Key Lime Pie Smoothie [Recipe]

If you’re following us on our Instagram, y’all know that my breakfasts have been somewhat epic of late! In the last 7 days I’ve had donuts on four occasions, pancakes twice and a sausage and egg breakfast bagel once. I can confirm that life is peachy in the foodie city of Atlanta! 🙂 Key lime pie is waiting for me just over the border, but in the meantime I’ll be devouring pancakes and other southern delights! ?Check out these incredible s’mores pancakes I had from Empire State South in Midtown.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love savory food as much as the next foodie, but I think the long standing tradition of consuming cereals or granola and fruit for breakfast is engrained in my taste buds! When it comes to breakfast I always need to satisfy that sweet tooth with a nibble on somesing somesing delicious. Because I track my food though (and take an inordinate number of pictures of my meals) the realization that I might need to counterbalance my recent choices with some better quality, nutritionally balanced foods, is about as apparent as a third eye.

So I’ve decided to bring dessert to breakfast in a much more healthful and invigorating way with this liquified version of a key lime pie.

Partly inspired by the need for more greens in my life and partly inspired by our home state of Florida, which we’re inevitably missing now we’re not in it! The thing I love about key lime pie is it has this fine balance between sweet and tart. The flavors marry together so well, it drives my palate wild!

If you’re a fan of sweet and tart flavour combinations then you will love this smoothie! Not only does it taste like pie but as the colour suggests, it is packed full of nutrients. In case you haven’t heard this little nutrition nugget before, the most highly coloured fruit and vegetables (including darkly coloured) tend to be the most dense in phytonutrients. Phytos are produced by plants to protect themselves against things like disease, insects, environmental pollutants & uv rays.

When we eat plants high in phytonutrients we absorb all the wonderful benefits of those phytos, some of which help us fight diseases like cancer, boost our immune system, reduce inflammation in the body, stabilise blood sugar & improve cardiovascular function. Spinach, avocado and limes are not only packed full of your regular household vitamins & minerals, but they are rich in phytonutrients. This smoothie packs a powerful punch in more ways than one!

So if you struggle to swallow the idea of greens for breakfast – or at all! – then make it easier and drink them down! Keep it vegan by adding a scoop of plant protein for a more nutritionally balanced meal.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 small frozen banana (for sweetness & texture or use ice)
• 1/4 avocado
• Zest and juice of 2 small limes
• 1 cup of coconut milk (adding more once blended if too thick)
• 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
• Handful of spinach (optional)
• Dash of honey to taste (optional)
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (optional)

METHOD:

1. Add all ingredients to your vitamix and blend until smooth. Yes that’s right, all the taste of a key lime pie in just one easy step. Enjoy 🙂