The festivities are now over, and the new year has kicked off. Start right: incorporate healthy meals into your daily diet, like this Green Detox Smoothie that can be eaten for any meal or as a healthy and energy boosting snack. If you are in Milan and want to learn how to make delicious smoothies :: frullati and other healthy meals, come join me tomorrow at the Smeg store. Sign up asap (the event is tomorrow: Thursday, January 21st!), on the Smeg Moscova website.
In today’s fast paced world, it’s not always easy to eat healthy :: mangiare sano. I’m often tempted to buy ready-made food, especially when I don’t have a lot of time or don’t feel like cooking. However, I try to resist. I always check the nutritional facts on the back of the product. If it’s made with whole, natural products, then it’s okay for me. If it’s made with a bunch of ingredients that I can’t pronounce, then I put it back on the shelf—no matter how good it looks.
Since living in Italy, I’ve learned how to cook simple: a good wholesome meal, often requires just a few ingredients. Instead of buying a ready-made packaged rice meal filled with conservatives that you can cook in 20 minutes, I make a creamy pumpkin risotto from scratch in 25 minutes. (It’s worth the extra 5 minutes!) Instead of buying a pasta sauce, I can make a homemade spaghetti with red wine tomato sauce in 17 minutes. And, if I’m really rushed for time, I can make a healthy and filling smoothie in 5 minutes. Below is a recipe that I created, but you can experiment with what you have in the refrigerator. You can substitute the fresh spinach with Swiss chard :: bietole, kale or other leafy greens. You can replace the coconut milk with regular milk, almond milk or water. You can add different fruit like mango, berries or pears. Eliminate the chia seeds or replace them with others like flax seeds or hemp seeds.
Try mine below or create your own, just follow the simple green detox smoothie measurements:
1 cup of leafy greens
+
3/4 cup of a liquid base
+
1/4 cup of ice
+
2 cups fruit
- 1 cup (40g) fresh spinach, washed and dried
- ¾ cup coconut milk
- ¼ cup ice
- 1 cup (150g) pineapple, outside and hard core removed
- 1 medium-sized banana
- ½ teaspoon chia seeds (optional)
- Blend the spinach, coconut milk and ice together. Then add the pineapple, banana and chia seeds until smooth. Pour the smoothie into a glass and drink immediately or cover with plastic wrap and store it in the fridge for later. Consume within 1-2 days.
- Notes: frozen fruit can also be used.