Happy 2018, friends! If you’re still recovering from New Year celebrations (and/or a whole lotta holiday travel like us!), I have just the recipe to kick off your January. It’s refreshing and light with an immune-boosting bonus—something I think most of us could use right about now! I know I could.

We had a fun whirlwind of a holiday week! How did yours go? The four of us took a road trip to see Eric’s parents, then headed west to visit my family in Alberta. Since our stay at my parents’ house was only four nights, we opted to keep the kids on eastern time. I have to say this strategy worked out so much better than the last visit. Both kids slept well (aside from one night) and were pretty happy during the day!! If we were staying longer, Eric and I would’ve gradually shifted them to mountain time, but for this visit we didn’t see a need to. It felt like a huge win. Parents, how do you handle changing time zones with your kiddos in tow? I think this was the first small success we’ve had. (Still worth celebrating, though! Ha.)

Now about those flights!! Oh man. Arlo is now 15 months old and very active, so he was our biggest challenge on the four-hour flight to Alberta. Nothing kept him happy for long, and we tried everything: toys, snacks, iPads, nursing, walks, etc…. He just wanted to move and get off that flight! Who can blame the little guy?! Arlo definitely inherited his “can’t-sit-still” gene from his mama.

We also had an eventful trip home, to say the least! First, our carry-on bags were flagged going through security (they said it was due to some small baby food pouches—apparently their texture can trigger the alarm even when removed from the bag), so the screening officers pulled us aside and spent about half an hour going through everything (and I mean everything…they opened every single marker cap, searched Eric’s wallet, and asked us additional questions for their documentation.). Even poor Arlo was patted down. At that point I was starting to feel emotional, but tried to hold it together because we needed to focus on making our flight. I have a lot of respect for the security process, but this threw us for a bit of a loop. We made it to the gate just in time!

Then, about halfway through the flight, Adriana had an allergic reaction. Luckily it wasn’t severe and she’s totally fine now. The concerned cabin crew called a medical emergency over the intercom and told everyone to clear the aisle. A doctor on board the flight rushed to check on her and everyone nearby turned to see what was wrong. He was such a kind man and had a wonderful bedside manner (aisle-side manner, lol?). Boy, an experience like that really makes you appreciate the GOOD people in this world. During all of this, Arlo was super fussy, nursing- and nap-striking through the whole fiasco. And I was SWEATING, lol. At one point Eric looked at me and said, “We are officially that family on the flight!” Bahaha. Travelling with kids is so humbling, isn’t it? If I had a free hand on that flight, you can be sure it would’ve had a drink in it! Needless to say, we are very grateful for all of the kind people who helped us and to have gotten home safely in the end. I hope you all made it through your holidays okay too!

Anyway, I wanted to share our little travel tale to let you know that if you faced your own family adventure over the holidays, you certainly weren’t alone. ;)

Okay, back to the energizing recipe that kept me powering through our holiday shenanigans! I created this smoothie in December for a fun TV segment with etalk’s Traci Melchor. I’ll be sure to share on social media when the episode is scheduled, so please stay tuned if you’d like to see us in action and catch all the smoothie-making fun! It should be airing this month. I had such a blast chatting with Traci about all things breakfast and OSG. She and her kids are also huge smoothie fans and make one every day. Luckily (and to my huge relief) everyone on set LOVED this bowl—including the cameramen! They were feasting on leftovers after our show. I wish I had a picture of that. It was a proud moment.

New Year Glow Smoothie Bowl

Vegan, gluten-free, grain-free, no bake/raw, nut-free, oil-free, refined sugar-free, soy-free

This creamy, dreamy, tropical green smoothie bowl is perfect for giving yourself a bright boost during the winter months! Mango and clementine add a tangy burst of flavour, and these nutrient-packed fruits are a great way of sneaking in some extra vitamin C during cold and flu season, too. Anti-inflammatory ginger is great for digestion, and avocado lends this smoothie bowl a thick, creamy texture. If serving to kids, you may want to omit the matcha green tea powder (due to its caffeine content) and ginger (which can be a bit spicy for little ones). If you’d like a portable smoothie on-the-glow, feel free to thin it out with more liquid and pour into a thermos for easy drinking. Since there’s no banana in this smoothie, I find that it can be made the night before without impacting overall flavour and texture the next day.

Yield
2 1/2 cups (625 mL)

Prep time
10 Minutes

Cook time
0 Minutes

Total time
10 Minutes

Ingredients:

For the smoothie bowl:

• 3/4 cup (175 mL) water*
• 1 heaping cup (145 g) frozen mango chunks
• 1/3 cup (55 g) packed avocado
• 1/2-inch piece (7 g) peeled ginger, or to taste
• 1 cup (30 g) packed fresh baby spinach
• 1 small (75 g) clementine, peeled
• 1 very large (30 g) pitted Medjool date**
• 3 ice cubes
• 1/2 teaspoon matcha green tea powder (optional)

For the toppings:

• Diced fresh mango
• Vanilla Super Seed Granola or granola of choice***
• Raspberries, blueberries, and/or strawberries****
• Hemp hearts
• Clementines, segmented and chopped

Directions:

1. Add the water into a high-speed blender followed by the rest of the smoothie bowl ingredients. Blend on high until smooth.
2. Pour into a bowl and add toppings as desired. Serve and enjoy!

Tips:

* Feel free to use coconut water if you like a sweeter smoothie.

** If your blender has a hard time blending dates smooth, you may want to swap the date out for a teaspoon or two of pure maple syrup. It also helps to use a very fresh date as they’re softer and blend easier. You may also be able to omit the date all together and use coconut water as your base for sweetness.

*** You can find the recipe for this granola in Oh She Glows Every Day, p. 33.

**** If fresh berries are out of season, feel free to use frozen or swap them with banana slices for your topping.

By the way, if you are an OSG App user, you can also find this recipe in The Oh She Glows Recipe App (iOS/Android)!