 Granola is pretty delicious is it? Pop it on/in your smoothie, or a snack with some yoghurt? There are many varied recipes out there but most involve a selection of nuts, seeds and oats coated in oil and a sweet syrup and toasted in the oven, with dried fruit added afterwards. When it cools it is crunchy and delicious!
This is my most recent gut friendly version which omits anything sugary added (previously I would use a little maple syrup or rice malt syrup) and within an allowed selection of nuts and seeds according to kale Brock's Gut Healing Protocol.
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 In recent weeks I have commenced The Gut Healing Protocol by Kale Brock. I have always had a bit of an issue with my guts - I am significantly intolerant to gluten and dairy and not great with legumes or too many grains. This is one reason I stopped being vegetarian as there are a lot of plant things I don't digest well. This is something I will talk more about another time. For now, it's about getting my gut happier. Lately it's been a tad irritable and this effects my skin and hormones. If I want another baby I need balanced hormones! With the trials of motherhood, namely sleep deprivation, I didn't realise how much sweet stuff has crept into my diet and it's just not good for me.
My big challenge is having smoothies without fruit! The following recipes I have created using root vegetables instead.  Homemade Almond Milk Nut and seed milks are a great alternative to dairy and soya milk. They are raw and chock full of good quality fats, minerals and protein. Nut and seed milks make an excellent base for green smoothies as an alternative to plain water. Nut and seed milks can be made two ways. The long way and the short way. The short way is to blend nut butters with water for instant milk; the long way involves soaking nuts/seeds, blending them with water and straining the contents to separate the fibre from the milk.  After some winter green smoothie inspiration? This smoothie is perfect for warming you up with the spices and uses seasonal pears and bok choy.
The spices give this recipe a good kick but feel free to halve them to make them more subtle or add more if you so desire! 1 large soft and juicy pear quartered, 3/4 cup of milk (almond, rice or dairy all work), 2 tablespoons of hemp seeds or 10 raw cashews, 1/4 teaspoon of ground cardamom, 1/2 cm slice of fresh ginger, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or paste, or half a vanilla bean 1 bulb of baby bok choy (trimmed and well washed) Blend on high speed till really smoothe. Makes around 500ml / 2 cups  This smoothie is all citrus, simply peeled oranges and lemons plus some lemon zest - so simple and delicious and I am loving the frothy top! It's not a thick smoothie, rather what I call a juicy-smoothie - which is perfect for when you feel like moe than ajuice but not as filling as smoothie. The benefit of blending the whole fruit rather then juicing it, is you will consume the fibre instead of throwing it away. This is better for your blood sugar as fibre slows the movement of glucose into the bloodstream from the gut.
 Silverbeet (or Swiss Chard) is one of the top leafy greens for nutrient density, easily topping kale, and is incredibly easy to grow and mild tasting in smoothies. This delicious recipe IS full of lactogenic ingredients (galactagogues) i.e those that help increase breastmilk, namely the banana, greens, almond mi.k, hemp/avocado and fennel. If you are not lactacting it won't make you lacate! If you are nursing and your milk supply is fine, perhaps omit the fennel as it is quite a stong galactagogue. Recipe makes 500ml / 2 cups and contains:
Silverbeet (a couple of large leaves pulled off the stems) 1 banana 1 cup of frozen pineapple pieces 2 Tbs of hemp seeds (or try 1/4 of an avocado) half a vanilla bean 3/4 cup of almond milk 1 tsp of ground fennel  Turmeric and pineapples are both wonderful anti-inflammatory foods thanks to the curcumin and bromelain they obtain respectively. The bonus is they pair beautifully in smoothies. This mixture was so popular I couldn't photograph it without little miss wanting it too!
1 cup of pineapple pieces - fresh or frozen 1 banana 3/4 cup of milk (any sort will work) or water 1/2 a vanilla pod or 1 tsp of vanilla extract or paste 6-8 macadamia nuts 1/2 a tsp of ground turmeric
 This is my go-to recipe for a green smoothie that always works! A perfect recipe to make quickly and take to work with me. makes 2 cups / 500ml
2 bananas, fresh or frozen and sliced 1 Tbs of nut or seed butter (e.g. tahini, almond butter) or 2 Tbs whole nuts or seeds (e.g. hemp, sunflower, cashew, macadamia) 3/4 cup of milk or water 1 tsp of vanilla or half a vanilla bean a generous handful of fresh spinach blend till smooth and creamy!  Is there any better combination than mint and chocolate? If you can get hold of chocolate mint it makes THE best choc-mint smoothie. Mint is pretty easy to grow and it likes space to spread - once planted in the ground, you will have trouble getting rid of it! To contain it, give it its own garden bed or use a big pot, however the latter will see your mint become pot bound pretty quickly. in the picture here, regular mint is the bigger leaves and chocolate mint is the smaller leaves. Here are some ideas for flavouring your smoothie with chocolate and mint.
Base smoothie for 500ml / 2 cups
Chocolate options
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