Strawberry-Cucumber Smoothie Recipe

strawberry-cucumber smoothie | pamela salzman

Thank heavens for the smoothie. When one of my teenage daughters oversleeps and has “no time” for breakfast, I can throw in the blender an assortment of fruits, vegetables and things that don’t normally go with fruits and vegetables (like hemp seeds or almond butter) and we’ve got a balanced meal in seconds. The smoothie is something even a 10-year-old like Mr. Picky can make by himself, and he does almost daily. His favorite is a combination of frozen banana, strawberry, pineapple, yogurt, coconut water, coconut butter and a squirt of Barleans Mango Omega Swirl. He even makes smoothies for his friends when they come over. So cute.

ingredients for smoothie

I love making smoothies at home, because I can control what goes into them, especially the sweetener. I rarely order smoothies in restaurants because I find them to be too sweet. And I’m not falling for what Jamba Juice considers a smoothie. Anything blended with frozen yogurt or sherbet is basically a fruity milkshake and it is not breakfast material.

I saw this recipe on Joy the Baker a while back and it made me think of flavored waters which I like to have on hand in the summer. (Just take a pitcher of water and toss in some cucumber slices or strawberries or watermelon or even pineapple rinds. Mint is fun to add in, too.) I loved this smoothie instantly. It felt like something I would have at a spa, and I sure don’t go to spas often enough!  There isn’t an overwhelming flavor of cucumber, it’s so subtle.  The smoothie feels lightly sweet and super refreshing.

I prepare this several different ways. Almond milk makes it creamy, and coconut water keeps it light and fresh, more like spa water. I don’t usually add extra sweetener to mine, but the kids like it a tad sweeter. Honey or even pitted dates work beautifully. And if I have fresh ginger on hand, I love to add a little for an extra special kick. Ginger is incredibly anti-inflammatory and so great for digestion. Cucumber is one of the most alkalizing foods and terrific for the skin.  And strawberries are rich in Vitamin C and other powerful phytonutrients.  Total beauty smoothie here!

The only missing from this smoothie is protein, so I wouldn’t consider this a meal.  But if you did want to include protein, I would throw in protein powder (keep in mind most are sweetened), hemp or chia seeds, or use yogurt instead of the almond milk.  Yogurt is more tart than almond milk, so you might need to add a little sweetener to balance it out.  If you’re tired of your same-old-same-old smoothie, give this one a try and get glowing!

strawberry-cucumber smoothie | pamela salzman

Strawberry-Cucumber Smoothie

Pamela, adapted from Joy the Baker
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Servings 2 , but if you are serving younger kids, you could get 4 smoothies out of this

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup cold coconut water or unsweetened almond milk click here for how to make your own
  • 1 ½ cups frozen strawberries click here for how to freeze fruit
  • 1 Persian cucumber unpeeled, cut into large chunks or ½ an English (hothouse) cucumber, seeds removed, cut into large chunks
  • 1 Tablespoon raw honey or sweetener of choice optional
  • 1 teaspoon minced peeled ginger (optional)

Instructions
 

  • Combine all ingredients in a blender until smooth.
  • Add more almond milk as necessary, depending on your desired consistency.

Notes

Note:  you can substitute frozen blueberries or blackberries and add ground flax meal, hemp seeds or protein powder.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

 

Even Easier Homemade Almond Milk Recipe

homemade almond milk | pamela salzman

I know I’ve already posted a How-to-Make-Almond-Milk-from-Scratch recipe.  In fact, I gave you three different versions!  But my how-to involves slipping the skins off the soaked almonds before blitzing them in your blender which is really no big deal.  The reason I do that is because I went to an ayurvedic cooking lecture many, many years ago and the teacher went into great detail about almonds.  Almonds are wonderful and alkalizing and high in protein and good fats, BUT (I was hanging on the edge of my seat when I heard that “BUT”) they can be very hard to digest unless they are soaked.  AND the skins can be a little bitter.  AND the skins cause wrinkles.  Whaaaaaat????   I will tell you no one was listening until she said that and then every manicured brow in the room went up.  “Did she say almond skins cause WRINKLES?”

So obviously do you really think I was going to start eating almond skins after that?  Silly question.  Duh, noooooo.  Of course I never did any research as to the validity of that statement and I still haven’t.  But I did research how to make almond milk from other sources and everyone says to slip those skins off, perhaps due more to a bitter aftertaste than the wrinkles theory.  But your friend Pamela here has gotten much busier since my last almond milk post and I have become practically dairy-free, so I have been making almond milk about twice a week.  And there came a point when I decided that slipping those almond skins off was GIVING me wrinkles!  Or maybe because I was doing it while watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.  Oy.  Anyhoo, I decided to see what would happen if I soaked the almonds, drained them and blended them in fresh water WITH their supposedly bitter, age-advancing skins.  Gasp.  No difference.  Same delicious taste and my skin still looks like it did before I drank the almond milk.  Life-changing moment!

I also now exclusively use a nut milk bag (I know, sounds nasty, but totally fabulous!) instead of my fine mesh sieve to squeeze out every last drop from the blended almonds.  If you don’t have a nut milk bag (gives me the willies every time I type that, but a great product, really!), a fine mesh sieve works great.  You just really want to press down on the pureed almonds or squeeze them with your hands as I am convinced that the creamiest part of the almond milk comes from that last squeeze.

I use almond milk all the time, especially to finish off hot breakfast porridges like oats and millet.  I use it in acai bowls and smoothies, as well as chia seed pudding and desserts.  The girls have been using it over granola and my friend Matt pours it over cereal and in coffee.  Just remember, homemade almond milk is pure goodness with no preservatives so it doesn’t last as long as the stuff in a box.  What else do you use almond milk for?

 

Basic Almond Milk

Pamela
5 from 2 votes
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Instructions
 

  • Soak 1 cup raw almonds in bowl with plenty of room temperature water for 6-8 hours. (Soaking will make the almonds softer and more digestible.)
  • Drain the almonds in a colander and rinse with fresh water.
  • Place the almonds in a blender or Vitamix. Add 3 cups fresh water and blend until the nuts are pulverized.
  • Strain through a fine mesh sieve, cheesecloth or a nut milk bag into a glass bowl. If using a sieve, use a spoon to scrape the almond meal around and allow as much liquid to drain through.
  • Transfer to a glass jar and refrigerate, covered for up to 4 days. Add the remaining pulp, sweetened with honey or maple syrup, to hot cereal, granola or fruit.

Notes

Almond milk with coconut water:
Soak almonds in regular water, but use coconut water to blend with the soaked almonds.
Almond milk sweetened with dates:
Follow directions for basic almond milk, but blend soaked almonds with water and 8 pitted dates. You can add a drop of vanilla and sea salt, if you like, but it is delicious just like this. Of course you can sweeten almond milk with stevia or honey or whatever you like, but I think dates are the best! You don’t need to sweeten the remaining pulp if you choose to eat it since it is already sweet from the dates.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Do-it-yourself almond milk — 3 versions

You saw from my Alternative Milk Guide that these non-dairy beverages are basically nuts/seeds/grains pureed with water and strained.  Although Mr. Picky drinks raw milk regularly, the rest of us don’t and the non-dairy milk that is used most often in our house is almond milk.  Once I learned how easy it is to make your own extremely delicious, pure almond milk, I have never purchased it off the shelf again.  This is a great, non-messy activity to do with your kids since they can help with the process and it is also really cool for them to see how almonds become almond milk.  It was also really cool for my husband to see how to “milk” an almond because he was having a tough time visualizing it.

I made a basic almond milk from almonds and water the first time around and it was the kind I was familiar with.  But then my friends Baelyn and Shiva told me about The Mylk Man in Venice, California who makes and delivers fresh organic almond milk made from almonds and coconut water.  Genius!  Lastly, my friends at Pressed Juicery in Brentwood make an unbelievable almond milk from almonds, dates, vanilla, sea salt and water.  I had to give both of these a try at home since I’m not always in the city and voila!  Amazing!

We met our friends Jane, Matt and their daughters for dinner the other night at our local YMCA tennis club and Matt happened to mention that he is recently dairy-free and has discovered the joys of almond milk.  Where most couples might go out for an after-dinner drink, I knew where we were going — back to our house for an almond milk taste testing! Everyone was blown away by the coconut water and date-sweetened versions.  We even figured out what to do with the almond pulp I had saved from straining the milk.  Drinks and dessert!

Basic Almond Milk

Pamela
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Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup raw almonds

Instructions
 

  • Soak 1 cup raw almonds in bowl with plenty of room temperature water for 6-8 hours. (Soaking will make the almonds softer and more digestible.)
  • Drain the almonds in a colander and rinse with fresh water. Remove the skins from the almonds by pressing them through your thumb and forefinger.
  • Discard the skins and place the almonds in a blender or Vitamix. Add 3 cups fresh water and blend until the nuts are pulverized.
  • Strain through a fine mesh sieve, cheesecloth or a nut milk bag into a glass bowl. If using a sieve, use a spoon to scrape the almond meal around and allow as much liquid to drain through.
  • Transfer to a glass jar and refrigerate, covered for up to 4 days. Add the remaining pulp, sweetened with honey or maple syrup, to hot cereal, granola or fruit.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

almond milk with coconut water

Soak almonds in regular water, but use coconut water to blend with the skinned almonds.

 

 

almond milk sweetened with dates

Follow directions for basic almond milk, but blend skinned almonds with water and 8 pitted dates.  You can add a drop of vanilla and sea salt, if you like, but it is delicious just like this.  You don’t need to sweeten the remaining pulp if you choose to eat it since it is already sweet from the dates.