Smoothie Sunday!

Welcome to one of the features of this blog: Smoothie Sunday! (Did I mention that I love alliterations? Actually today is Smoothie Superbowl Sunday!)

Well as you now know I have had a past life as a professional baker. In an even past-er life (high school and college :), I worked for a major fast food chain. Yes folks I admit it! The not-to-be-mentioned food chain, which claims to be America's favorite drive-in, had one shake there that totally owned me! Yep, around Christmas time I was always ready for their peppermint milk shake!

Peppermint teas have long been praised for their health benefits regarding all sorts of digestive issues from gallstones to irritable bowel syndrome.

There were no actual peppermint leaves in the shake from the fast food chain that shall not be named.

Well this is a healthier version of a Peppermint Shake packed a healthy balance of essential omegas, protein, and much more! I hope you enjoy it....and there are a few alterations depending on your taste for sweetness.

Peppermint Non-Milk Shake: makes 2 servings

Ingredients::

- ½ cup cashews soaked in purified water for 2 hours or more (I keep these on hand in the fridge)

- 3 tea bags of Celestial Seasonings Peppermint Tea (used to live near this wonderful tea factory and if you take the tour you get to go into a room filled with peppermint…overwhelming but a huge rush… I recommend it if you ever get to Colorado!)

- 1 cup boiling water

- 8-10 cubes of ice

- ¼ tsp pure peppermint extract

- 1 ½ cups of frozen banana or 1 ½ bananas, frozen

- 2 Tbsp Hemp seeds (Check out Hemp 101 from the Manitoba Harvest website for more info!) These babies act as a thickener for the shake!

(if using a Vitamix or other high powered blender, no need to pre-grind) if using a regular blender you will need to grind the seeds in a coffee grinder. Another option is 1 Tbsp of Hemp powder)

- Optional, dates (1-2 should be enough) or raw honey to taste, also if using a regular blender you may want to buy date paste instead of whole dates

Method:

- Boil 1 cup water and pour over three tea bags, steep and allow to cool for 20 or more minutes

- Squeeze out tea bags and add enough ice water to make 2 cups of tea

- Strain out cashews from soaking water and rinse

- Mix tea mixture, rinsed cashews, and remaining ingredients on high power in a Vitamix or other high powered blender for 30 seconds to 1 minute until blended smooth

- If using a regular blender, the blending time will be longer

Nutritional Information and Comparison:

Your typical regular-sized, fast food milkshake has about:* 610 calories, 23% daily cholesterol, 84 grams of sugar (mostly refined sugar), NO fiber, and 7 grams of protein…

…and about 15% daily Vitamin A, 30% daily Calcium, and 8% daily Iron value

This Yummy Peppermint Non-milk Shake (1 serving) has:*315 calories (12 more for each date added), NO cholesterol, 14 grams of sugar (just goes up 3 g for each date added), 4 grams dietary fiber (goes up 1 g for each date added), and 11 grams of protein…

…and about 3% daily Vitamin A, 3 % daily Calcium, 17% daily Vitamin C, 10% daily iron, the proper omega 3-6-9 balance of omega fatty acids, electrolytes like Potassium (7%) and Magnesium (22%), trace elements and essential minerals, and it’s whole food, raw, full of enzymes…the list could go on

*These are based on my calculations for the going nutritional values for the amounts and brands I use and also what companies post for their nutritional values. You may notice I don’t include fat content because there is a trend right now to “diet” by counting or eliminating fats. Personally, I do not support this dieting fad, and I think we should look at the types of fats we eat, not the amount.