These rainbow smoothies are a lot of fun to make and super delicious to devour for breakfast. Healthy, fun and a big hit with the kids!
I’m a relatively new smoothie convert. I had a weird combination at a juice bar a few weeks ago – spinach, cucumber, mint, celery and apple. I half expected it to taste like chilled-infusion-of-garden-waste-bin, but it was actually really nice and refreshing! So much so, I ordered myself a new smoothie blender that very evening.
I’m a terrible sucker for advertising – through general daily life or via TV. Chris has to grab the remote to save me from myself if I flick across a shopping channel. I will see something on TV, and then 10 minutes later, I will realise that I need that steam cleaner/clothes de-fuzzer/miracle pore minimizer (what?!?!).
However, this was definitely a successful buy. My usual rushed weekday breakfast of a cereal bar and a latte has been replaced with a spinach, kale, banana, date and chia seed smoothie and I feel so much better for it (even if it does mean checking my teeth for green bits before any morning meetings).
I’ve had limited success in converting the kids so far though. The ‘green dinosaur’ smoothie was met with initial delight, followed by forced enthusiasm, followed by half a glass of warm green smoothie being left on the counter. So whilst doing a bit of flavour experimentation I came up with the rainbow smoothie.
The order of the colours means you don’t need to wash your blender for each new flavour. So long as you give your jug a scrape, you can move onto the next layer no problem. Less washing up yay! (a regular target on my blog)
I found it worked better to sit the smoothie in the freezer for 5 or 10 minutes for each layer, just to firm it up enough to take the weight of the next layer. This should give you a nice clean line between layers so long as you spoon or pour it on very gently.
It’s not too calorific at 242 calories for a nice big 330ml glass. I found it filling enough to keep me going until lunch time, and lower in calories than my cereal bar/latte breakfast. Alternatively you could serve it in little 110ml glasses, or bottles like I have done at 81 calories per smoothie. A great size as a snack or for kids.
The bottom layer is by far the sweetest, so you get a nice sweet hit when you start drinking, which slowly starts to mix in a little to the less sweet upper layers as you continue drinking. I think this combo was what made it a hit with the kids – kale and all!
Here’re the small bottles (81 cals each):
The Rainbow Smoothies Recipe:
Rainbow Smoothies
Ingredients
Layer 1 Banana/almond:
- 130 g crushed ice
- 2 small bananas about 80g each with skin removed
- 10 almonds
- 50 ml semi skimmed milk
Layer 2 Kale/date:
- 50 g crushed ice
- 2 medjool dates stones removed and roughly chopped
- 75 g kale
Layer 3 blueberry:
- 80 g crushed ice
- 70 g blueberries
- 50 ml water
Layer 4 Strawberry/milk:
- 80 g crushed ice
- 80 g strawberries green bits cut off
- 50 ml semi skimmed milk
Instructions
- Blend all the ingredients for Layer 1 until completely combined. Very carefully pour out two thirds of this between your glasses. Try not to get any of the smoothie on the sides of the glass. Leave one third of the mixture in the jug and place the jug in the fridge. Place your glasses in the freezer so they’re upright and level. Leave for 10 minutes, before adding layer two.
- Take the jug out of the fridge and add in the ingredients for Layer two. Blend until completely combined. Take your glasses out of the freezer and carefully pour or spoon this layer on top. Use all of the mixture this time, making sure you scrape down the jug. If you find it starts to sink, you could put your glasses back in the freezer for a couple of mins (putting the jug back in the fridge). Once layer two is complete, put your glasses back in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Add the ingredients for layer 3 to the jug and blend until completely combined. As before, take your glasses out of the freezer and carefully pour or spoon this layer on top. Use all of the mixture again. Put your glasses back in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Finally, add the ingredients for layer 4 to the jug and blend until completely combined. Take your glasses out of the freezer and carefully pour or spoon this layer on top. Use all of the mixture again. Then serve. Be careful when putting a straw into the smoothie, You don’t want to mess up your layers before you serve it.
Recipe Notes
Nutritional Information
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