Hidden Vegetable Smoothie Recipes

Today I've got quite a long blog post for you, because I'm sharing a fantastic three in one easy hidden vegetable smoothie recipe! With one simple ingredients list, I'm going to show you three different ways to make this delicious smoothie - served up as a simple smoothie, as a smoothie bowl and as yummy ice lollies.

As I mentioned above, this recipe has a hidden vegetable component too, which in this instance was completely inspired by these amazing minion cornsicles from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary.  I would never have thought of adding sweetcorn to fruit, but when you think about it, it makes perfect sense! The mild taste of the sweet corn blends in perfectly with the fruits, and in this case the yellow colour worked perfectly too. We had plenty of sweetcorn left from our Green Giant minion challenge last week, so I decided to use some of it up in these fun smoothie recipes.

If you haven't been eagerly following the latest foodie trends, you may be wondering what a smoothie bowl is! In short, it's a homemade smoothie served up in a bowl and eaten with a spoon.  The smoothies used in smoothie bowls tend to be thicker than standard smoothies (which is achieved by freezing most of the ingredients, and makes them far easier to eat with a spoon!), and are often decorated with delicious toppings such as fruit, oats or cereals.  They're great for summer breakfasts, a healthy snack or even a dessert - there's never a bad time to eat a smoothie bowl!

Ingredients

• 2 bananas
• 1 ripe mango
• 1 430g tin pineapple chunks in juice
• 1 200g tin sweetcorn
• milk of your choice (I used rice milk to keep it dairy free)

Optional extras to decorate the smoothie bowls

• pineapple rings
• fresh blueberries
• fresh strawberries

Smoothie Bowl Method (makes 3-4 smoothie bowls)

This needs to be prepared the night before. Start by lining a couple of baking trays with grease-proof or baking paper.  Check that the trays are small enough to fit into your freezer.

Peel your bananas, cut them into chunks and lay them out on one of the lined baking trays.  Drain the pineapple, reserving the juice for later, and place the chunks on a baking tray.  Prepare the mango flesh and cut into chunks, placing on a baking tray with the rest of the fruit.

Freeze for a couple of hours or overnight until the fruit has frozen through completely.

Once the fruit has frozen solid, and you are ready to make your smoothie bowl, drain and rinse your tin of sweetcorn.  Throw the sweetcorn into a blender with the reserved pineapple juice and whizz together until smooth.

Remove all of the fruit from the freezer and throw into the blender with the sweetcorn mixture.  Blend until smooth, adding milk to loosen the mixture as needed. Pour or spoon the smoothie into bowls and top with fruit of your choice to decorate.

Smoothie Method (makes 2 smoothies)

This recipe uses half quantities of the ingredients list above - use full quantities for 4 servings of smoothie or if you want to make ice lollies at the same time. Unlike the smoothie bowl recipe above, which calls for a super thick smoothie, this method only requires the banana to be frozen.  If you're short of time and don't want to freeze the banana, use a fresh banana and add a few ice cubes to the mixture instead.

Start by lining a baking tray with grease-proof or baking paper.  Check that the tray is small enough to fit into your freezer.  As above, peel one banana, cut it into chunks and lay the chunks out on the lined baking tray.  Freeze for a couple of hours or overnight until the banana has frozen through completely.

Once frozen solid, it's time to put together the smoothie.  Start by blending the half tin of sweetcorn with a little of the milk until smooth. Remove the banana from the freezer and throw into a blender with the sweetcorn, half a can of pineapple chunks and juice, and the flesh from half of a mango. Blend until smooth, adding milk as needed to loosen the mixture to the texture and thickness that you prefer for your smoothies.

I called these lovely yellow smoothies 'minion smoothies' and added a few minion toys to decorate.  The toys on top of the glasses were stuck onto bamboo skewers (I gave the toys a good wash in soapy water first!) and then popped into the glasses to decorate the drinks - you could also try making your own minion themed decorations by popping minion stickers or printouts onto skewers.

Ice Lollies Method

This recipe uses half quantities of the ingredients list above - use full quantities to make more ice lollies or if you want to make a couple of smoothies at the same time.

Start by blending the half tin of sweetcorn with a little of the milk until smooth. Peel and roughly chop the banana and throw into a blender with the sweetcorn mixture, half a can of pinepple chunks and juice, and the flesh from half of a mango. Blend until smooth, adding milk to loosen the mixture as needed.

Pour into ice lolly moulds (we used these brilliant ones from IKEA) and pop into the freezer until frozen solid.

Remove lollies from the moulds by popping them under a hot running tap for a few seconds.

If wanted, you could also dip or drizzle your lollies with chocolate. I melted a handful of dark chocolate chips and drizzled the melted chocolate over some of the lollies - yum!

Why not challenge your child to guess the secret ingredient in these delicious recipes? I bet they'll never guess!

Grace

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