It’s a balmy -17°F in Chicago and so obviously it’s smoothie season!
Honestly, I just needed to recover from all the salted-pomegranate fudge and See’s chocolates I consumed in the span of 2 weeks. People can’t quite put their fingers on why there’s such an excitement in the air around the holidays. Well I can. We get to eat ourselves silly and live in the old fat pants with zero judgement. Except maybe still a little judgement.
But then January 1st hits you right upside the head with the Victoria’s Secret email update with the skinny and the blonde and the hair and the metallic monokini. Now, this is that pivotal moment when you realize that for the holidays you were supposed to be doing nonstop cardio and not eating all the butterscotch squares in those fat pants or the onesie pajamas that I just can’t imagine living without, now that they’re in my life.
Don’t you just love the natural transition of it being half-expected to be practically eating out of a trough for the whole of the holiday season, to suddenly waking up on the 1st of January and slapped with the notion that you better be a starving Amazonian Victoria’s Secret angel or you’re just no good. I know I do! So much fun.
None of that is normal. Especially the Amazonian angel part. The trough part hits a little closer to reality. Let’s be real. It’s America in the 2010’s.
The truth is that we just don’t really know what to do when it comes to food because we live in such a disconnected and dependent era where we not only rely on others to tell us what to eat, but to also provide us with food we cannot easily source on our own. It’s not our fault. But it’s sort of our fault.
In the end, we can take some control back in our own kitchens, within our own bodies, and be sensible and forgiving. I ate that fudge and chocolate with no second thoughts, just pure bliss. But making sure to keep the fruits and veg in is always necessary and always delicious. Keep it balanced to give yourself what you deserve.
Why not just eat what you want as long as you listen to what your body actually needs? And hopefully they align most of the time. Listening to your body in that way is a really good practice that I was naturally forced into learning, living with autoimmunity.
OK, THE SMOOTHIE!
Since most people arriving at this post only care about the pictures and the recipe and maybe a description, I’ll leave you with just that:
This is such a healthy, incredibly delicious, easy, fruity, tropical smoothie. It’s layered, so obviously you could just make two different smoothies out of this recipe and they’d be amazing on their own, or you can impress and do the layered deal even though it doesn’t take much added effort.
I love love love the combination of mango with peach and I don’t think it can be beat, especially with a kick from the cayenne and ginger. And ginger is just about as good as it gets to eating your medicine so you don’t have to eat actual medicine. What I mean is that it isn’t an apple a day that keeps the doctor away anymore. It’s gingaaaah!
The second layer is raspberries with pomegranate and some banana to sweeten and mellow out the tart flavors going on. It’s so delicious on it’s own, like the first layer, but the two just complement each other so well, and it’s kind of just really pretty. I also love tasting them separately and then together as well. It makes me want to be in the Caribbean so badly and not in Chicago in the dead of winter.
So happy smoothie-making, my friend! And also, try playing around with flavors you like or think would pair well together. There really are endless possibilities with smoothie ingredients and they are an amazingly filling, healthy breakfast or snack.
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As always, love, health, and happiness to all of you!
Mango-Peach & Pomegranate-Raspberry Tropical Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 large ripe Mango or 2 small/medium
- 1 large ripe Peach or 2 small/medium
- ½ inch cube of Ginger
- A small pinch of Cayenne Optional
- 1 cup Raspberries
- ½ cup 100% pure Pomegranate Juice
- 1 ripe Banana
Instructions
- Rinse your fruit (unless it’s pre-packaged frozen fruit).
- If you’re using a fresh mango, peel and cut the mango into large pieces. The video shows how I peel and cut mangoes for smoothies.
- If you’re using a fresh peach, slice it in half and remove the pit.
- Add the mango, peach, ginger, and a pinch of cayenne to a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour the smoothie out evenly into two glasses.
- Rinse the blender.
- Add raspberries, pomegranate juice, and 1 peeled banana to the blender and blend until smooth.
- Carefully pour over the mango-peach layer in the glasses.
- Top with some extra fruit and maybe a little bit of the cayenne. Enjoy!
Can’t wait to try this one!
I hope you love it! It’s so easy!
Bita joon I love this smoothie! The colours and I know the flavours are just so beautiful, plus it’s super healthy! It ticks all my boxes for delicious food 😀 (Thanks for dropping by my blog btw, sorry I hadn’t been able to see it until now 🙂 )
Thank you so much, Parisa joon! You’re always so sweet! And don’t you be sorry at all! I was late to look at everyone’s posts anyway 😉 ! xoxo!!