Fill Up on Antioxidants with Fresh Smoothies

I try my best to fill up with antioxidant- and nutrient-rich food all year long, but I pay special attention to eating plenty of them during the Winter months when everyone seems to get sick. One of the easiest ways to get your daily dose of antioxidants and nutrients is to blend up fresh smoothies at home.

Recently, the PR team from Tropical Smoothie Café sent me two recipes from their new ’supercharged’ smoothie line to share with my readers! These smoothies contain antioxidant-packed fruits such as pomegranates, goji berries, and acai berries. I included two smoothie recipes below and my thoughts on each.

Pomegranate Plunge

• 1 cup pomegranate arils
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
• 2 tablespoon turbinado sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 ripe banana
• 4-5 strawberries, hulled

I made the Pomegranate Plunge last night and decided to leave out the sugar. To me, it was plenty sweet already. But if you like a sweeter taste, turbinado sugar is a less-processed and healthier version of regular white sugar.

I also used frozen strawberries to save a little money (fresh berries are SO EXPENSIVE during the Winter). I did buy a fresh pomegranate because they ARE in season and were on sale. I really enjoyed the tart flavor of this smoothie but it had a lot of seeds from the pomegranate. When I make it again, I might swap out half of the pomegranate airils for fresh pomegranate juice.  Great tasting smoothie though.

Acai Berry Boost

• 1/2 cup acai juice
• 1 ripe banana
• 1/4 cup pomegranate arils
• 1/4 cup blueberries
• 4-5 strawberries, hulled
• 2 tablespoon turbinado sugar
• 3/4 cup water

The Acai Berry Boost smoothie was my favorite of the two. It had a wonderful sweet flavor and a smooth consistency. I used frozen strawberries and blueberries and cut out the turbinado sugar. I will definitely make this one again. Yum!

To learn more about Tropical Smoothie Cafe’s drinks and food, visit TropicalSmoothieCafe.com. I hope you enjoy the smoothie recipes! They’re a great way to stay healthy this season. Just be careful if you’re up north. You don’t want to suck down a cold smoothie right before you head outside into the cold.

Fill Up on Antioxidants with Fresh Smoothies is a post from: Laurel On Health Food