Strawberry & mango smoothie

This is my daughter’s favourite flavour combo and we’ve been making it a lot recently. We only used a little banana so it didn’t take over the taste and just added a bit of creamy texture. If you want to add some protein you could put in 1 tbsp of chia seeds and a little water (as they’ll thicken the mix). I always buy bags of frozen fruit for smoothies as they’re cheaper and they chill the drink without using ice, but if you only have fresh go ahead, but add a couple of ice cubes.

Ingredients

Makes 2 medium glasses

40g strawberries

40g mango

30g banana

320ml apple juice

Method

Put all the ingredients in the smoothie maker and blitz!

Blueberry, coconut & maca smoothie

I love this smoothie. Super quick and easy to prepare too, but I appreciate not everyone has raw maca powder in their cupboard, but it’s pretty easy to find these days, even Aldi stocks it! You could always leave it out though, the smoothie would still taste great.

Maca is an ancient Peruvian root crop from the radish family, which has a malty, slightly caramel-like taste. It's a great supplement to add to your smoothies or porridge as it won't change the original flavour too much. Maca is well worth having in stock as it's high in antioxidants, nutrients such as Vitamins B1 & 2, calcium and iron, and energy-boosting compounds called macamides and macaenes. It is called Peruvian 'ginseng' as it is said to improve energy levels and help to restore hormone imbalances.

Ingredients

Serves 1

• ½ frozen banana

• 1 handful frozen blueberries

• 250ml coconut milk drink

• 1 tsp maca powder

Method

• Just put the ingredients in a blender and blitz!

Tip

• I keep a stock of frozen fruit in my freezer for smoothies as it's so much better than adding ice, which waters the flavour down. When I find bananas in the fruit bowl that are going a bit too brown, I peel them and add to my freezer bag.

• The coconut milk drink I prefer is made by Rude Health - it doesn't contain any additives or thickeners, unlike other brands, just coconut milk, rice and water.