A strawberry banana smoothie is a much-loved classic. In my continued attempts to add more vegetables to my diet, I swapped out frozen riced cauliflower for ice cubes. It was great! So here is my update to the usual strawberry banana smoothie by adding frozen cauliflower.
Strawberry Banana Smoothie with Frozen Cauliflower
Discovering the versatility of cauliflower has brought us everything from cauliflower puree in place of mashed potatoes to riced cauliflower in place of rice. It’s even been turned into flour for cauliflower pizza crusts. Have you tried it in smoothies yet? Works great. Add a half cup of frozen riced cauliflower instead of ice cubes and blend away. It adds about a gram of both protein and fiber to that smoothie, which is alway a good thing. You can add more, if you like.
Frozen Riced Cauliflower
You can buy bags of frozen riced cauliflower at markets like Trader Joes (and others these days), or make your own. To make your own, chop up a head of cauliflower and process into rice sized bits in a food processor. Spread it on a rimmed baking sheet and freeze, then scoop off and place in an airtight container for the freezer. It would be fun to do this with the purple cauliflower to add color to your smoothie. Will try that next.
If you toss a bag of pre-riced cauliflower into the freezer, it freezes into a lump, but you can break it up with your hands.
Strawberries and Bananas
For the berries, I use fresh whole strawberries. Bright red and juicy, strawberries are a low sugar fruit providing many healthy benefits. Strawberries are a great source of vitamin C, fiber, manganese, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients. And be sure to buy organic, as conventional strawberries have high levels of pesticide residue. Strawberries are always on the Dirty Dozen list. In fact they are number one for 2017.
For the banana, choose a greenish one. Green bananas are a good source of something called resistant starch, which the friendly bacteria in your gut microbiome love. Green bananas are also lower in sugar than ripe ones.
Special Smoothie Additions
While you can make a simple smoothie with just berries, banana, frozen cauliflower and some almond milk, I like to jazz it up a bit. Try 1 cup of almond milk and 1/4 cup of canned coconut milk for creaminess. Add one scoop of brown rice protein powder for clean, plant-based protein, a tablespoon of organic acacia fiber for more fiber, and sometimes two tablespoons of ground organic flaxseeds for fiber and protein. To sweeten, use berry liquid stevia drops by Sweet Leaf.
In the heat of summer, try these frozen popsicle smoothies!
Strawberry Banana Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/2 cup frozen riced cauliflower
- 1/4 cup canned coconut milk
- 5 whole strawberries
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed optional
- 1/2 dropper full berry flavored stevia drops
- 1/2 small greenish banana
- 1-2 scoops protein powder of choice
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