PULSE THOSE PLUMS

Recipe: Plum Power Smoothie

Time taken: Ten minutes tops

Ingredients: 2 plums, 1 banana, 1 tablespoon of porridge oats, 150ml of vanilla yoghurt

Hi readers!

It’s Wednesdayyyyy! The half way mark of the week. You’ve made it half way, you can DEFINITELY make it the rest of the way now. Today, for me, Wednesday’s been pretty busy. I had a big push this morning to transcribe an interview, having lost the entire of yesterday to hangover-gate. And I did! Interview Number Ten is in the bag!

To celebrate, I needed a midday boost before I headed out for more action-packed student stuff. It was time to blend something! And what do I have in great quantities right now? PLUMS. I sort of went crazy and bought a lot of plums. A big lot. So I made up a plum smoothie recipe, to use some plums up and so I could get my daily plum hit!

 

Here’s how to recreate the smoothie magic, in 5 easy steps…

1. Chop up your plums and your banana.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Make sure to take the stones out of the plums. Choking on a plum stone is not what you want in life. Because you want life.

2. Chuck them in your blender.

3. Add a tablespoonful of porridge oats.

4. Add about 150ml of vanilla yoghurt.

5. BLEND IT UP. Serve in a tall glass.

Here’s how my baby looked!

Up close, you can seeeeee the goodness.

Now, I must say, this smoothie turned out thick. It was potentially thicker than a McDonald’s milkshake. I’m talking THICK. In the end I ditched my straw and switched to glugfuls. I loved this but if you don’t enjoy thick smoothies, maybe switch some of the yoghurt for milk instead or just use a teaspoon of oats rather than a whole tablespoon.

And enjoy your fruity, pink smoothie! What do you think to plums in a smoothie? Success? Sublime? Super fantastic? Or… sort of gross? SHOUT IT OUT.

And smoothie safely,

Hayley

GETTING FRUITY WITH A FRIEND!

Recipe: Christmas Smoothie

Time Taken: 10 minutes (and only that long because I was chatting away)

Ingredients: 1 ripe banana, 200ml vanilla yoghurt, 300ml cranberry juice, 1tbsp porridge oats, 1 tbsp maple syrup, a pinch of ground nutmeg (these ingredients are enough for 2 tall glasses)

 

 Hi everyone!

I hope you're all well today and the sun is SHINING, either really in the sky, or as that's unlikely at this time of year, maybe just from inside you. A November glow. Happiness.

So today, food's been nothing much to write about, but snacks got crazy! Today I've been transcribing interviews for my dissertation and this is very dull work. You have to hear yourself speak on tape (awful), you can't listen to music (awful) and you're listening to conversations that were only ever going to be interesting the first time around. A health kick-approved treat was in order!

Also today, I had company! Someone came to see meeee. A friend!

My friend popped over for a good catch up and saved the day so I didn’t have to do more transcribing. Legend. Instead of transcribing, I got busy hosting. And took this very seriously.

So my friend, Woody, he’s a proper student. He eats often but chefs rarely. He was the perfect candidate for me to try out a new recipe on!

As you know I'm a big believer in the Morrison's Christmas Magazine (I'm not being paid to promote it, my love is genuine) and today I happened up on the perfect recipe inside... a Christmas Smoothie!

It's got really simple ingredients and looks very tempting in the magazine…

In my eyes, Woody was the PERFECT smoothie candidate because he…

Drinks girly drinks

Likes to try new things (I believe an animal was harmed)

And is impressed by anything prepared for him

Soooo, with my victim greeted and seated, I got my blend on and created something AWESOME. Here's how you do it:

Into your smoothie maker you put...

1. 1 banana, cut up into pieces

2. 200ml vanilla yoghurt (I've got fat-free in a big tub for occasions like this).

3. 300 ml cranberry juice

ChefBeHere Top Tip: If cranberry juice isn't something you normally buy, give it a go! Get some in for this recipe and if there's any left after your ensuing smoothie craze, you can use the rest of the carton as a mixer for nights out! Amaretto and cranberry is one of my favourite alcoholic drinks.

4. 1 tablespoon of porridge oats

5. 1 tablespoon of maple syrup (the original recipe called for honey but I’ve run out of this, so I subbed syrup in instead and said a prayer)

6. A pinch of nutmeg (this is an optional festive touch)

 It makes a craaaaaazy brain-matter-alien-type mix

 

Then you whizz it all together and voila! It's Christmas Smoothie time.

So today I served my smoothies alongside some of the baked plums that I blogged about on Monday, and they worked really well together. As a pair they made for some extremely Christmassy flavours, and they were really pretty looking to serve as a light offering for my friend, while we chatted and caught up.

And we both really enjoyed the smoothie! This smoothie was lovely and thick, and the recipe filled both of our glasses right to the top. The smoothie tasted very sweet and banana-y, but differently fruity too. It was a new taste. Woody seemed most pleased with his plums and his smoothie.
 

Feedback... Maybe the cranberry could have been stronger? It’s possible that my oh so liberal ‘pinch’ of nutmeg was responsible for drowning out much of the cranberry flavour. Or that cranberry in juice form is just no match for an overly ripe, super-sized banana beast. Or maybe we should just up the amount of juice? Who knows.

REGARDLESS of this, I might faff around with the quantities a little, but overall this came out superbly well. I recommend the smoothie and I really recommend spending time with a friend! Put them together and what have you got?? A lovely afternoon. :)

Well readers, what do you think of today’s Christmas Smoothie?? Rate it or hate it? Let me know and shout out any other smoothie recipe ideas you've got! Together, we'll blend our way to December, when the real Christmas recipes can come out...

Smoothie safely,

Hayley