This creamy Banana Date Smoothie is jam-packed with fibre, protein, and, most importantly, yumminess! This kid-approved smoothie is nourishing enough to be meal-worthy!
The dates in this smoothie add a caramel-like sweetness that goes perfectly with the creamy texture of the blended frozen banana. Cauliflower once again proves its amazing versatility, as the frozen chunks blend into a smooth texture while adding bulk to this smoothie. A scoop of peanut butter and dash of cinnamon add extra creaminess, protein, and flavor, helping to complete this nourishing smoothie.
Ingredients to make this smoothie
To get started, you’ll need a few ingredients:
Dates: The naturally sweet dates in this smoothie provide a good source of fibre, as well as magnesium, and calcium. In fact, both magnesium and fibre help to promote regular bowels and prevent constipation.
Banana: You’ll need a frozen banana for this smoothie! It adds natural sweetness, creaminess, vitamin C, fibre and potassium to the recipe.
Peanut butter (or nut butter of your choice): Nut butter brings heart-protective fats, protein and a little iron to this smoothie. Protein and fat also help you with the satisfaction factor in this smoothie.
Cauliflower: The vitamin C in the cauliflower and banana helps the body to absorb the plant-based iron in this smoothie! It also provides a good dose of folate and vitamin K as well.
Rolled oats: Give this smoothie a blood sugar stabilizing effect with slow digesting carbohydrates to help you feel satisfied for longer.
Cinnamon: Cinnamon not only adds a delicious sweet and spicy flavour, but it also provides surprising amount of manganese, which is an essential mineral involved in protecting cells from damage, bone formation, immune function and blood clotting!
Spinach: A great source of vitamin K and folate, two essential vitamins the body needs daily.
Milk (or milk of your choice): Choose cow or soy milk to add a dose of protein to this recipe. Milk provides bone-building nutrients such as calcium and vitamin D; as well as potassium and zinc.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Add frozen banana, frozen cauliflower, dates, oats, spinach, peanut butter, cinnamon, and a dash of salt to a high-powered blender. The order that you add things to the blender doesn’t matter–the key is to blend the ingredients long enough so they are smooth and creamy!
Next, it’s time to add your milk of choice to the blender. Cows milk, soy milk or other plant-based milk such as almond or oat milk work well in this recipe! As mentioned above, if you want to add more protein, choose cow’s milk or soy milk.
Blend ingredients on a lower speed at first to allow ingredients to combine more thoroughly before turning up the speed on your blender. Turn up your blender to high speed and wait for close to a full minute so everything combines into a smooth and creamy texture.
Pour the light green, creamy smoothie into a mason jar or your favorite smoothie cup!
Enjoy with or without a straw. If you like thicker more spoon-able smoothies, just add ½-3/4 cup of milk instead of the full cup! You could even make this into a smoothie bowl (versus a drinkable smoothie), which means adding the smoothie to a bowl and topping it with your favourite toppings such as nuts, seeds, coconut, chocolate chips and berries and eating it with a spoon. You choose!
Recipe FAQ
Yes! Along with their delicious caramel flavor, dates provide a good source of fibre and magnesium and are also a plant-based source of calcium!
This smoothie is pretty close to being fully plant-based, and can easily be made vegan by swapping the cows milk for plant-based milk alternatives such as soymilk, almond milk, or oat milk (etc.). To avoid swapping out the protein that cows milk brings to this recipe, choose soy milk or other higher protein plant-based options like Silk almond and cashew milk or Ripple milk which contain added pea protein.
Yes! While this smoothie is suitable for anyone to enjoy (my kids love it!), its nutrient density, and the fact that it requires very little time to prepare, makes it ideal during pregnancy! Often certain smells and flavors can trigger nausea in pregnant women. Because this smoothie doesn’t give off a pungent odor, and is smooth and sweet tasting, it is a perfect option for those experiencing nausea and vomiting of pregnancy.
More Smoothie Recipes
- Nutritious Triple Berry Smoothie with Greek Yogurt – Sarah Remmer, RD
- Mango Banana Coconut Smoothie – Sarah Remmer, RD
- Kid-approved Chocolate Cherry Smoothie – Sarah Remmer, RD
- Kid-Approved Tropical Green Smoothie (& Smoothie Bowl) Recipe (sarahremmer.com)
- Healthy DIY Mocha Frappuccino Smoothie – Sarah Remmer, RD
References:
- Canadian Nutrient File- Search by food
- Effects of date fruit (Phoenix dactylifera L.) on labor and delivery outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis – PMC (nih.gov)
Banana Date Smoothie
This creamy Banana Date Smoothie is jam-packed with fibre, protein, and, most importantly, yumminess!
This kid-approved smoothie is nourishing enough to be meal-worthy!
Ingredients
- 2-3 dates, pitted
- 1 medium banana, frozen
- 1 heaping tbsp. of peanut butter (or nut butter of your choice)
- 1 ½ cups of cauliflower, frozen
- ¼ cup of rolled oats
- ½ tsp. of cinnamon
- 1 handful of spinach leaves
- 1 cup of 2% milk (or milk of your choice)
- *Optional: add a dash of salt (if using unsalted peanut butter) to help bring all the flavors together!
Instructions
- Chop or break 2-3 pitted dates apart into smaller pieces to help them blend better. As an option, soak dates for 5 minutes in hot water (then drain) before adding them into the blender (I just use hot water from the tap). This will help them blend more smoothly. You can skip this step, but you may end up with a few tiny pieces of chewy dates at the bottom of your smoothie (which are also delicious!)
- ingredients into a high-powered blender. Blend slowly at first to give the ingredients a chance to breakdown to smaller pieces. Then turn blender up to high and blend for about 1 minute until smoothie is thick and creamy. It will be a light green color with flecks of cinnamon (yum!)
- Pour into your favorite glass, or insulated travel cup to enjoy on the go!
![[AD] Who else loves a quick, one-pot meal for the busy back-to-school season? 🙋♀️
As a dietitian and mom, I’m all about recipes that are quick, affordable, nourishing, and of course, delicious. That’s why I’ve teamed up with my friends at L’Ancêtre Cheese to bring you my Homemade One-Pot Hamburger Helper—perfect for weeknight dinners and makes awesome leftovers for lunchboxes too!
What I love most? You can toss everything—beef, pasta, veggies—into one pot, saving time and dishes! Plus, @ancetrecheese , made locally here in Canada from pasture-fed cows, adds that perfect cheesy touch. It’s organic, sustainably produced, and absolutely delicious. 🧀
What you need:
* 1.5 lbs lean ground beef
* 4 cups uncooked whole grain, regular or gluten-free pasta noodles (like rotini or macaroni)
* ½ yellow onion, diced
* 2 cups veggies of choice, diced (eg. mushrooms, bell peppers, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower etc.)
* 1 cup frozen peas
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 tsp pepper
* 1.5 cups milk of choice
* 1.5 cups chicken broth
* 1-680 mL jar tomato pasta sauce
* 2 tsp Italian Seasoning
* Tsp red pepper flakes
* 3 cups L’Ancêtre’s Marbled Mild Cheddar
Put it all together:
1. Cook beef in a large pot over medium-high heat until browned, then drain. Add onion, garlic, red pepper, mushrooms, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper; cook until veggies are tender-crisp.
2. Mix in milk, broth, tomato sauce, and uncooked macaroni. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook for 15-18 minutes, stirring often. Adjust liquid as needed.
3. Remove from heat, stir in frozen peas and 1 cup of cheese until melted. Transfer to a casserole dish, sprinkle with remaining cheese, and bake at 375°F for 5-10 minutes until golden. Cool before serving.
Make sure to pick up L’Ancêtre cheese (either a family-sized block or pre-shredded) at a local retailer near you! Visit https://www.fromagerieancetre.com/en/cheeses/ to find out more!
#Ad #Partner #BackToSchool #LunchboxIdeas #OrganicCheese #FamilyMeals #LAncetreCheese](https://www.sarahremmer.com/wp-content/uploads/sb-instagram-feed-images/459558167_1543212989903442_998663133378052381_nfull.webp)
![👇[AD] Dietitian-approved “snack lunches” that my kids love, in partnership with my friends at @naturesbakery 💜
Make sure to comment “snack lunch” and I’ll send you a free school-lunch cheat sheet 🙌🏻
Let’s be honest, the items kids get most excited about in their school lunches are the... snacks! So, why not build a meal-worthy “snack lunch” that your kids can be excited about opening and enjoying?
We do this often, and for good reason. It’s quick and easy for me (yay!), and my kids love helping pack them. Plus, these lunches can be just as nourishing as a “traditional” lunch. Bonus: the most often get eaten!
Here’s my “rule of 4” for building these lunches, ensuring they’re packed with the nutrients my kids need for the day:
1️⃣ Whole grains/starches
2️⃣ Protein-rich foods
3️⃣ Fruit
4️⃣ Veggies
As a dietitian Mom, I’m a huge fan of including @naturesbakery Fig Bars in my kids’ lunches. Not only do they always get eaten (aka my kids love them), but I love that they contain a simple ingredients list with whole grains and real fruit. They’re also plant-based, dairy-free and nut-free (making them perfect for school lunches!).
A typical “snack lunch” might look like this:
Charcuterie-Style
* Meats, cheese and crackers; for plant-based families, you could swap the meat and cheese with smoked tofu slices, tempeh strips or plant-based deli slices, plant-based cheeses, and hummus, roasted chickpeas or edamame.
* Cut up fruit
* Chia pudding
* A Nature’s Bakery Raspberry Fig Bar (plant-based, dairy-free, and nut-free!)
Mediterranean-focused:
* mini naan bread/pita
* Hummus
* mini caprese salad skewers
* Nature’s Bakery Blueberry Fig Bar
* Fruit
* Dried chickpeas
Fun Finger Foods:
* energy bites
* edamame beans
* Seed and banana roll-ups
* string cheese (or dairy-free alternative)
* Nature’s Bakery Raspberry Fig Bar
* Mini carrots
If you think your kids will love snack lunches, comment “snack lunch” below for a free school lunch cheat sheet ❤️
#Ad #Partner #NaturesBakery #SnackLunch #SchoolLunchIdeas #DietitianApproved #PlantBasedSnacks](https://www.sarahremmer.com/wp-content/uploads/sb-instagram-feed-images/458372728_522285503507501_4269903014098073865_nfull.webp)
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