Summertime in London is….interesting. The weather constantly changes – one day it could be in the high 60s and chilly and another will be absolutely scorching hot. Add in the fact that nobody has screens and air conditioning is hard to come by and the hot days feel that much hotter.
When faced with a British heatwave, my flat quickly becomes unbearable. As a result, I crave cold yet nutritious smoothies – like this vibrant green mango, banana and spinach protein smoothie. Sweet yet satisfying and packed with wholesome ingredients, braving a British heatwave just got that much easier.
Recipe: Vegan Mango Banana and Spinach Protein Smoothie
Serves: One
- 1 Small to medium banana, peeled, sliced into pieces and frozen overnight
- ½ Cup sliced mango, frozen overnight (you can put them in a freezer-safe ziplock bag to save time)
- 1-2 Handfuls of spinach (aka cram as much as you can in your blender)
- 1 Scoop Vega One Vanilla Protein Powder (UK link here)
- ½ Cup water (more as needed depending on your blender)
- Ice (optional, but great when it’s hot!)
I use a NutriBullet (UK link here) to make my smoothies and it works wonderfully. I splurged on one when I moved to London in 2015 and two years later, it is still going strong. I use the smaller cup option when making smoothies, mostly for portion control. Plus, I find the line useful that you are supposed to fill the liquid up to.
I highly recommend freezing the banana and mango ahead of time. When bananas are frozen and blended, the end result is a great, creamy texture. You unfortunately do not get the same result when they are not frozen. I do not freeze my spinach, but you can if you want!
I also highly recommend using a good vanilla flavored protein powder. My personal favorite is Vega One – every flavor of theirs is great (UK link here)! I discovered them when I lived in Boston and was BEYOND delighted to see that they are now stocked at Planet Organic, Holland & Barrett, Amazon and Whole Foods in the UK now, among others. Vega One is vegan protein powder with pea protein that packs a mega vitamin, mineral, omega and fiber punch. It was created by a vegan tri-athlete to be healthy, delicious and nutritionally dense. What I like about it is that it tastes great and it does not have a grainy, chalky or artificial type taste / texture to it compared to others on the market. It is a touch sweet as it’s sweetened with Stevia, so FYI if that’s not your thing.
For the liquid, as mentioned, I use the line on my NutriBullet cup, which I believe comes out to about half a cup. Feel free to play around here based on your desired smoothie consistency. I personally find thick smoothies that you can eat with a spoon (like a smoothie bowl!) more satisfying and filling.
You could also substitute for coconut water, almond milk, orange juice or green juice as desired. I personally like water because it is hydrating in the morning and does not add any additional calories. Also, Vega One is stevia sweetened, so other drinks with sugar could render the smoothie too sweet, but that is totally your call to experiment with.
Check out the nutrition stats below from the Spark Recipe Calculator! Forgive my hack job on parsing the two screen grabs together. Not my best work, but at least I provide ’em. So many bloggers don’t (le sigh).
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