Like most people we had 2 grandmothers. To differentiate between them, we called our mum's mum Nanny car 'cos - you guessed it- she had a car! This Nanny as I may have mentioned before, used to buy strange things for us like musk sticks and whole coconuts and tinned quinces - can you even buy those anymore?- when a sensible gift would have been a pound of steak (no metrics in those days) or potatoes. Another thing she used to give our poor tired-out mother was packets of dates. And these were not the gourmet dates you can buy these days. Oh no - they were small and hard and chewy with nasty bits that stuck in your throat. So why am I telling you all this you may well be asking? Because I had a bit of a date breakthrough this weekend. I had not knowingly eaten dates since I was a child but this weekend I ate- well, drank- some dates! I had sucked up a delicious banana and date smoothie in a cafe recently, so thought I would give it a go at home. Bravely I went out into the world and purchased some "gourmet dates" (clearly, calling them "gourmet" means you can triple the asking price) and a few other items for my attempt at this smoothie. It was not as delicious as theirs, but a pretty damn good try I thought. I still have some dates, and a banana in the freezer so I guess I will have to make another one. I actually sliced up and froze my banana first, but I see now that you can just chuck your banana pieces in the blender and forget the freezing bit unless you have a ripe little beastie that won't last until you can drink it.
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| slicing |
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| laying on tray ready for the freezer (that's the banana not me) |
I put the slices in the freezer for an hour or so, then placed them into a freezer bag so I could use them another day. No need of course to freeze if you are making the drink straightaway.
Here is my version of The Belle General super smoothie:
ingredients:
1 ripe banana sliced
5 or 6 "gourmet" dates
1/3 cup coconut cream
1/2 cup almond milk (or soy or rice or whatever takes your fancy)
1 tsp chia seeds
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbs oats
ice cubes
extra ground cinnamon
method:
well, you know the drill. Blitz it all up in the blender, peoples! And throw on some extra cinnamon if you fancy. Add more milk if it is too thick for you.
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| dates and banana- my nemeses! |
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| all ready for blitzing |
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| blitzed! and now for the drinking |
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| here we go! mmm not too bad |
Obviously I will have to go back to Ballina to try this drink again at the cafe, as they have it just right. And I will keep trying to get my own perfect version till I get it right.
Sounds pretty good to me Sherry! But I do suggest a return trip to Ballina just to check!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely Rachel. Def more trips on the agenda😃
DeleteThat is so funny about your Nana Car! :P What odd gifts, my MIL does give odd things like that too. Hubby is a bit traumatised from years of bad childhood gifts!
ReplyDeletehi lorraine
Deleteyes she was a bit odd in the gift department:) Practical stuff would have been better or real proper food.
I know what you mean by those old dried out packaged dates - my mother used to put them in my lunch box. The fresh dates we can buy now are so much better - they actually are soft and don't get stuck in your throat. I haven't had dates in a smoothie but you've inspired me! xx
ReplyDeleteHi Charlie
DeleteYep modern dates are clearly much nicer. They actually added a really nice sweetness to the smoothie.