Ok, I admit it – I’m a bit reliant on frozen bananas when it comes to breakfast time. They make great pancakes, perfect porridge toppings and, of course, they are the creamy base of 90% of my smoothie bowls. That’s not a bad thing – bananas are loaded with lots of important nutrients and are affordable for most of us. But…sometimes we need a change, sometimes we run out of bananas and some of us can’t eat or don’t like bananas. So what else can we have?
Well, I figured since you can use frozen mangoes to make a one-ingredient nice cream just like you can with bananas, that you could do the same to make a nice creamy smoothie base. Non-banana eaters – take note! You can try replacing frozen nanas with frozen mangoes in a whole bunch of smoothie recipes – although be aware that frozen mango is not quite as neutral a flavour base!
One flavour that pairs great with mango is cherry though – once I had those two flavours as the base of the smoothie, it was just a matter of adding in liquid (almond milk), nourishing thickeners (oats and flaxseed) and a little crunch (pumpkin seeds and cacao nibs). Tasty. Easy.
Serves 2
INGREDIENTS
- 1 whole mango, chopped and frozen
- heaped ½ cup frozen cherries
- 2 Tbsp flaxseed
- 1 cup/250ml milk of choice
- ½ cup/60g oats
- ¼ cup/38g pumpkin seeds
- ¼ cup/38g cacao nibs
METHOD
- Put the cherries, flaxseed, oats and milk in a blender and blitz until smooth.
- Keep the motor running and gradually add in the mango chunks, stopping to stir or add a little more milk if needed.
- When the mixture is smooth and all the mango is incorporated, add the pumpkin seeds and cacao nibs and blend quickly. The seeds and nibs should still be chunky.
- Divide between two bowls, add any toppings and enjoy!
