Hello dear smoothie lovers! 🙋🏻
Summer is finally here! ☀️ When it gets hot I love making myself a light and refreshing lemon banana smoothie. As you can see from the photo, the smoothie also gives some wonderful summer vibes 🍋🍹
For this smoothie I decided to use (vanilla-flavored) almond milk since it makes the smoothie even tastier and easier to digest. Lately I have actually realized that I should use almond milk more often in smoothies as it is just too delicious. I will try to publish more recipes with almond milk as soon as possible ☺️
Anyway, back to the smoothie and some words about its ingredients. I don’t know why but lemons are not very commonly used in smoothies. I guess the reason is somewhat obvious: they are very acidic and sour, so they could easily spoil the taste, at least if you don’t know what you are doing. In this smoothie, I have, partially, cancelled out the taste of lemon with the sweet banana, honey and vanilla extract. Also the almond milk helps in softening the taste. However, you can still feel the lemon flavor 😉 After all, the lemon is what makes this smoothie so refreshingly perfect for hot summer days!
Refreshing Lemon Banana Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1,5 cup almond milk (can be replaced with coconut milk or other plant/nut milk of your choice)
- 1 lemon + lemon zest for decoration
- 1 banana (large)
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp honey (or other natural sweetener of your choice)
- peppermint (for decoration)
- ice
Instructions
- Wash the lemon thoroughly. See the video below the recipe on how to properly clean your fruits and veggies.
- Cut the lemon in two parts. Zest one lemon's part (for decoration) and squeeze the juice out of it.
- Pour almond milk and lemon juice into the blender jar. Add the banana, honey and vanilla extract.
- Process until smooth.
- Pour the lemon smoothie into glasses. Add ice cubes and decorate with lemon zest and fresh peppermint leaves.
Note: for this recipe I used vanilla flavored sweetened almond milk. If you use unsweetened milk, the nutritional values of your smoothie might differ from mine.
How to properly wash off and remove surface chemicals from vegetables and fruit
If you use non-organic fruits and vegetables in your smoothie, you need to thoroughly clean them before putting them in smoothies. Even organic fruits or vegetables should be washed since they still can have dirt, fungus or different bacteria on them. Washing away the surface chemicals from fruit and vegetables is especially important if you want to use the peel. Because if you have to use the peel, you want to make sure that there are (almost) no pesticides or other chemicals left. In this video, Linda Kordich shows how you can remove surface chemicals and pesticides from your fruits and vegetables.
How to zest a lemon in four different ways
How to get the zest from a lemon (or a lime) can be difficult if you don’t know where to start. This video shows you four different ways how to zest a lemon, depending on your needs and kitchen utensils available. In this video, you will be shown how to get the zest from a lemon using a microplane, vegetable peeler, paring knife and a cocktail zester. Hope you find it helpful!
How is the Lemon Banana Smoothie good for you?
Lemons are naturally high in vitamin C as well as folate. One lemon will give you approximately half of the recommended daily intake of vitamin C. Bananas, on the other hand, are relatively good sources of fiber. They also contain vitamin C, vitamin B-6 and some magnesium.
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Have a wonderful day and enjoy your smoothie 😘
