Monday 8 February 2016

Apricot and passionfruit smoothie, plus a salad and a spinach dip

Just before Christmas I planned a post about some of the healthier food I was eating in the midst of all the indulgent baking.  I never had time.  So while I am not cooking much that is bloggable (it is either old recipes or a bit of this and a bit of that), it seems a good time to catch up.  However only the smoothie seems worth blogging.  I also made a spinach dip that was really similar to one on my blog and I made a great salad but in the festive craziness forgot to write it down.

We make smoothies quite regularly but I rarely post them now as they are often quite similar (like this smoothie).  However this one is worth sharing because it uses two of my favourite summer fruits: apricot and passionfruit.  It is perfect for a summer breakfast.

We made the smoothie with vanilla yoghurt which I don't usually use.  Around this time, we stopped having yoghurt and muesli or rice bubbles for breakfast, so I really wanted to finish pots of soy vanilla yoghurt and dairy vanilla yoghurt.  The yoghurt made it very creamy and delicious.  Which reminds me that I should make some more muesli soon.

I also intended to post this baked spinach dip that I found on Rock Your Vegan Socks.  Kimmy's photo was really gorgeous and made the dip queue-jump my to do list.  The dip was really delicious but then I found I had posted a really similar spinach dip recipe a couple of years ago.  We had it with sweet potato mash and roasted red capsicum strips wrapped in sourdough flatbreads

For Kimmy's dip I followed the recipe closely, just using spinach instead of kale and sriracha instead of ground pepper.  I highly recommending heading over to check out Kimmy's blog to check out her kale dip.

And then there is the salad that looks beautiful but I never had time to write the recipe.  Such is the crazy time of year.  It was inspired by Woolworths food magazine's Wild Rice and Lentil salad.  Mine was quite different as it didn't have feta and beetroot. 

The salad had a base of wild rice, brown rice and brown lentils.  These were topped with spiralised carrots, spring onions, walnuts, avocado and parsley.  I think the dressing was just oil, vinegar and garlic.  Spiralising the carrot was not great for this salad.  Grated carrot would work better.  And the avocado, that I used instead of feta, was delicious but avocado is suddenly so expensive that I am less likely to use it right now.  I would like to return to this salad and maybe might even remember to write notes next time.

I am sending the smoothie to Healthy Vegan Fridays, Gluten Free Fridays and No Waste Food Challenge.

More smoothies on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Banana, berry and plum smoothie (gf)
Green smoothie (gf, v)
Raspberry, apricot and pumpkin smoothie (gf, v)
Strawberry cheesecake smoothie (gf)
Tropical orange and carrot smoothie (gf, v)

Apricot and passionfruit smoothie
An original recipe from Green Gourmet Giraffe
Serves 2

1 banana, peeled
2 apricots, stoned
seeds and pulp of 2 passionfruits
1 cup milk*
175g vanilla yoghurt*
1 handful rolled oats
1 tsp chia seeds

Blend

NOTES: We use soy milk but other milks should work.  I made it on different occasions with soy yoghurt and dairy yoghurt and either were fine.

On the stereo 
Fin de Siecle - The Divine Comedy

13 comments:

  1. That smoothie sounds so nice and fresh, I really fancy one right now! And the spinach dip also sounds fascinating.

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    1. Thanks Veghog - both were great in the middle of the festive season when I needed some healthier food

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  2. I'll be adding both the smoothie and the spinach dip to my to make list too! The salad looks pretty as a picture - I long for weather that necessitates that kind of meal...!

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    1. Thanks Joey - hope you enjoy - and am sure some salad days will be here before you know it - though in this summer they come and go!

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  3. I am not normally a smoothie fan, but this sounds delicious!

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - I love smoothies but this was a notch about our usual ones

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  4. That salad looks like it has so much great crunch to it!! :D And colour too-I always gravitate towards colourful food.

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - the salad was nice and crunchy and colourful - and it is easy enough to make without a recipe.

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  5. I really love the sound of this smoothie Johanna. It is full of ingredients I have regularly (well, apricots depending on season) but I've never combined them in a smoothie form. Definitely something for me to try when I can get my hands on summer fruit!

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    1. Thanks Kari - I think it would probably work with tinned apricots too but don't know how easy it is to find fresh passionfruit in the UK

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  6. Apricot in a smoothie sounds lovely. Now why have I never thought of that? Also loving the addition of oats and chia.....

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  7. Such a lovely way to use up yogurt. I'm a smoothie fan, for sure! Thanks for sharing with the No Waste Food Challenge! :)

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  8. I rarely buy fresh apricots but they must be lovely in a smoothie with banana. I love the sound of that salad too!

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