Smoothie: Flu-Buster Shake

How to know which smoothie to make today? I have a simple answer: check which fruits / greens would likely go bad first and then make up a recipe from there. 

Most days, as you would most likely see in my FB photo album, it's really an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink smoothie :D

OR.... check out some smoothie books like Smoothie Power: 80 Power-Packed Smoothie Recipes for Every Day and Everyone by Irina Pawassar & Tanja Dusy. My husband gave it to me as a gift/pasalubong from his Singapore trip last year. I like this book because it is straight to the point with the recipes & quantities, but still quite engaging because of the bright pictures. Like a look-and-do book! It literally shows you, in picture form, the approximate size, number of slices, what a handful is for them, etc. 

This is what I reach out for on days when I don't want to thumb through my other smoothie books teehee! :)

So Daddy A & I decided that with the fruits / greens stock that we have, what he would like was the Anti-Flu Shake. The citrus fruits packs on the Vitamin C while the ginger helps to strengthen the immune system. If you follow TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine, you'll find that ginger is one of the warming ingredients and is also good at fighting off viruses/bacteria. We did not add honey to this because it doesn't taste bad naman (also not bitter) and we're also trying our best to be more plant-based in our meals and drinks.

The original list of ingredients calls for the following:

• Juice of 1 lemon
• Juice of 1/2 of an organic orange with peel
• A couple of slices of ginger (to taste)
• One organic kiwi (with peel)
• 1 apple
• 1 tsp honey

We tweaked it to our liking and came up with this:

• 1 Orange with pith (but not the orange-colored peel)
• 2 thin slices of ginger
• 1 kiwi (without peel)
• 1 apple
• 1 mango
• 2 bananas
• handful kale, handful spinach, handful camote tops
• Maca powder
• Flaxseed meal

Post-grocery tip:

1. Bananas - they usually bruise easily. If you plan on making smoothies more frequently, you can peel some and freeze in bag. I like the large & semi-sweet variant, just not sure if it's Lakatan or Latundan. Bananas make smoothies more creamy so if we have it, most likely I'll add it to the mix even if not called for in the recipe :)
2. Spinach - try to plant some. Or can also be frozen in bag.
3. Ginger - Sometimes it already sprouts before I even get to finish a big one yikes!! You can also grate / slice some, freeze on a tray and then transfer to your freezer bag. When you need one, you can just take what you need from your freezer stash.

Cheers!!! :)

I use the Vitamix 5200 for our high-power blender needs :)