ADVANCEDBROWSE SUBJECTS
Alive Forum
Event Calendar
Health Retailer Search
Alive Awards
Alive Web Exclusives
Alive Australia


APEX Awards 2008

Find a store
Subscribe to our Free Newsletter!

Enlarge Font Printer Version Email It to a Friend
Blueberry Smoothie

Katrina, my teenage granddaughter, loves to drink smoothies and helped me come up with this recipe. For the best flavour, use ripe bananas with sugar (brown) spots. The fresh berries and orange juice deliver vitamin C and other valuable antioxidants, and bananas give your children potassium. Makes four cups.

1/2 cup (125 ml) milk
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup (125 ml) orange juice, freshly squeezed
1/2 tsp (2 ml) pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup (185 ml) natural yogurt or kefir
2 Tbsp (30 ml) honey
2 cups (500 ml) fresh blueberries (or frozen if not in season)

In a blender, blend milk and bananas until smooth. Add remaining ingredients, leaving the blueberries to the end.

Blend on low just long enough to mix ingredients well. Drink immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Variation: Substitute blueberries with raspberries or strawberries for a different flavour.

If you omit the orange juice and place the smoothie in the freezer for several hours, you will get frozen yogurt.

Source: alive #239, September 2002

Back to top

See Related Content
Breakfasts to Warm Your Heart
Canada is famous for its winters and chilly mornings turn my thoughts to the winter warmth of a wood fire, steaming kettles and a good breakfast.
Creamy Couscous Almond Pudding
This creamy and rich recipe is a great way to start or finish your day, as it is ideal for breakfast or dessert. Whole grains provide essential minerals such as chromium, which help insulin to regulate blood sugar.
Rolled Oat Muffins
Oats are certainly more versatile than their popular use as breakfast food. Grind them finely and use to make a creamy soup or add them to casseroles, breads, toppings, cookies and other baked goods. These flavourful nutritious muffins are always a hit with children.
Living Foods for Vibrant Health
There is a great difference between cooked food and raw food. Though cooked food provides the basic nutrients of starch, protein and fat, as well as minerals and some heat-resistant vitamins, it doesn’t provide enzymes. Heat, when it rises above 48 degrees Celcius, kills enzymes.
Healthy Holiday Fun
This time of year is often filled with excesses: calories, spending, and parties.
Oatmeal
A complex carbohydrate, oatmeal is the perfect choice for breakfast. It offers a sustained release of glucose into the bloodstream, unlike the instant shock of sugar that is delivered to the body through highly refined boxed cereals.
Christel’s Breakfast Drink
Yields one large glass of juice-sure to power you through the morning!
Persian Dughe
A cool and refreshing summer beverage to keep you out of a hot kitchen. It’s full of friendly bacteria and helps prevent dehydration. Mint can be used as a digestive tonic and makes a fresh, clean addition to any beverage. Makes one liter.
Sparkling Berry Punch
This refreshing punch is easy and fast to make. Place it in the fridge and you can have it throughout a hot summer’s day to keep you cool. You can also substitute the mineral water with champagne, for special occasions. Fills one large punch bowl.
Spiced Apple Punch
Greet your guests with the wonderful Christmas aroma of cinnamon, cloves and anise. Makes four quarts (four litres).
Mango Cocktail
A treat any time of day!
Green Drink
Make your own living version of this popular food supplement.
Apple Juice Plus
A very refreshing juice!
Spring Cleanser
Helps combat sluggish metabolism, activates your vital organs and cleanses your blood.
Delicious Oat Drink
This drink boosts energy–any time of day. Soaking makes oats more easily digestible for children and the elderly. For adults you may add a little ginger.
Carrot Muesli
Muesli is a fresh and satisfying way to start your day. It’s best to freshly roll (or coarsely grind in a coffee grinder) raw oats in the morning AND then let them soak while you get dressed. Serves two.
Jumpstart Breakfast
In the winter when your energy is low, a refreshing wholesome breakfast is the best way to jumpstart your morning and energize you throughout the day. Soak the cereal first thing in the morning, before you shower and dress, and your breakfast will be ready to go whenever you are.
Whole Grain Muesli with Berries
Make the most of fresh, in-season berries with this nutritious breakfast.
Budwig Muesli (The Original)
This is a classic. Dr Budwig introduced this particular recipe in her famous oil-protein diet to combat cancer. It is popular all over Europe because it tastes so good, consists of mostly raw ingredients and is easily prepared.
Apple-Avocado Museli
A gourmet start to your day!
Classic Bircher Muesli
Oats are excellent for upset stomachs and over-stressed nerves, providing an abundance of minerals, vitamins, mucilage and fat. In-season berries or sliced bananas instead of apples also work well in this recipe.
Oat Grits
Among the cereal grains, oats can be regularly eaten raw due to their healthy high fat and unique fibre content.
Orange-Coconut Muesli
What better gift for Mom than a relaxing breakfast to start the day! Don’t forget the final touches-fresh squeezed juice, her favourite herbal tea and a spray of flowers on the breakfast tray (careful not to spill!). Serves two (one for Mom and one for Dad).
Millet-Applejack Pancake
Make the most of millet with this hearty breakfast or quick lunch by nutritional consultant Steve Parsons. Serve with maple syrup or with stir-fried vegetables on top. Makes one large or two medium-size pancakes.
Baked Apple-Nut Pancake
A sweet treat for a special occasion.
A Good Breakfast Can Aid Weight Loss
New Year’s often brings renewed enthusiasm for fad diets. But before you put yourself on a strict program, have a look at your regular regimen and ask yourself how well you’re doing with the most important meal of the day: breakfast..
Longevi-Tea
What if there was a magic potion that could lower the risk of a heart attack and stroke, reduce the rate of your arteries becoming clogged, lower your cholesterol, protect against several cancers, and potentially increase bone density? Well, there is! Tea f.
Nutrient-Rich Recipes
With hormones fluctuating monthly and additional changes happening over a lifetime, women can succumb to all kinds of food cravings in an effort to get required nutrients.
Savoury pancakes with wild
A fantastic brunch or quick dinner option, these pancakes are easy to throw together and provide a powerhouse of nutrition. They combine grains and vegetables for fibre with goat cheese for fantastic flavour.
Rumpelstiltskin
This versatile recipe is nourishing enough as breakfast, delicious enough as dessert and light enough as a late-night snack. It is easily digested, contributes to a good night’s sleep and keeps your intestines healthy.
Summertime Is Tomato Time
Can you think of anything more delicious than biting into a juicy, sun-ripened tomato picked from the vine in your garden or on your balcony?
Thirst-Quenching Tomato Drink
Tomatoes are a cooling food with a reputation for quenching thirst. Perfect for the summer heat!
Good Grains Pancakes or Waffles
Once you have your whole grain homemade mix on hand (see accompanying recipe), it is easy to whip up these wholesome pancakes or waffles. What a delicious way to start the morning!
Raw Energy Drink
Your body requires vitamins, minerals, enzymes and calories to get you through the day. Fresh fruits and vegetables are an easy and delicious way to meet your body’s needs.
CBC Juice
Cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable, related to broccoli, cauliflower, kale and brussels sprouts. Members of this family contain components known as sulforaphanes, which have gained a lot of attention lately as potential cancer fighters.
Hot-Spiced Apple Juice
This fragrant holiday favourite contributes a delightfully welcoming aroma for when guests arrive. I like to use my crock-pot to slowly heat the juice, and then people can just help themselves with a ladle. This drink is a refreshing change from alcoholic beverages and pop at parties.
Cardamom Seasonal Fruit Compote
This is a delicious way to add more fruit servings to your day. Frozen fruit, such as peaches can bring a taste of summer. Alternatively, use seasonal fruits and experiment with adding dried fruits, too.
Best-Part-of-the-Day Power Juice
The ginger in this juice helps put a little pep in your step! Ginger is high in antioxidants and has been shown to be more potent than vitamin E. It helps fight cancer and is also a remedy for nausea. The garlic is also a potent ingredient, but you may want to reduce the amount used. Even half a clove will help boost immunity.
Cholesterol-Lowering Cinnamon Chai Tea
Chai tea drinks are increasingly popular, so it’s no surprise that more and more people are starting to enjoy tea infused with spices. This recipe is based on Ayurvedic recommendations for heart health. Drink it morning and night.
Apple Crumble
Apples or pears are a delicious seasonal fruit and an easy way to eat more heart healthy soluble fibre. Rather than bake a pie with a fatty crust, make a whole grain crumble.
Quick Calcium Smoothie
This recipe is quick and easy and can be used as a meal replacement or as an additional drink to help gain weight. The molasses, soymilk, and sesame seeds all add valuable calcium, which is vital for those consuming fewer dairy products.
Ginger Beer Green Tea
Green tea is the unfermented leaf of the Camellia sinensis plant. The leaves are dried right after picking and researchers believe that it has more powerful antioxidant activity because it is less processed (fermented) than black tea.
Pineapple and Mango Rooibos Bliss
We often forget that the benefits of beta carotenes aren’t just in carrots, but are found in many orange and yellow fruits as well. Take mango and pineapple, for example, which are high in vitamin C, bioflavonoids, beta carotene, and minerals.
Hear the Hemp Oil Buzz
My friends often ask me why I’m high on hemp. I respond by explaining the many nutritional merits of hemp foods. After suffering through their witty jokes about its distant cousin, marijuana, I pour emerald green hemp seed oil on their salad. One taste and they’re hooked.
Crispy Skillet Potatoes with Egg and Green Beans
This recipe is so versatile it works well for lunch, brunch, or dinner. Feel free to substitute any greens you have on hand, depending on what’s in the garden and what’s in season. You might even try zucchini or asparagus tips.
Wine Klutz Recovery
You’ve invited friends and family to a special "do" at your place. The menu is planned, the table is set.
Mango Rooibos Fruit Punch
Chill the tea, juice, and soda water before combining them in this delicious fruit punch.
Sweet Ginger Tea
This hot and sweet ginger tea will get your “chi” life force energy flowing more freely.
Honeydew and Grape Rooibos Spritzer
If blended drinks such as margaritas are your thing, why not try this colourful, nutrient-rich, tasty alternative? It’s great for Sunday brunches or after-work drinks with friends.
Chilled Ginger Rooibos Delight
This delightful drink can be pre-prepared in batches and stored in the freezer or fridge. Add a dash of sparkling water for a refreshing pre-dinner drink, or serve it hot in winter.
Pomegranate Punch
Try serving this punch in a martini glass at Father’s Day breakfast. Let your dad know you love him by telling him about the health benefits of this colourful juice.
Heirloom Tomato Tarts
While this seasonal celebratory salad is certainly best enjoyed with the flavour and variety provided only by heirloom tomatoes, it can be enjoyed with more standard varieties as well.
Green Lavender Mint Tea
This recipe offers a new way to enjoy green tea, infusing it with fresh flavour. Also try this recipe with a fine Earl Grey or other black tea.
Pineapple and Mango Rooibos Bliss
Get a powerful polyphenol punch by using tea in your smoothies. Prepare the rooibos ice cubes for this drink the day before you intend to serve it.
Watermelon Rooibos Frappe
Frozen gelato or fresh fruit sorbet adds sweetness to this delicious drink, but try freezing the yogourt as well to make a thicker, even creamier frappe.
Chai
Chai is a spicy milk tea originating in India. Combining the health benefits of cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and black tea, it packs an antioxidant wallop
Vij’s Chai
In Hindi, “chai” means simply a cup of tea with milk and sugar. There are so many variations that an entire book could be written on ways to make chai.
Aai Smoothie
Rich in both fibres, this smoothie is a great way to get ground flaxseed into your diet. The probiotic yogourt also contributes to the health of your gastrointestinal tract.
Rhubarb Lemonade
alive Readers’ Recipes Contest Winner
Rhubarb Crisp
This slightly tart crisp can be eaten as a dessert, snack, or at breakfast.
Summer Drinks
The hot and lazy days of summer just beg for icy cold drinks. But many traditional recipes for summer drinks are made with simple syrup, a sugar and water mixture that is boiled, cooled, and then refrigerated until needed.
Blueberry Smoothie
For outstanding performance in taste and nutrition the Oscar goes to–blueberries! These sweet, blue treats are rightfully occupying preferred status on the nutritional red carpet. For getting health-enhancing antioxidant protection in your bowl, you can’t do better than eating blueberries.
Marrakech (Land of God) Martini
Combine all ingredients, shake (no ice), and strain into chilled martini glass.
Kedros (Citrus) Cocktail
Simple syrup is a breeze to prepare. Dissolve two parts sugar in one part water for a sweetener in any cocktail.

Back to top