Gingerbread Smoothie
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| Gingerbread Smoothie |
It’s December and the holidays are in full swing! It’s the most wonderful time of year! It’s also the time of the year and the season when most of us get a little out of control with our eating and drinking habits and binge on all kinds of heavy hors d’oeuvres, confectionary treats, and cocktails because we’re at more social functions whether it be a work party or Christmas or other holiday parties. People seem to get in the baking mood as well and bring all kinds of goodies to the office. It’s also MY birthday month (December 12th if you wanna sing to me or send a colorful balloon bouquet) and I have several celebrations throughout the month.
Now, I’m not going to tell you to NOT indulge a little because after all... it IS the holidays and it only comes around once a year. However, if you don’t want to have to make that typical New Year’s Resolution of “losing weight” and “getting back in shape” it’s a good idea not to get too crazy.
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| With my friend Jeffrey at my 12/12/12 birthday dinner at the Brown Derby at Disney's Hollywood Studios. |
As I mentioned, December is my birthday month and I have a lot of friends that I like to celebrate with throughout the month and we usually get together for dinners or lunches so what I usually try to do is balance things out. For example, the other night my friend Jeffrey took me to dinner at the Brown Derby. I had a flight of martinis which were three small drinks that probably was equivalent to one VERY large martini drink (delicious). We both ordered the Blue Jumbo Lump Crab Spring Rolls which are fried as an appetizer. Umm... AHH-MAZING! We both ordered the appetizer size Cobb Salad as our entree and I ordered mine without the turkey and bacon since I don’t eat meat, but it had LOTS of really yummy blue cheese and fresh avocado! And of course because it was my birthday we HAD to have dessert! The server recommended the Banana White Chocolate Toffee Tower, which I ordered and it was as decadent, rich and delicious as it sounds!
Now because I had such a rich and fattening dinner, the next day I balanced things out: I ate light and worked out. I had a green smoothie for breakfast, fresh cut veggies (broccoli, zucchini, celery, carrots) for lunch, sweet potato hummus as a snack and miso soup with two veggie spring rolls (made by my mom) for dinner. Okay, well the veggie spring rolls were fried but I only had two and I ate so light the whole day I didn’t feel bad about it.
Anyway, according to the Book of Donna it’s okay to indulge a little during the holidays... just make sure to balance things out and not go crazy for EVERY meal and continue to exercise. OR... you can try having my delicious Gingerbread Smoothie when you’re craving something sweet! It’s like having a gingerbread cookie in the form of a delicious, healthy smoothie! And in case you didn’t know, ginger has many great qualities about it. It has anti-inflammatory and anti-viral properties and is great for treating nausea.
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| Benefits of Ginger - found this on Health & Organic Wellbeing's Facebook page. Like their page - they have great info! |
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| Fresh Ginger |
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| What's a Gingerbread Smoothie without a little gingerbread man? |
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| Gingerbread Smoothie - Delicious! |
This recipe I created is great and the raw cashews make it nice and thick that it seems like a milkshake and makes you feel like you’re having a dessert! So if you’re craving something a little sweet, but want to have a “healthy” treat - try my Gingerbread Smoothie!
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| The ingredients for Gingerbread Smoothie. |
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| If you don't have a good protein supplement try adding vanilla yogurt. I love using So Delicious Vanilla. |
What’s your favorite food or drink to indulge in during the holidays? Iced sugar cookies? Hot cheesy dips? Festive colorful cocktails? Tell me! And I’ll sit back and fantasize about them while I enjoy my healthy, guilt-free Gingerbread Smoothie. Please let me know if you try this recipe and what you think! Hope you have a happy holiday season!
Gingerbread Smoothie
Ingredients:
1/2” Fresh Ginger, peeled
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1 Banana, frozen *see tip
1 cup Almond milk (or milk of choice)
1-2 Tbsp Black Strap Molasses
8 Raw Cashews
1-2 Scoops Vanilla Protein Powder ***OR***
3oz Vanilla Yogurt (I used So Delicious non-dairy)
4-6 Ice Cubes
Directions:
Place all ingredients in blender (I used my NutriBullet) and mix until blended. Sprinkle with more cinnamon or nutmeg if you wish.
Tips:
*The key to making the “perfect” smoothie is having the right amount of frozen items whether it be the fruit or ice and liquid. You may need to add more milk or ice depending on how thick you prefer the consistency of your smoothie to be.
*Use EITHER the protein powder OR yogurt, but not both at the same time. I use a plant-based/vegan protein (brown rice and pea protein) that I buy from my chiropractor who created his own formula and sells it at his practice here in the Central Florida area. It is the most amazing and best tasting plant-based protein supplement I’ve come across, but is not available on-line yet so I created the yogurt version which is So Delicious! I always switch up how I make my smoothies so I don’t get bored with them. I like to use the So Delicious brand because it’s non-dairy, soy free, has no GMOs and taste “so delicious” just like their name!
*I always freeze my bananas ahead of time so they are ready for smoothies. Check out my Pinterest board for instructions on how to freeze them - this method also works with other fruit (I’ve used it for papaya and pineapple). http://pinterest.com/TheBookofDonna/great-tips/
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