I used to love orange creamsicles when I was a kid. Today, I was craving something creamy, sweet, light and yes orangey. This recipe is fabulous and so easy. Be sure to blend well if you don’t have a high power blender like a Vita-mix or Blendtec.
Recipe is adapted from The Rawtarian. I added vanilla and used almond milk instead of orange juice. Here is the link if you want to view the original recipe for Raw Orange Smoothie, which makes 2 servings (by the way this is a great site for simple raw recipes)
For one serving:
1 orange peeled – try to get off as much white pith as you can.
1 banana – fresh or frozen (I used frozen)
¼ cup plus 1 TBL almond milk (use homemade to keep it raw)
½ tsp vanilla
½ TBL coconut oil or butter (I used coconut butter)
zest of the orange you are using.
Make sure to zest the orange before you peel it. Put all the ingredients into the blender and blend well. Enjoy!
As I continue to add a variety of more raw foods to my diet, I continue to search for breakfast options that go beyond eating only fruit or green smoothies. During the winter months, I always loved making cooked steel cut oats. To shorten the cooking time in the morning, I would put the oats in a pot with water and let it sit overnight. The oats soften and voila! – they cook up in no time. That led me to search for ways to have raw oatmeal using soaked oats. As I searched the internet, the recipe I liked the best was one by Angela Stokes Monarch.
I use her basic recipe, which includes the soaked oat groats (not rolled oats- these are the oats used for the steel cut variety), raw honey, lucuma powder (a low glycemic sweetener made from a fruit that grows in Peru), maca, cinnamon, and water. I add other superfoods like hempseeds, bee pollen, and chia seed gel, which is simply chia seeds in water. The Chia seeds soak up the water like a sponge in a matter of minutes. This gel can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. I’ll blog more about Chia in upcoming posts.
Here’s what I do:
I place about a ½ cup of organic oat groats in water to soak overnight. The next morning, in a blender I add:
the oat groats, rinsed after soaking
about 2 TBL of Chia seed gel
1 tsp lucuma powder
1 tsp raw honey
1 tsp maca powder
1 TBL hempseeds
½ tsp bee pollen
a bit of cinnamon
enough water to blend to desired consistency. This will be about ¼ – ½ cup of water. Add water slowly so you don’t add too much or the oatmeal will become watery.
You can top the oatmeal with extra cinnamon, sliced banana or apple, berries – whatever you like. You can buy oat groats in bulk at a ridiculously low cost. They are high in both fiber and protein. This is a really filling breakfast that will power you up till lunch. I love it!