Smoothie Archives - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Coconut Chocolate Smoothie – 3 Ingredients Easy

Coconut chocolate smoothie is a refreshing, low-sugar smoothie that tastes like a chocolate bar you drink, but without all the calories. And is anti-inflammatory in the unsweetened ingredients below.

In a smoothie, you get a smooth and satisfying taste of chocolate decadence with a little coconut vibe. 🥥

Coconut milk works best but you can tone down the coco-nutty tastes with other milks or nut milks like almond milk. And you can make your own coconut milk if you don’t have any on hand.

You can also make your own nut milk like almond milk or pecan milk.

It’s like milking your own cow or cashew. 😊

Or you can make dairy-free oat milk that can be as good as store-bought for a substitute, or homemade oat milk in case your power goes out. You make it ahead of storms, then store refrigerate and/or freeze. Frozen, it will stay good for at least a couple hours.

And then for the coconut chocolate smoothie dry ingredients:

You can grind coconut into fine coconut flour. This is from the coconut meat, same as shredded (or desiccated coconut). But much finer ground into flour.

These days, it’s easy to source the gluten-free flour at the grocery store.

And if you’re wondering what to do with the extra coconut flour you have in a bag after you baked with it (like in a gluten-free fruit cake), then a coconut chocolate smoothie is an even better (maybe novel?) idea.🧋

Cacao is the second dry ingredient. It’s a superfood and less processed than cocoa (Dutch processed). They’re related.

I recommend unsweetened cacao as the raw pure tastes come through in the smoothie. If you think cacao is bitter, you can also add a drizzle of raw honey to sweeten.

Both cacao (loaded with healthy catechins) and coconut are anti-inflammatory foods that are good for soothing the skin.

If you have dry skin common in weather climate changes, this smoothie supports healthy skin.

These are the simple ingredients for the magical smoothie with healthy Almond Joy tastes:

1 cup coconut milk

2 tsp cacao powder, unsweetened

1 Tablespoon of coconut flour

Shredded coconut for zhugh topping

This is the smoothie recipe formula I use and is delicious, but I think if you eyeball the ingredients you’ll do just as good. Smoothies are forgiving.😊

That’s something to love about smoothies!

They will turn out delicious even if you don’t exact measure like in baking. Because the individual ingredients are tasty (the parts make up the sum or whole).

And in this Coconut Chocolate Smoothie, coconut and cocoa are the amazing pairing duo. This makes it great for an afternoon chocolate fix or a bright start to the morning.

If also you want to make it a trio (or add some healthy fat), then nut butters would be a good add. You can add 1 teaspoon of your favorite natural nut butter that will thicken the smoothie.

A banana (or half a banana) also is an optional flavor layer that will add the unique banana fruit sweet taste that only the tropical fruit can do.

And if you take fat-soluble vitamins (e.g. Omega-3), this is a good time to consider what healthy fat is in your smoothie?

Is there a nut butter? Is there coconut milk fat? Is there shredded coconut in smoothie (…yes, counts as healthy fat)? Are there seeds? Or did you add avocado 🥑 (…another wildcard add option!)?

These are other options…

These are all healthy fat decisions you can make to your healthy and happy (joyful) smoothie.🧋

If the answer is no, you can choose to add a little MCT oil that supports more energy and weight loss. For higher MCT versions, you can look for “coconut” as an ingredient. That’s high in saturated fat, but metabolized quicker for energy.

And if you’re starting your year or season with new friend or healthy groups, this smoothie joy is one that you can sip on while you think of these fun or interesting facts:

Coconuts are not nuts, but look like them with a hard shell like walnuts. They’re fruit, and specifically drupes (stone fruits). And the candy bar Almond Joy was named after the almond nut and coconut where the “nutty” pairing 2-ingredients represent “joy.”

You may have seen “joy” defined in the Bible, where it’s seen over 200 times.

Joy gives us hope, and this is a hopeful drink you make your own.

Add this little bit of full joy and hope smoothie to the smoothie guide challenge! 🌟

Easy coconut chocolate smoothie with 3 ingredients.

Coconut Chocolate Smoothie - 3 Ingredients Easy

This is a smoothie that has chocolate, almond, and coconut tastes.

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1 cup coconut milk
2 tsp 100% cacao powder, unsweetened
1 Tbsp coconut flour
1 Tbsp shredded coconut flakes, unsweetened (plus additional as zhugh on top)
1/2 banana (optional)

Instructions

Blend ingredients and enjoy!

Notes

The main ingredient for a magical Almond Joy chocolatey-coconut smoothie beverage, is coconut flour, and can be gluten-free. If you don't like coconut, then make a chocolate smoothie beverage without the coconut ingredients.

Pear Strawberry Smoothie + Healthy New Year 🎉

Pear strawberry pair for a delicious and healthy smoothie. And I’m always looking for a new smoothie taste… you too?

This pear-straw amuse bouche is a great easy way to kick off healthy, brightening intentions for a blessed new year… after a holiday partridge in a pear tree.

Strawberry or strawberry lemonade is a great summer drink, but in the cool months, I found a strawberry pear-pair is a great sweet one.

The tastes seasonally complement. And you don’t need to add any more sweetness.

Because the juicy pear does the trick. 🍐 Not a prickly pear (cactus) but a regular sweet pear like a Bartlett pear. Anjou and Bosc are also common pears.

…And there’s just a ‘lil prep work that’s worth waiting for.

Like a few weeks after you buy (or pick) your pears.

As the pears ripen to a softness at room temps, you can squeeze the pear juice out. You can speed things up by putting pears near other ripe fruit (like a banana or apple), and even better put in a closed brown paper bag.

A soft pear looks the same on the outside, but inside it’s so soft that you don’t need a knife to pierce in.

You can push into the pear flesh and make pear sauce (like applesauce) if you wanted to.

And it’ll look like (and have the consistency) of juicy mashed potatoes.

That’s when it’s ripely good for a pear strawberry smoothie.🧉

Where you decide to add frozen (or fresh) strawberries.

Strawberry is the new banana in this smoothie.

Like the one here zhughed with shredded coconut… oui?

For the smoothie consistency, if you don’t have bananas around, are tired of them, or just never liked the taste of bananas, then the soft textures from frozen strawberries brought to room temps will do the trick.

Pull them out a day or two beforehand, so they can cold thaw in the fridge into useable mushy smoothie strawberries.

Then fire up your Magic Bullet, blending up your smoothie nice and smooth… and bottoms up!

So refreshing and sweet.

Spices also can enhance the pear tastes, and help remind you and I of the season we’re in… like winter, and if you’re feeling Kapha, ginger anti-inflammatory spice add a punchy but mild flavor.

And pinches of cinnamon for any Vata anxiety.

As someone who lives anti-inflammatory year-round, pears are full of fiber and are a low glycemic index food.

And strawberry is a superfood that has more Vitamin C than oranges!

So you’re doing a world of good by having a pear strawberry smoothie in your day.

Fruit, as in seeing what yields, is what keeps us going and growing and a smoothie can be the metaphor.

With a new year, we can use juicy winter fruit as a healthy symbol for what’s ahead.

I like seeing fruit in trees as a visual.

Bright berries are especially inspiring because you can find them out in nature even in the winter. Nature is not all dormant.

And fruit is abundant… and seasonal.

Fruit is a good metaphor for abundance. And what we all want is not just enough, or enough in the new year.

We want more than enough.

Because in overflow, we can give more to the world.

And by leaning into nature’s fruits, we can bring a little abundance into our daily smoothie drink.

For dominant Vatas (who love variety), seasons pose a garden backdrop of sweet fruits that help define what’s available and fresh to eat.

They show up in your kitchen and smoothie up!

And when you’re out and about…

Instead of reaching for a beverage, you can use a juicy apple (or in-season pears) to quench your thirst.

Apples and carrots are winter in-season healthy foods, and with the abundance, you can amp up in a apple-carrot smoothie with coconut tastes.

Or eat them raw if you don’t want to stop for restroom breaks.

Fruit also act as a mouth-teeth cleaner.So bringing a fruit snack with you in your travels make healthy sense all around.

And if you’re a hiker like me, they weigh little on the back.

They make for a happy and healthy snack break.

And if eating healthy today (with a healthy weight) and less sweets is your new year intention… and you have a natural daily sweet tooth craving, you can pair this pear-straw smoothie with a low-sugar berry shortbread cookie (no-bake), no-bake matcha cookie, low-sugar fruit pastry tart, gingerbread cookie, or low-sugar cinnamon donut and other low-sugar recipes.

Rose Smoothie – Fasting For Gut Detox

Rose smoothie is a delicious one that is soothing. Rose petals are edible flowers that you may have seen dried for tea.

And this is a good way to open up your gut after fasting…

Fasting (temporarily) is a way to do gut detox (…more on this below). And then appreciate preferred foods like a rose smoothie… with beet or strawberries, or both that’s berry-hard-to-beat. 🫜🍓

Fasting is a practice that I’m proud of.

…I no longer freak out when I haven’t eaten. I look at not eating differently than my younger self would have.

I now know it’s healthy detox.

So now it’s my choice to fast occasionally.

And fasting is a form of empowerment.

(…And it can be for you too if you choose).

It’s a smart move.

Because living today, we are exposed to so many daily toxins like microplastics, bacteria, and pesticides.

And they end up in our gut and food.

That wreaks havoc on our gut health and how we daily feel.

So an easy way to at-home detox is to simply fast: to not eat temporarily and occasionally.

Fasting is countercultural to western world upbringings where we eat, eat, eat. And snack, snack, snack.

…Which never gives our bodies a break.

But fasting once a week or even once a month does a world of good for the body.

If you choose a day to stop eating at a certain time like 4 pm (like I do) and then resume back at 9 am the next day in time for breakfast (to break the fast), you’ll have turned your body into a healthy cleaning machine.

And it’s really not that difficult from a discipline perspective since you’re sleeping (and not eating anyway) for most the time.

It’s more about breaking old habits and mindsets.

You probably (surprisingly!) won’t even be hungry in the AM… and could even go to the afternoon or 24 hours if you had a reason.

Those additional hours of fasting reaps even more healthy body benefits.

But I find that a 16-17 hour fast is the sweet spot, doing wonders, and doesn’t disrupt my life.

Around that 17th hour mark (that’s more or less for some people), the body switches energy sources from glucose (blood sugar) to fat.

You may have heard of this process (ketosis) from the Keto Diet. But fasting is not about a Diet (with a capital “d”). Because in fasting, you’re simply not eating, temporarily.

Then when you start eating again, it’s about resuming regular eating… hopefully with healthy foods like in an anti-inflammatory food diet.

…Where the type of healthy food matters most (when eating)… much more than counting fat and protein calories, and avoiding high carbs that can cause a yo-yo diet effect.

You lose weight from not eating at all temporarily (when fasting) and not because you’re eating less carbs and calories.

And while fasting is helpful for losing weight, I don’t fast to lose weight… I do it for the healthy benefits.

It’s good for anyone.

Even thinner people (aka Vatas) like me.

…It’s like doing some cardio is good for anyone with a beating heart.

And fasting is part of a healthy lifestyle.

…And one that’s changed my life.

I no longer freak out when I haven’t eaten for some hours on a day I choose to fast.

I look at not eating totally different than I was taught growing up.

And if I have low blood sugar during the day when I’m not fasting, but because I don’t have anything in my stomach or I forgot to pack a snack, I know I’ll be fine.

…Because I know I do the same thing when I purposefully fast.

I’m not eating in both cases.

But the body doesn’t know if I’m choosing to be hungry for fasting healthy reasons or if I forgot to pack a snack.

But my calmed mind does. And I do.

As long as my mind and I know, that’s all that matters. And my body is happy with me.

I’m letting it do its full reset and cleaning job, uninterrupted.

Then the next morning, my body rewards me.

I wake up feeling refreshed… like I’d slept for days.

That’s when I’m humbly reminded of how it feels to have energy without needing cups of coffee to get going!

Without missing a beat, I’m also never more excited to taste a beet smoothie 🫜and start my day, besides this rose smoothie.

And I know I’m not the only one. 😊 Roses are a lovely start. I learned about edible flowers from my catering days. They are also pretty on a food table or pressed as art. 🏵️

Rose Smoothie

Rose is a soothing herbal element and rose petals are edible and can be added to a smoothie.

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Equipment

Magic bullet or similar blender

Ingredients

2-3 oz beets, cooked (or whole strawberries)
1/2 tsp rosewater, splash
4 oz water
1-2 rose tea, dried and crushed (for zhugh)

Instructions

Blend cooked beets and rosewater. A splash is strong. You can find rosewater in international grocery markets.
Zhugh with rose petals that are used for tea.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie – Frozen Anti-Inflammatory

Strawberry banana smoothie is one I can get behind. It’s a great start.

For frrozen smoothies, frozen strawberries are a reliable source. They are a high source of Vitamin C.

For bananas, you don’t have to wait until they are ripe for a smoothie as texture best. You can go ahead and add your just bought bananas to your freezer.

Peel the banana and add to a freezer safe bag. The bananas will turn brownish black but they will be a good taste and soft texture for your smoothies. So like strawberries you can freeze or buy frozen, you have your bananas ready.

I learned this after I had been using fresh bananas that were too soft to eat by themselves. I like bananas when they are firm and about a day away from their green unripe peel.

And if you’re picky like I am with banana brown spots, if you freeze them you won’t have to deal with them. The entire banana will be brownish.

Frozen Strawberry Banana Smoothie

This is a reminder of childhood popsicles.

Course beverage

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

3 frozen strawberries.
1/2 medium banana
almond milk (or milk of choice)
basil, mint, or cilantro.
orange juice
coconut oil (optional)

Instructions

Blend the ingredients. When you add the herby flavor, it gives a third dimension. Mint will be mildest, basil is middle of the road, and cilantro will the the most pungent. Save Money Tip: you can freeze your fresh organic strawberries when they are in season.
Pour about 3/4 full, leaving a little room for the orange dreamsicle layer.
Mix orange juice and milk about half and half.
After frozen, pour the orange layer on top.
Freeze again or add crushed ice to the top layer
Enjoy!

Summer Cool Tips and Good Reminders ☀️

Summer cool tips are needed during the scorcher months. Our bodies are screaming for cool and hydration. And our minds are looking for adventure and outdoor exploration where excessive heat and humidity causes havoc on our bodies.

I think and feel for the Tour de France cyclists 🚴 who rode in all weather conditions over mountains ⛰️ and uphill Montmartre Paris narrow neighborhood cobblestones that look like these whole wheat peach cobbler cobblestones.

Can you imagine what that would be like? I can’t …and to feel the impact less, below are 12 cooling tips to help soothe the mind and body… plus highlights of past blog post articles with good healthy summer reminders.

For starters, you can enjoy your summer by leaning into Ayurvedic ways like a cool and refreshing bowl that can help drive away heated Pitta season moods. You can easily save money and make your own chocolate ice cream …and not be disappointed that the soft serve machine is broken at the drive thru. 😊

And when you’re packing and getting ready for your hot day, these are 12 good summer cool reminder tips:

1. Keep aloe vera near you. Aloe helps with burns, heat rashes, and to instantly cool your skin. That’s like giving a spa water bath to your body when it’s thirsty for cool relief. Many moisturizers have aloe barbadensis leaf juice ingredients, but I like to go straight to the 100% ingredient source.

2. Bring a water spray bottle that comes in handy. You can hang it to a beach bag or something in case you run out of car cupholders, and so you don’t have to go rummaging for it like a regular water bottle.

3. Start your day with a smoothie, that has chilled ingredients like nut-based milk, bananas, coconut, and berries. Try frozen smoothies. Let them cool you down as they defrost. 🧊

…Up for it? Try a sweet smoothie challenge.

The point is to lower sugar intake and increase fiber and nutrients. For sweetener, try adding maple syrup, honey, or fruits instead of white table sugar. Did you happen to see my blueberry cobbler recipe that has no added sugar?

4. Take cool showers or end on a cool setting for 10-30 seconds. This is can keep you chillin’ down to the bone. 🚿 You can feel cool inside and warm to the touch on the skin. To lock in skin moisture and help stay hydrated cool, moisturize right after showering when the skin is still moist.

Movin’ on, now we can talk about the fun stuff… food! (I think fun, anyway!).

5. Use cooling spices like cumin. Adding a Pitta spice like cumin is going to help your body stay cool. You can add to a hummus dip or a beet cauliflower soup that can be served cold (or served warm if you’re feeling fall Vata cold in the summer… that can happen). Mint herb is another great cooling add… that goes well in a pea bowl.

6. Eat foods that hang between a fruit and a veggie like beets, avocados, and medley color tomatoes. Many are vibrant in summer colors as well as nutrients! And you can always freeze produce and add them to smoothies.

If you’re on staycation or grocery shopping, you can also challenge yourself to these cool smoothie and healthy beverages.

7. Cut up summer tropical fruits like a mango, guava, dragon fruit, passion fruit, coconut, and pineapples that are eat-from-the-rainbow 🌈healthy. For more happy vibes, you can make a tropical fruit salad or tropical fruits pie.

8. Add refreshing whole fruits to your list like peaches and plums that are usually summer abundant. Handing them out to others in the car is always fun and well received. And you can make and take healthy peach juice and drink ideas 🍑

9. Add and eat hydrating juicy fruits like watermelon, kiwi, pears, grapes, and oranges that can go in a salad and make great food garnishes too.

10. Bring out cool veggies that win you plant-based points. Like raw carrots, lettuce, and celery that are easy to transport. You can make a memorable Italian bean salad or no-bitter radish salad.

11. Bring along a cooling towel or T-shirt. A day or two before, roll up a towel and leave in the freezer or fridge, and then bring along with you so you can wrap around your neck or put on and quickly cool you down.

12. Use an aluminum water bottle that keeps water and beverages cold longer. Sometimes all day.

Another cool item from the fridge I like to bring out, are high antioxidant-rich fruits like sweet-scented pineapple chunks or tart lemons. Not for eating, but I can run one down my face for a hydrate cooling moment and get a Vitamin C fruit facial.

It’s a topical tropical 🍍😎🍍

And when you’re out and about, think of healthy drinks such as coconut water. Some have electrolytes. Check the label also for low sugar content.

Instead of water or milk, you can add coconut water to smoothies like a watermelon smoothie, tropical smoothie with dragon and passion fruit, and mango green smoothie. 🥥💧

A smoothie is a way to squeeze in more antioxidant foods that help the skin and protect the body from chronic damage that shows up as aging. Unlike juicing, you keep the food fiber that’s also good for weight loss.

You can also get food shopping inspiration from this eat-from-the-rainbow 200 anti-inflammatory grocery food list.

Hope you enjoyed these summer cool tips.

Have an excessively cool week! 🍉 …and if you’re driving or sitting down a lot, reminder to do a ‘lil seated yoga to help unwind and build up flexibility!