Hello! How is everyone dealing with the seriously cold weather lately? If you don't have cold weather where you are right now, I envy you. I'm definitely going to have to stay indoors for all of my workouts this week. As much as I hate the treadmill, I've been using more interval workouts lately, and they really do make time go by faster. Yesterday, I actually ran longer on the treadmill than I originally planned. That never happens.
The cold has also made me try some new things in the kitchen (actually, I don't think it has anything to do with the cold, I just needed a good segue). A few days ago, I made an apple pie protein smoothie, which was a combination of a few recipes I've found online. It tasted really good, but it wasn't creamy enough. I like really thick smoothies, and I needed to find a good thickening agent. Usually, I use frozen banana, but 1. I didn't want the flavor of the banana to mess with the apple pie-ness of the original smoothie, and (more importantly) 2. the bananas I got on Saturday still aren't ripe (it's been 5 days since my last banana and I'm having banana withdrawals). So I decided to try using avocado. While avocado isn't a new food to me (avocado + adobo seasoning = meaning of life), I've never utilized it in a smoothie before. I figured since it's pretty creamy but doesn't really have much of a taste, it would be the perfect thickening agent while not messing with the balance of flavor in the smoothie. I made the avocado + apple pie smoothie test run today after coming home from the gym, and the results were...(drum roll please) an overwhelming success! It actually was so thick I ate it as a smoothie bowl (my favorite way to consume smoothies, btw), rather than drinking it as a traditional smoothie (though this could easily be made into a traditional smoothie with a little more milk). Here's the recipe:
The cold has also made me try some new things in the kitchen (actually, I don't think it has anything to do with the cold, I just needed a good segue). A few days ago, I made an apple pie protein smoothie, which was a combination of a few recipes I've found online. It tasted really good, but it wasn't creamy enough. I like really thick smoothies, and I needed to find a good thickening agent. Usually, I use frozen banana, but 1. I didn't want the flavor of the banana to mess with the apple pie-ness of the original smoothie, and (more importantly) 2. the bananas I got on Saturday still aren't ripe (it's been 5 days since my last banana and I'm having banana withdrawals). So I decided to try using avocado. While avocado isn't a new food to me (avocado + adobo seasoning = meaning of life), I've never utilized it in a smoothie before. I figured since it's pretty creamy but doesn't really have much of a taste, it would be the perfect thickening agent while not messing with the balance of flavor in the smoothie. I made the avocado + apple pie smoothie test run today after coming home from the gym, and the results were...(drum roll please) an overwhelming success! It actually was so thick I ate it as a smoothie bowl (my favorite way to consume smoothies, btw), rather than drinking it as a traditional smoothie (though this could easily be made into a traditional smoothie with a little more milk). Here's the recipe:
This actually tastes pretty apple pie-like (and I eat apple pie instead of cake on my birthday, so I know apple pie)
Apple pie smoothie bowl:
-1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (more if you want a more liquidy, drinkable smoothie)
-1 apple, cut into small cubes (I used gala and left the skin on because I'm lazy, but use whatever apple suits your fancy)
-1/4 of an avocado
-1 scoop vanilla protein powder
-1 packet Truvia/other stevia sweetener
-cinnamon to taste (I used a lot of cinnamon, not gonna lie)
Blend everything together and live your life.
While the avocado experiment was successful, my second new-to-me ingredient endeavor did not yield such positive results. Enter: cottage cheese. I've been intrigued by this weird substance for a while, and picked up a 6 oz container during my last trip to the grocery store. I've seen my dad eat it mixed with jam, and my roommate's boyfriend actually eats it plain, so I decided I'd be creative with it. I mixed it with 2 tbsp of PB2 and 1/2 a packet of Truvia. It was...weird. I didn't hate it, but it felt like a chore to eat. The texture turned me off a little, and the mixture of the cottage cheese with PB2 tasted really salty. I'm not giving up on cottage cheese just yet (I'm no quitter), but I think next time I'll have to mix it with something sweeter, like jam or frozen berries, and add a little crunch to the texture with nuts or chia seeds.
At least I ate a lot of protein?
What are some other smoothie thickening agents I should try? Also, what can I mix with cottage cheese to make it not so...weird?
Hope everyone has a great day and keeps warm (I'm currently keeping warm with a cup of coffee...shocking)!
Kulie Julie
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