Happy 2018, friends! If you’re still recovering from New Year celebrations (and/or a whole lotta holiday travel like us!), I have just the recipe to kick off your January. It’s refreshing and light with an immune-boosting bonus—something I think most of us could use right about now! I know I could.
We had a fun whirlwind of a holiday week! How did yours go? The four of us took a road trip to see Eric’s parents, then headed west to visit my family in Alberta. Since our stay at my parents’ house was only four nights, we opted to keep the kids on eastern time. I have to say this strategy worked out so much better than the last visit. Both kids slept well (aside from one night) and were pretty happy during the day!! If we were staying longer, Eric and I would’ve gradually shifted them to mountain time, but for this visit we didn’t see a need to. It felt like a huge win. Parents, how do you handle changing time zones with your kiddos in tow? I think this was the first small success we’ve had. (Still worth celebrating, though! Ha.)
Now about those flights!! Oh man. Arlo is now 15 months old and very active, so he was our biggest challenge on the four-hour flight to Alberta. Nothing kept him happy for long, and we tried everything: toys, snacks, iPads, nursing, walks, etc…. He just wanted to move and get off that flight! Who can blame the little guy?! Arlo definitely inherited his “can’t-sit-still” gene from his mama.
We also had an eventful trip home, to say the least! First, our carry-on bags were flagged going through security (they said it was due to some small baby food pouches—apparently their texture can trigger the alarm even when removed from the bag), so the screening officers pulled us aside and spent about half an hour going through everything (and I mean everything…they opened every single marker cap, searched Eric’s wallet, and asked us additional questions for their documentation). Even poor Arlo was patted down. At that point I was starting to feel emotional, but tried to hold it together because we needed to focus on making our flight. I have a lot of respect for the security process, but this threw us for a bit of a loop. We made it to the gate just in time!
Then, about halfway through the flight, Adriana had an allergic reaction. Luckily it wasn’t severe and she’s totally fine now. The concerned cabin crew called a medical emergency over the intercom and told everyone to clear the aisle. A doctor on board the flight rushed to check on her and everyone nearby turned to see what was wrong. He was such a kind man and had a wonderful bedside manner (aisle-side manner, lol?). Boy, an experience like that really makes you appreciate the GOOD people in this world. During all of this, Arlo was super fussy, nursing- and nap-striking through the whole fiasco. And I was SWEATING, lol. At one point Eric looked at me and said, “We are officially that family on the flight!” Bahaha. Travelling with kids is so humbling, isn’t it? If I had a free hand on that flight, you can be sure it would’ve had a drink in it! Needless to say, we are very grateful for all of the kind people who helped us and to have gotten home safely in the end. I hope you all made it through your holidays okay too!
Anyway, I wanted to share our little travel tale to let you know that if you faced your own family adventure over the holidays, you certainly weren’t alone. ;)
Okay, back to the energizing recipe that kept me powering through our holiday shenanigans! I created this smoothie in December for a fun TV segment with etalk’s Traci Melchor. I’ll be sure to share on social media when the episode is scheduled, so please stay tuned if you’d like to see us in action and catch all the smoothie-making fun! It should be airing this month. I had such a blast chatting with Traci about all things breakfast and OSG. She and her kids are also huge smoothie fans and make one every day. Luckily (and to my huge relief) everyone on set LOVED this bowl—including the cameramen! They were feasting on leftovers after our show. I wish I had a picture of that. It was a proud moment.
New Year Glow Smoothie Bowl
Yield
2 1/2 cups (625 mL)
Prep time
Cook time
0 minutes
Total time
This creamy, dreamy, tropical green smoothie bowl is perfect for giving yourself a bright boost during the winter months! Mango and clementine add a tangy burst of flavour, and these nutrient-packed fruits are a great way of sneaking in some extra vitamin C during cold and flu season, too. Anti-inflammatory ginger is great for digestion, and avocado lends this smoothie bowl a thick, creamy texture. If serving to kids, you may want to omit the matcha green tea powder (due to its caffeine content) and ginger (which can be a bit spicy for little ones). If you’d like a portable smoothie on-the-glow, feel free to thin it out with more liquid and pour into a thermos for easy drinking. Since there’s no banana in this smoothie, I find that it can be made the night before without impacting overall flavour and texture the next day.
Ingredients
For the smoothie bowl:
- 3/4 cup (180 mL) water*
- 1 heaping cup (145 g) frozen mango chunks
- 1/3 cup (55 g) packed avocado
- 1/2-inch piece (7 g) peeled ginger, or to taste
- 1 cup (30 g) packed fresh baby spinach
- 1 small (75 g) clementine, peeled
- 1 very large (30 g) pitted Medjool date**
- 3 ice cubes
- 1/2 teaspoon matcha green tea powder (optional)
For the toppings:
- Diced fresh mango
- Vanilla Super Seed Granola or granola of choice***
- Raspberries, blueberries, and/or strawberries****
- Hemp hearts
- Clementines, segmented and chopped
Directions
- Add the water into a high-speed blender followed by the rest of the smoothie bowl ingredients. Blend on high until smooth.
- Pour into a bowl and add toppings as desired. Serve and enjoy!
Tip:
* Feel free to use coconut water if you like a sweeter smoothie.
** If your blender has a hard time blending dates smooth, you may want to swap the date out for a teaspoon or two of pure maple syrup. It also helps to use a very fresh date as they’re softer and blend easier. You may also be able to omit the date all together and use coconut water as your base for sweetness.
*** You can find the recipe for this granola in Oh She Glows Every Day, p. 33.
**** If fresh berries are out of season, feel free to use frozen or swap them with banana slices for your topping.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
By the way, if you are an OSG App user, you can also find this recipe in The Oh She Glows Recipe App (iOS/Android)!
I would make two modifications here. First, don’t peel your ginger. Ginger peel has as much medicinal value as the rest of the root. Plus, it’s such a tedious process.
Two, I would skip all sweeteners in the granola. In my experience, there’s already so much sugar in the fruit that there’s no need to add more.
I make my own granola every few weeks and it stores fine in a cabinet at room temperature. As long as it dries out thoroughly during and after toasting, I don’t have a problem with spoilage and have never needed to keep it in the fridge.
Hey Ben, Peeling ginger is tedious for sure! I don’t typically peel mine as the Vitamix does a great job blending it completely smooth. For those without powerful blenders though I would recommend peeling it.
I was looking for a reset after all the indulgent food eaten over the last few weeks. Just made this smoothie bowl and it was delicious!!! Thank-you Angela for your wonderful recipes.
Hey Nancy, I’m so happy you enjoyed it so much! Thanks for your review. :)
This recipe sounds so delicious! I’ve been adding avocados more to my smoothies so I’m excited to try this one. I love ginger too :)
I also have a 15month old boy and I am a bit fearful of our first flight with him too.. but we have lots of parent friends who’ve gone through it (with stories like yours haha) so it helps put our minds at ease a bit more.
Hey Kate, I hope my story didn’t scare you..haha. I’m sure your little guy will do great! It was an all around “off” day for us. ;) I’d love to hear what you think of the smoothie if you try it out. I’m obsessed with adding avocado in my smoothies…so fluffy and thick!
This bowl looks amazing, I just bought some matcha so I’ll have to try it! When we flew internationally with my then 11-month old, he cried hysterically for the first two hours of the flight. He is such an easy going baby so this was really out of character and I was sooo flustered (it was an overnight flight and everyone was trying to sleep). Luckily we survived and four months later my husband and I laugh about it.
Oh Mallory, I feel anxiety just thinking about that flight experience. Totally been there! Time seems to tick by so slowly too. lol.
I can’t stop making this!! Love LOVE this smoothie bowl. and basically all your recipes!!
Thank you!!!
I’m so glad you love it so much Keli! Thanks :)
I noticed the raspberries look dried, where do you get them? Are they dehydrated or freeze dried?
Hey Doris, They’re actually frozen ones! :)
This is really delicious, better than I expected. I followed the recipe exactly and it was perfect. I made a whole bunch and they are in the freezer so all I have to do is take the chopped combo out and put in a vitaminx with water. I froze the avocado, clemantine, added green tea as well as every other item and everything froze well without any problems. I love that you give the weight of the ingredients. It is so much easier to weigh than measure. Thanks for this recipe!!
Hey Janine, Oh thank you so much for the detailed review! That’s so wonderful you love it so much.
So this is amazing. I LOVE smoothie bowls, but never tried one with ginger. I love it! I did use a bit less water (a little more than 1/3 cup), but only because I like the thicker texture. I’m thinking about adding a little lime juice next time, too. My favorite smoothie bowl topping is coconut yogurt – but gotta eat it fast or it tends to start to freeze :)
I think lime juice would be a great addition…love that zing! So glad you enjoyed it Laura :)
Hey Angela, just coming back to say how much I like this smoothie bowl. I’ve not used ginger much, but I’m really starting to like it, all thanks to this bowl :) I really want to try some of the smoothie bowls in your book (already tried and love the Chocolate Dreams one), but am having a hard time pulling myself away from this one.
Yay, that’s wonderful you love it so much! It really is a nice use of ginger. I want to try it with some fresh peeled turmeric sometime too. I get on smoothie kicks myself and don’t want to make anything else. If you have my second book you should try the reset button smoothie…it’s a nice refresher too.
Will do! I looked at the reset smoothie recipe this morning and will try it out. It does look and sound refreshing! I’m trying to make all the recipes in your second book by the end of this year (I got the book for Christmas). I’ve made a good dent in it so far – I randomly open up to three pages throughout the week and make those recipes. I always see fresh turmeric at the grocery, but have never tried it. Your thought may give me a push! (And I’m liking another commenter’s suggestion to leave the ginger unpeeled – I didn’t know the peel was edible.
I love the idea of opening up to a few random pages and making those recipes! Happy cooking…I’d love to hear which recipes are your favourites at the end of the year! :)
Hey Angela, just wanted to pop back to say I tried this smoothie bowl with peeled fresh turmeric instead of ginger, like you mentioned. It’s fantastic, so thanks for mentioning it! It was my first use of fresh turmeric. I used a bit less than the amount of ginger called for in the recipe, since I wasn’t sure if it would be an equal swap. I may try to increase it next time around.
Hey Laura, Oh so glad the fresh turmeric worked out! I have some in my fridge right now and I’ve been popping it into smoothies for a little anti-inflammatory boost. :) Thanks for letting me know!
Angela – Seriously. I’ve had this smoothie bowl every morning for the past 2 months. And also had it with dinner instead of a raw green soup sometimes, too. And I’m still making my way through your most recent book, but seems I keep making the same recipes (a pattern!) because I can’t move on. The cracker recipes are probably my favorites, right after the Peanut Better Balls – those are all so good! Thank you for your hard work for us all!
Wow, I love how much you lovet his smoothie bowl! haha. That’s so awesome Laura. Thank you for the kind words about my book too! You just reminded me that it’s been too long since I made the crackers. :)
Dica maravilhosa! Obrigada por compartilhar! :)
Wow! Made this recipe for my family and it was delicious. I love how the mango makes the smoothie so creamy. I too like to add fresh tumeric to my smoothies for all of it’s antioxidant and health benefits. I have learned so much from reading this book about all of the amazing benefits tumeric has to offer.
Just had an idea for the dates if they are not fresh, you could soak them in boiling water until soft, use the soaking water when cooled as part of the water in the recipe. I like the idea of the coconut water as well.
Your books are my kids’ favorites, they often browse through them to find something new to make. I’ve started making smoothies for them in the morning, because they are teenagers and “too busy” (aka they don’t want to wake up early) to eat breakfast. I generally do a smoothie and a something else for the young one who is starving in the morning. But this sounds lovely for a weekend breakfast. I’m not big on smoothies myself. I try but I like the pleasure of chewing my food… so maybe a smoothie bowl would work for me. As an aside, the other morning after I stayed up too late and got up too early, I was making a frozen berry and coconut yogurt smoothie and it looked like ice cream. Added more coconut yogurt and it had too much of a yogurt taste. Next time I will just call it a smoothie bowl and add some extra frozen fruit and granola on top. I make a batch of your granola at least once a week, stored in a mason jar and whenever I turn around it is gone….
Hey Kit, Wow, that’s so wonderful to hear…thank you so much for letting me know! I love a good smoothie bowl too. Adding all kinds of toppings makes it new and fresh each time. I can’t wait until summer when berries are delicious and abundant again. And I love that you make a batch of granola each week. Do you have a favourite granola recipe of mine? I love the nutty granola clusters from book 1 and the cherry hazelnut granola from book 2.
This looks delicious. Great idea. I’m going to try it.
What is one serving size for this and calories?
I am so excited to try this tomorrow for breakfast! It looks so good!
So delicious and looks great too. Makes healthy eating look good, which is incredible. I think everyone should learn to make this smoothie bowl, just to recover from holiday overindulgence. Would love to see more of these recipes, please keep them coming.