, what were you doing during the storm? Did it keep you up until after 2:30am, like it did me? If you aren’t in Canberra (and why not?), are you a fan of thunderstorms?

Pineappleberry Smoothie, and The Little Happinesses

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Hannah

It’s hard, sometimes, to ignore the way that society pushes us to idealise a picture-perfect life in which we’ve achieved all our grandest goals and thereafter spend our days simply counting our golden riches, basking in the opaque glory of our rise to unmarred excellence.

The truth is that there’s rarely any joy in pinning our hopes on such an end-point. After all, to do so is to risk missing the myriad little moments that make life worth living.

Like putting sprinkles on your morning bowl of porridge.

Or making a secret pact with your brother on the phone one night, a pact that takes some of the fear out of your respective futures.

Like when a dear friend shows up at your work with a tin full of just-baked-still-warm Milo shortbread, decadently rich and buttery and crumbly and divine and tasting of love, compassion, and friendship.

Or putting sprinkles on top of your peanut butter toast.

Like realising that overseas travel is finally, finally, a very real possibility again, and using this realisation as your own private talisman.

Or having a chest to lean into and arms around your waist.

Like finally breaking out your beloved Vita-Mix, for the first time in months, to make a thick, creamy, frosty, sweet, simple-yet-perfect Pineappleberry Smoothie on a hot flower-laden Spring afternoon.

And then putting sprinkles on it.

Pineappleberry Smoothie

As I’m currently devoid of measuring implements, I measured this smoothie by weight, but I’ll do my best to guesstimate the other measurements for you.
Serves 1, generously.

3/4 cup (110g) frozen pineapple
3/4 cup (110g) frozen blueberries
1 very generous scoop (25g) Vanilla Sunwarrior Protein Powder
1 cup soy milk (or nut milk)
water or more soy/nut milk, as needed
sprinkles, optional

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend away. I started with a half cup of milk but this was far too little to get the mixture blending, so I added rather a lot more as well as extra ice-cold water. I like my smoothies really thick and spoon-able, but if you like yours more liquid-y, then add more milk/water to your heart’s desire.
Garnish with sprinkles, if you feel like smiling.
Oh, and if you’re like me, serve in a bowl with a spoon instead of in a glass with a straw.

I’m sending this smoothie through to Ricki for her Wellness Weekend event and Lisa’s Allergy-Friendly Lunchbox Love.

Question Time: What little happiness has led you to smile today?

Spying on Not Quite Nigella at the Beaver Galleries Palette Cafe

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Hannah

Long before I myself started blogging, I was a dedicated fan of Not Quite Nigella and its effervescent and talented creator Lorraine. Glimpsed from afar (where “afar” means “over the interwebs”), Lorraine came across as someone whom I’d love to call a friend. Unfortunately, I knew that being able to do so was a pipe dream. Impossible. After all, even if I did start my own blog (and I did, clearly), why on earth would such a fabulous woman ever deign to talk to me? It was silly to even consider it.

Flash forward two years, and I found myself frantically running around the garden at Beaver Galleries with thirty seconds to spare before Lorraine would step outside to find me, having laughingly commanded me to “go make like a spy and hide”. Thirty seconds for me to attempt to triumph in Lorraine’s and my unique and personal made-up game of Spy-Hide-and-Seek.

And you know what? I totally won. I bet you can’t even see me; that’s how awesome I am at being an inconspicuous spy in any situation.

If two grown women playing Spy-Hide-and-Seek in public in broad daylight isn’t friendship, then I don’t know what is.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

As any of you who partake in Lorraine’s evocative and swoon-inducing tales of travel and food would know, our resident Not Quite Nigella lives a jam-packed life of adventure and is, subsequently, a rather elusive food blogging queen. Through comments on each other’s blogs and emails back and forth, Lorraine and I have built up a lengthy catalogue of shared interests and hypothetical plans to meet, but these plans have always been precisely that: hypothetical.

So you can imagine my incredulous joy when Lorraine invited me to be her sole guest during part of her recent whirlwind trip to Canberra. I’ll say that again: Incredulous. Joy.

We met at the Palette Cafe at Beaver Galleries, and shared two dishes from the brunch menu. The corn fritters with avocado, tomato, and red peppers (top of post) were lovely, with the sweet and slightly doughy fritters nicely offset by the creamy avocado and tomato salsa.

We also ordered the asparagus with scrambled eggs, shallots, and parmesan. This was a refreshingly simple and straight-forward dish, pepped up by the shallots and cheese.

Do you want to know one of the reasons why I love Lorraine?

It’s not just because of our mutual affection for True Blood, Liz Lemon, and eating cereal mixed with peanut butter after 10pm at night. I love Lorraine because she orders chocolate and ricotta crumble cake at 11am in the morning (that’s half the slice above), before the savoury dishes have even arrived.

I also love Lorraine because we both took absolutely and incontrovertibly seriously our months’ old pledge to dedicate time during our first real meeting to doing spy poses.

Seriously, we’re both so good a this “being invisible and stealthy and sneaky and disappearing-into-thin-air” gig that I’m not entirely sure why we haven’t both been recruited by a team of crime-fighting superheros.

Holy bucket! I can’t see Lorraine! I know she’s spying around here somewhere!

…

Photo courtesy of Not Quite Nigella

Look at those two identical statues! They can’t be told apart!

(Side note: Why is it that I’m always the [only] one who looks ridiculous during adventures like this? How do I get forced into these situations? Oh… right.)

Where’s,
Where’s,
Where’s,
Where’s Wally Waldo Lorraine?

I bet you can’t find me. Am I even there? Are any of us here at all? And if we are, why? Why are we here? What’s the meaning of everything?

Existential Spy-Hide-and-Seek… it’s the best kind of Hide-and-Seek.

To close this post, I think I’d just like to say that Lorraine is truly as magical in person as she is on her blog, that I’m incredibly honoured and chuffed to know in my heart that she’s a dear friend, that I can’t wait to tell you about the chocolates she brought me, and that if you want to check out her take on the day (and the rest of her Canberra adventures), click here!

Wayfaring Chocolate

adventures in chocolate, travel, cooking, and living

Tag Archives: Vita-Mix