Leftover Smoothies

Friend, I am SO excited about today’s post… I’ve been working on it for absolutely ages and finally, I can bring you the … (drumroll please)

LEFTOVER SMOOTHIE!

If you’ve followed along with me on my blog for any amount of time, you’ve probably caught on to the fact that I honestly can’t get enough smoothies! They are just SO GOOD!

In fact, if I could have access to every fruit in the world and experiment with different blended combinations of them every single breakfast, I 100% would! But, somewhat ironically, today’s post is about exactly the opposite!

Instead of creating new recipes with whatever fruits I desire, I have been challenging myself to come up with recipes for smoothies containing whatever fruits I have to hand! And now, about three weeks later, I like to think I’ve mastered the art of the ‘leftover smoothie’!!

The trick to leftover smoothies is knowing what will work well together and being able to throw in whatever odd fruits you have lying around- ideally without following a recipe! Included in this post I have a list of fruits you could use and how to best prepare them, some potential combinations of fruits that would work nicely and two specific smoothies bowl recipes I’ve created that you can adapt to suit your own fruit bowls!

So here you have it, friend: the leftover smoothies collection! (part 1… maybe?!)

Firstly, I thought it would be handy to include a list of fruits that you might have lying around and explain how I would best prepare them. Hopefully, this list will give you some idea of the fruits you could use!

– Banana: Peel and freeze in freezer bags or store in the bottom of the fridge (coldest part)

– Apple: Skin, cube and store in the freezer in a freezer bag

– Pear, peach, nectarine, plum, apricot: skin, cube/chunk however you like and freeze in a freezer bag

– Spinach: If you have spinach with/in a meal, take a small handful of it before it’s added to the food. Rinse it and scrunch it up small with your hand, then freeze in an ice cube container. Take out from the freezer an hour or so before blending to let it defrost a little so you can cube it even smaller.

– Satsumas/ other citrus fruits: Use fresh or freeze segments in a freezer bag

– Cucumber: Use fresh or freeze in chunks

– Kiwi: Use fresh or freeze in chunks with the skin removed

– Grapes: Use fresh

– Berries: Freeze in freezer bags

Once you’ve identified what fruits you have around, you can start grouping them together to make deliciously healthy smoothies!

A great fruit to start off with is banana because it’s so darn deliciously sweet- without having an overpowering flavour. It also helps to thicken your smoothies- something that is especially great if you’re making a smoothie bowl instead of just a smoothie in a glass!

However, if you don’t have banana to hand, don’t worry! You can use other fruits to begin with- I like to use apples and pears. You can use things like nut butters, oats and flaxseed to thicken it up!

Once you’ve picked your base fruits, go ahead and add in some others! You can use as little or as many as you like- basically whatever you have on hand!

I’ve made here a little list of fruit combos that will work together wonderfully, but you can alter them however you may wish!!!

Combos:

– Apple, banana, cucumber, pear, kiwi, spinach

– Peach, pear, banana, apple

– Peach/ other summer stone fruit, banana, oats, flaxseed

– Spinach, orange, berries, banana

– Apricot, kiwi, red apple, pear

– Nectarine, plum, apricot, berries

The key to picking fruit combos is knowing what will work well together. For example, banana, cucumber and spinach would not be very sweet and would be pretty watery and vegetably. However, sub out the cucumber and add in some kiwi and a stone fruit like a peach and you have a delicious green smoothie, perfectly sweet and not too watery! When you’re picking your fruit combinations, consider these five things:

– Sweetness- Make sure your smoothie has at least one or two fruits on the sweeter side!

– Thickness- Don’t use entirely watery fruits (like cucumber, berries and pineapple) otherwise you’ll have a very thin smoothie!

– Texture- Adding oats or fruits with seeds like berries or kiwis change the texture of your smoothie, so make sure you’re okay with that before you add them!

– Fruit or Veg?- Using entirely vegetables would taste quite different to using entirely fruits or even a combination

– Colour- It may not bother you, but think about how the colours of your fruit will mix together. (For example, adding cherries, spinach and banana together would result in an unattractive brown).

Once you’ve picked your fruit combinations, you’re ready to blend it up and enjoy! Delicious!

To finish off this post, I want to share with you two of my leftover smoothie recipes for you to use or adapt and make your own!

1. Tangy Green Smoothie

Ingredients (makes 2):

– 1 apple, frozen, diced

– 1 banana, frozen, sliced

– Chunk of fresh cucumber, sliced

– 1 pear, frozen, diced

– 1 fresh kiwi, chopped,

– 2 tbsp of semi-frozen spinach

– ¼ cup of orange juice/ or an orange

– 1 scoop of Greek yoghurt

– A tsp of honey

Blend together, pour into a bowl and enjoy! I topped it with kiwi slices, chia seeds, coconut shreds and mini oat/almond butter/ honey energy balls made from this recipe here!

1. Peaches and Cream Smoothie

Ingredients (makes 2):

– 2 bananas

– 4 frozen peaches

– 1/3 cup of oats

– 3 tbsp flaxseed

– ¼ cup of Greek yoghurt

– Splash of milk

– 1 tsp honey

Blend, pour into a bowl and enjoy! I topped this one with frozen blueberries, shredded coconut and a few chocolate chips!

Friend, if you’ve read to the end of this very extensive guide, thank you! I hope you’ve been inspired to try out some leftover smoothie combinations of your own! I had so much fun making these bowls and I hope you have as much fun doing your own experimenting!

Happy smoothie bowling!