Smoothies are all the rage these days, and the best are the ones you make at home.
Get creative with your smoothies – here are 10 ideas to kickstart your own blending habits.
A lot of these recipes call for healthy additions like flax or chia seeds. They're very good for you, but if you don't want to add these, or can't buy them nearby, don't worry about it. The main flavour of a smoothie comes from the fruit used.
Be sure to share your favourite fruity combinations using the Comments at the bottom of the page!
Pictured above, this vibrantly-coloured smoothie is comparable to eating a blackberry pie topped with ice cream. You can leave the harder to find ingredients out if you want to, as it'll taste great either way.
Quite an extravagant little drink this. The recipe calls for nectarines, plums, avocado, cherries, walnuts and Medjool dates. You could add more of one and less of another depending on your own preference and the availability of the various fruits. Packed with goodness, and incredibly drinkable.
Fuel for a sunny morning, with all the goodness of beetroot, pomegranate and orange juice. You couldn't enjoy a much healthier treat, as along with the delicious flavours you're getting a big dose of vitamin C and essential minerals that your body craves.
This recipe contains nearly all of your 'five a day', including spinach, which is an excellent source of vitamins K and A, iron, magnesium and more. Craftily, this recipe calls for frozen fruit – keeping a frozen supply at the ready means you don't get the unpleasant shock of finding that it has gone bad in the fruit bowl.
Perhaps not quite a smoothie, but close and, more importantly, delicious. Lassi is a type of yoghurt-based drink that originates from, and is very popular in, India and Pakistan. This lassi uses the fragrant zest and tart juice of a lemon along with sprigs of mint. Get fresh!
Sweet pineapple, tangy golden berries and a bitter twist of lime. You could also add a few cubes of mango or papaya to complement the flavours. This drink conjures up memories of warm days by the seaside, and is likewise best enjoyed sipped slowly outside in the sunshine. A tropical island in a glass.
This doesn't actually contain real cookie dough, but don't lose interest yet as sweet Medjool dates, ripe pear and raw pecans and almond milk do a very good impression of it. If you're hankering after a certain ice cream brand who do a very similar flavour, this might help to ease the cravings!
You can add a little kick to your smoothies by adding chilli powder. You might also experiment with fresh chilli, but be careful not to overdo it! The cool sweetness of the mango is a superlative companion to the heat, and this particular smoothie also has bitter goji berries and apple juice to balance things out.
You can use cold tea as the base for your smoothies if you like, and it's worth experimenting with a few different types to find one you like. Here, ooibos tea is blended with mixed berries and silken tofu to create a smoothie with a unique creamy texture. Sweeten with a little honey if you like.
Summer hasn't really arrived until you've enjoyed that first punnet of strawberries. Make the most out of them by blitzing them into this minty smoothie.
It contains avocado, Medjool dates for sweetness, and coconut milk for a creamy finish.
This is a classic loveFOOD recipe round-up
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