Smoothies While Traveling: Easier Than you May Think

November 23, 2016 by Sarah

So this chica is back in Ecuador for a month!! I studied abroad here 4 years ago and during that time, I found an orphanage that I completely fell in love with. I came again to care for the little babies that left a bigger impact on my heart than words can describe. I plan to volunteer at the orphanage as much as I can and do catch-up work for my photography business, which I’m so blessed to be able to do remotely. This year has been a whirlwind, and I felt like I needed a little time to get away to take care of myself, do something I love more than anything in me, and refocus to determine my goals for the upcoming year.

Well, part of taking care of myself involves food, of course! I pre-contemplated this before leaving and brought some ingredients I could use to make sure I was still consuming a nutrient-rich diet while here. Because I’ve lived here before, I was a bit familiar with what I could get my hands on and what produce I’d have access to. All in all, I’m banking on smoothies as being my daily go-to, and here is how I prepared for this:

From home, I brought:

chia seeds
hemp seeds
e3live Renew Me powder (this stuff is the absolute best and definitely worth the money!)
goji berries
stick blender and a mason jar *more detail below

(Ideas of other powders include protein, maca, ashwaghanda, any herbal powders like He Shou Wu, Reishi, Chaga)

Buying local foods:

If you know the region a bit, you may know what to expect, but even if you don’t after doing some research, you can still improvise! Being that I’m in the Andean mountains, I was hoping I’d find some local maca and cacao. Yesterday I wandered around and found some at one of the Artisan markets! I was stoked! The cacao powder also has ginger 🙂

I also found these exotic chocoalate bars, which was some extra icing on the cake!

But back to smoothies.

I knew there’d be bananas and other exotic fruits, like passionfruit, granadilla, tomate de árbol, that I could add to the smoothies so I picked up some produce today as well. If you bring some of the more expensive ingredients from home (seeds, powders, superfoods), you won’t need to spend as much while traveling. And as far as space goes, I just put them in smaller bags, and the food I brought really didn’t take up that much room. Now Ecuador is very cheap, but produce is in many other places as well. Keep this in mind when you’re trying to eat healthy. I bought everything below for LESS THAN $7.

*Equipment

As far as equipment, it definitely depends on what kind of trip you are taking. You may have a blender where you are going, and if you can, inquire at the place(s) you’re staying. When I was in Cabo San Lucas earlier this year, there was a kitchenette in the room with a blender. I took full advantage of that by making smoothies with chia and hemp seeds I brought with me. I am here in Ecuador for a month and did have a checked bag so I was able to bring this kind of thing along. Initially, I knew I wanted to bring a blender to make banana milk (because the only non-dairy milk they have here is soy milk), and I was going to bring a Shake N Take my mom gave me years back. Last minute, I decided to go with a Cuisinart stick blender and a wide mouth Mason jar instead because it’s much more powerful and better at blending and is not much bigger. It’s very, very portable and easy to clean. I’m staying in an Airbnb and have access to a kitchen, but it’s the family’s and is in a separate unit so I most likely will not be using it often.

I’ll conclude with the smoothie I made this morning!

It had water, two bananas, passion fruit, mango, tamarind, chia and hemp seeds, maca, cacao, and e3live powder! Since I don’t readily have access to a kitchen, I just rinsed the attachment from the stick blender with some water over the smoothie and then rinsed the jar with water and drank it when I was done. Then I was able to clean out the little bit of smoothie remnants that were left in the bathroom sink! It was super easy and worked really well. Unless you have a good place to do dishes, my advice is to rinse it right away so it doesn’t dry and get caked on 🙂

So there you have it! Do you have any thoughts or ideas for smoothies while traveling?! If so, leave a comment below!

How to Set Yourself up for Smoothie Success

November 28, 2015 by Sarah

Is there anything not to love about a smoothie? Other than cleaning the blender, which I’ll get to later in the post, there is pretty much nothing better than a good, nutrient-dense smoothie.

Here are a few of my favorite pointers for how to set yourself up so that making a smoothie is very simple to do anytime! Having something that’s easy to make and healthy like this when you are hungry is dynamite.

Make sure you have ample options of frozen fruit. First line of business, always buy bananas when you go grocery shopping. Always. At least just a bunch. They are perfect for every smoothie because even if you are not a big banana person, they add substance and a subtle touch of sweetness to your smoothie. I like to get them a little green, set them out for a couple days to a week on the counter to enjoy fresh and then as soon as they start getting brown spots, throw those babies into the freezer. Peel them first, break them in half or quarters and place them in a container. I like to reuse the plastic salad container you get when you buy greens (like Earthbound).Here is a picture of our fruit bowl with the older bananas and new bananas. We’re always just adding new ones and putting the others in the freezer. If you are eating bananas and making smoothies regularly, you will go through them weekly no doubt. Also, extra frozen bananas are a super plus because then you can make banana ice cream whenever you please!Second, stock up on produce that is on sale or in season, bring it home, cut it up and place it right in the freezer. You can buy bags of frozen fruit if you’d like, but if you get what’s on sale or in season, you may save some money. Plus, you get to enjoy many different varieties. Good options of fruits to include are pineapples, mangos, peaches, pears, grapes and all kinds of berries.
Don’t forget the greens. Another always when you go to the grocery store. Always pick up at least one bunch of greens, whether it be kale, romaine, spinach, chard, collard greens, you name it, you get it. Greens can be used for so many other things than smoothies, but always having a fresh bunch of greens in the fridge will allow you to add a big, fresh handful to your smoothie anytime. Adding greens to your smoothie is a fabulous way to eat up greens that are on their way to wilting. If you don’t have any fresh greens, it’s nice to keep a green powder on hand. My absolute favorite is e3Live Renew Me! powder. I also like wheat grass powders as well. Adding fresh mint to your smoothie is never a bad idea either 😉
Start building your pantry to include seeds and superfoods. Here is our new wall pantry, and we LOVE it. It makes it so easy to grab ingredients right off the wall to go into our smoothie. Superfoods and seeds help add nutrition to your smoothies so they are power packed and filled with what you need to embrace your day. Some of my favorites include hemp seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds, goji berries, shredded coconut, black sesame seeds, spirulina, maca powder, camu camu, mangosteen, ashwagandha powder, aloe and turmeric powder. These foods take time to acquire so don’t get overwhelmed. Keep your eye out for them and buy them when you feel they are most affordable. Sometimes we just buy them in small amounts (like goji berries) or wait for them to go on sale. Either way, start getting them into your pantry.
Add fresh juice from lemons and/or limes. These not only add a little flavor to your smoothie, but they’re notorious for promoting healthy digestion and cleansing. They also provide vitamin C and A and have anti-cancer properties.
If you hate the clean up (like me), consider investing in a stick (or immersion) blender. We actually only use an immersion blender now because our regular blender broke, but we love it more! We have a stash of large ball canning jars we use to drink out of and these are PERFECT for smoothies using the stick blender. All you do is place all your ingredients in the jar with some liquid (to make the blending go a little faster), and then place the blender in there and blend until smooth. Once you are done, you simply detach the blade attachment from the motor and wash it. Yes, you only have to wash one piece. And the jar you’re using to drink your smoothie out of. Easiest clean up imaginable. We bought this Cuisinart one off Amazon and are very satisfied with it. It works like a charm.

What are your favorite smoothie tips? Anything you do to make the process a little easier?

Rejuvenate Your Skin With a Drink Like This

November 4, 2015 by Sarah

The other day, my boyfriend and I were at the grocery store, and we came across a big aloe leaf in the produce section. We’ve bought aloe vera juice before but never just an aloe leaf so we thought we’d try it. When we got home, Paul went right to filleting that baby like it was a fish. He cut off all the skin and sliced the pulp in 1-inch wide pieces. I didn’t get the best pictures of the leaf and this process (my regrets) but here are a couple for visual aid.

Why would we want to consume the aloe pulp?

Aloe vera has medicinal properties and is full of vitamins and minerals, including 7 of the 8 essential amino acids. It has anti-inflammatory effects, is an adaptogen, natural detoxifier because of its gelatinous properties, may benefit the digestive and immune system, and is anti-septic, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. Interestingly enough, these properties are also giving aloe vera a boost in popularity in dentistry because of its safe and effective nature.

*Because it’s a medicinal plant, it shouldn’t be consumed in excess and for long periods of time. A little bit of aloe can be good but that doesn’t mean a lot is better. The sap contains abundant anthraquinones, which are powerful laxatives. Take precaution if you are pregnant, menstruating, or have hemorrhoids or degeneration of the liver and gall bladder. Also, after doing some research, I would not have cut the whole leaf at once like we did. Because the plant oxidizes when cut, I would have waited and cut it as needed.

That day at the grocery store, we also picked up some pomegranates and guava. Pomegranates are good for your skin because they contain antioxidants that protect against sun damage, can hydrate the skin and combat inflammation just like aloe vera. The vitamins C and K as well as lycopene in guava help generate collagen, work against discoloration of the skin, and promote healthy skin cells.

The best part was that this drink was filled with all sorts of health benefits while being as tasty as could be!

This recipe is not precise because I don’t exactly know how much of everything we put in there. Plus, I just like the idea of you adding more of what you like depending on your taste preferences whether that be more sweet, tart, minty or fruity.

One tip for the mint: I know I never liked buying mint because it just seems so expensive in those packages and goes bad a lot of times because you don’t get a chance to use all of it. My advice: buy a mint plant (and other herbs!). It’s truly the gift that keeps on giving. They are PERFECT for adding to smoothies and great for you too! Here’s my little herb box that sits in the window.

And lastly, you can add aloe vera to any smoothie. Here is one I made the next day with aloe vera pulp, frozen aronia berries, frozen pineapple and banana, and E3 Renew Me Powder.

Aloe Guava Pomegranate Drink

Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

Author: Sarah

Serves: 1-2 servings

Ingredients

1-2 tbsp. raw honey
1½ cup water
6 mint leaves
arils from 1 pomegranate
1 guava, peeled
juice from ½ lime
a couple segments of fresh aloe vera (can use aloe vera juice or pulp if you don't have access to fresh aloe vera)

Instructions

Blend all the ingredients together. You can blend with ice if you'd like it to be frozen or you can add ice cubes later for more of a chilled drink.
Strain juice through a mesh strainer to get all of the seeds out.
Enjoy!

With love,

Coconut Kiwi Energy Smoothie

January 29, 2015 by Sarah

Coconut Kiwi Smoothie

Coconut Kiwi Smoothie-26

Looking for something to energize your body for the day?

This smoothie combines hydrating coconut water with healthy fats and protein from the flax seeds, coconut butter, and almond butter. It’s a good way to get some greens in your body right off the bat, and the fruits add a nice flavor to this nice creamy vegan smoothie.

Coconut Kiwi Smoothie

So go ahead and give yourself a smoothie-stache as you drink up this tasty concoction and sing:

I’ve got a feelin’ – de, de, de, de, de – that today’s gonna rock my smoothie-stache off.. that today’s gonna rock my smoothie-stache oooooff.. woooooo-hooo 😉

Coconut Kiwi Smoothie

Coconut Kiwi Energy Smoothie

Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

This smoothie has both protein and healthy fats to give your body energy for a long day or a nice workout.

Author: Sarah

Recipe type: Smoothie

Serves: 2

Ingredients

3 Bananas
2 tbsp. flaxseeds
1 tbsp. almond butter
1 tbsp. coconut butter
1¼ cup coconut water
handful of blueberries
2 kiwis
3 big handfuls of spinach (or another choice of greens)
2 tbsp. shredded coconut

Instructions

Blend all ingredients together until they are all incorporated. Blend an extra minute or so to make it extra creamy. If you have a good high-speed blender, the flax seeds should grind up just fine. If your blender is not a very good one, you may want to grind the flax seeds before in a coffee grinder.