I make an awful lot of smoothies - and it’s all thanks to the Green Monster Revolution. I never thought that a simple smoothie could be a delicious, fulfilling meal in itself - but prepare to be amazed! Come with me on a journey through blenders and fruit…

Step 1 - The Base.

The most important component of your smoothie. What is it that’s going to make up the majority of your smoothie? For me, it’s usually spinach, but other greens work too, like kale or collard greens, but they have a more leafy, bitter taste. Spinach is so great because it tastes of absolutely nothing but is packed with nutritional benefits. It’s such an easy way to get vegetables in to your breakfast!

If you’re a little dubious about packing greens into your smoothie, a banana is always a great start. Spinach and banana are a winning combination. And if your blender can cope with frozen fruit, a frozen banana creates a thick, milkshake like consistency, which is always a fab thing.

Step 2 - The Fruits.

More often than not, I’ll just have spinach and banana, then some fancy pants additions, but no more fruit. However if you want some extra flavours, colours, or just have some fruit lying around you need to get rid of - throw it in! I personally love berries, blueberries in particular. I keep a big bag of frozen berries and defrost them as I need them, because it’s much cheaper. (My blender can’t take frozen fruit.) Pears also make a nice addition.

Step 3 - The Liquid.

Ah, the liquid. What takes your smoothie from being just a big mush of fruit and/or veg to an actual drink - so it’s pretty darn important. I go for half unsweetened soya milk and half ice cold water. Soya milk is the most protein packed of all the non-dairy milks, and I’m lactose intolerant, so it’s great for me - but use dairy milk if that takes your fancy. Greek yoghurt is a fab thickener and an easy way to incorporate more protein in to your diet. Ice is always good, too, to thicken it up and make it icy cool and refreshing.

Step 4 - The Fancy Pants Additions.

Here, you can add absolutely anything, or nothing at all. I like to add about a tablespoon of peanut butter - but any nut butter would work - for extra protein. (Argh, again with the protein Freya?!) Yup, sorry. It’s what keeps you fuller for longer. Vanilla, cinnamon, ginger etc. all taste wonderful in relatively neutral tasting smoothies, and if you want to add a little sweetness - try agave syrup, as it’s low GI and won’t cause a spike in your blood sugar levels. Cocoa is also lovely. And blackstrap molasses, if you want to create a gingerbread flavour. Flax seed and chia seeds add omega-3s and if you have protein powder, why not throw that in there too?

Step 5 - The Toppings. (Optional)

I like to put things on top of my smoothies and eat them with a spoon rather than gulping them down, as it makes them feel more like a meal, and adds more texture and crunch. Usually I have a handful of low-sugar wholewheat cereal flakes, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. Nuts, small fruits like grapes and blueberries and any low-sugar, unprocessed cereals are awesome, and look pretty in photos. :)

To give you a rough idea of proportions, this is what I make most days, and it keeps me full for up to five hours.

-4 cups tightly packed spinach, 1 medium banana, 1/2 cup unsweetened soya milk, 1/2 cup water, 1 tbsp peanut butter. Topped with a small handful (about 1/4 cup) of wholewheat cereal and a teaspoon each of sunflower and pumpkin seeds.

I hope this helps and gets you blitzing away! :D

Step 1. Lightly toast two slices of wholewheat bread and spread a thick layer of hummus on one slice.

Step 2. Layer on the crisp, washed veggies. Spinach;

Grated courgette/zucchini and carrot.

Step 3. Add a drizzle of sweet chilli sauce and some freshly ground black pepper.

Step 4. Bread.

Step 5. Cut in half, admire, eat it like the healthy vegan pro you are.

The recipe comes from here.

I was cooking for my brother too, so cooked two portions of wholewheat spaghetti, then added 2/3 of the ‘pesto’ sauce. I added some dried tarragon, a little more soy sauce, nutritional yeast and soya milk to add more moisture, and roasted some pepper, courgette and pine nuts in the oven at 200C/400F for 10 minutes, with olive oil and black pepper.

I then mixed in half the veggies/nuts and placed the remainder on top of the pasta with some finely spliced spinach, and voila! Delicious, vegan and both veggie and protein packed. Om nom nom.

If a fussy twelve year old boy likes it, I’d call that a success. Even if his did have melted cheese on top…

The recipe originates from here, and instead of lemon quinoa I toasted a wholemeal wrap to create tortilla like chips. It was pretty tasty, but you should definitely make it in the morning and reheat at dinner time for the flavours to really come out. :)

It involved baking an aubergine (eggplant) for 1/2 an hour, then scraping out the insides and mashing it all up. Very therapeutic!

Post baking -

Post “scraping” -

Looks appetizing, right?

Once everything was added, it looked a whole lot better.

I quartered the recipe as it’s originally for 4, but I found it created about 1 and 2/3 portions, unless you just have the curry by itself, without quinoa/rice/tortilla chips etc.

The breakdown… (per portion, serving 4)

Not bad, eh? And it’s vegan. Awesome.