Banana Oat Smoothie

This makes a great quick breakfast smoothie. I was drinking them almost daily for a while, just to break up the eggs-and-toast nightmare routine. (Okay, it wasn't really a nightmare--I like eggs and toast--but seriously, every day?)

Banana Oat Smoothie with cinnamon instead of cocoa.

You can play around with this quite a bit--try different greens, or some spices like nutmeg or cinnamon (those are really good in this, actually, with or without the cocoa powder). It's fairly forgiving because of the oats, banana, and cocoa powder. Together, they cover a multitude of flavors. (And when it looks like chocolate, even little kids will drink it!)

This recipe makes one good-sized mug full.

Ingredients:
1/3 c. oats
handful of spinach, rinsed
2 Romain lettuce leaves, rinsed
2 bananas
1/3 c. milk (or nut milk or whatever you prefer)
1/2 t. cocoa powder

Directions:
1. In blender, grind up oats until very fine. Add spinach and lettuce and grind again until greens are pureed. (A bit of liquid goes a long way in this, so if they're taking their time, pour in just a teeny bit of water or milk to help it go down.)
2. Add remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth.

Eggnog

This eggnog is really easy.

5 eggs - separated
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. heavy cream
1/4 c. milk
vanilla and nutmeg to taste

1. Beat whites until foamy. Beat yolks until cream. Fold whites into yolks.
2. Add 1/2 c. sugar to eggs. Blend well.
3. Add heavy cream and milk. Blend well. Add remaining sugar. Blend well.
4. Add vanilla and nutmeg to taste. Keep cold.

AVOCADO SHAKE

We love to go to Truong's, a wonderful restaurant on Saipan that specializes in Vietnamese food. We especially love the fried lumpia (served with romaine lettuce, bean sprouts, noodles, and mint leaves--oh man! I'm getting hungry!), and their wonderful avocado smoothies (which they now start to make as soon as they see Casey come in the door!)

Although nothing will come between us and going to Truong's (except maybe waiting for a paycheck...), we currently have 8 HUGE avocadoes sitting on our kitchen counter, so I've been doing a little web research and here's the recipe I'm going to try:

AVOCADO SHAKE

1 medium to large ripe avocado
2 - 3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
8 ice cubes
1/2 cup milk

Swirl it all up in the blender until the ice is crushed and everything is nice and smooth. Tweak it to your taste! :)

I've read that it's better if it sits in the fridge for a few minutes.
I've also read that in Indonesia they put a little chocolate syrup (ala Hershey's) around the wall of the glass before pouring the shake in so that it drips down the inside--that sounds like maybe I'll have to try TWO!

Leave a review if you give it a try.

Mango Smoothie

2 or 3 ripe mangoes, peeled and sliced off the pit (Was that necessary? Oh well.)
1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup milk
6 - 8 ice cubes, chopped up

Just put everything in a blender and blend on high until smooth. Coconut milk may be used in place of regular milk for more of a mango pudding result.