Fizzy peach mojitos

Hello summer.

It is HOT today. 30 degrees Celsius (88 degrees F for our American friends).

It is the kind of heat where you don’t bother to wear makeup, cross the street just to walk in the shade and feel grateful, for once, when you enter an overly air conditioned building. Really, I love it all. After 8 feet of snow that took forever to thaw,  it’s  nice to feel warmth on my skin, swat away bees, touch flowers spilling out of their beds and just…bask in all the glory.

But it’s even lovelier to come home and mix a cool drink with all the flavours of summer: in this case,  a modified mojito with a twist that leaves it sweeter, crisper and more refreshing than before.

This recipe is so simple: Add your base, muddle. Add alcohol, stir. Add liquid base, stir. Fizzy drink, stir. Top with garnish. Raise glass and sip.

INGREDIENTS:

Serves one.

• ¼ cup fresh peaches, cut
• 5-6 mint leaves plus another sprig for garnish
• 2 ice cubes
• Plain vodka
• Peach iced tea
• Lime seltzer water

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Brew peach iced tea in advance if you can. I brewed some the day before: Steep peach tea bags in boiling water for 4-5 minutes (or to your desired strength level). Remove tea bags and let tea cool completely. Keep in the fridge before brewing drink, if possible.
2. In a small 8 oz glass, add cut peaches. Tear up mint leaves by hand and add them also. Muddle the mixture together (I used a chopstick to smash up the fruit!)
3. Add in a splash of vodka, if desired.
4. Muddle the fruit-mint-alcohol mixture further and add ice cubes.
5. Fill the glass 2/3 of the way with chilled peach tea.
6. Top off with some sparkling lime water.
7. Give one final stir and mix in an extra spring of mint.

Cheers, friends!

Anatomy of the perfect fruit smoothie

In my glory days of diet-dabbling, I went (almost) raw vegan for a summer, wherein my breakfast consisted of fruit smoothies, lunch of salads… and I got pretty bad munchies. I was biking to and from work every day, where I was out and about chasing thirty jumpy campers for over eight hours a day. In hindsight, the fruit energy was good, but I was definitely lacking protein.

I’ve since begun to wrap my head around the complexity that is food + body, in relation to geography and lifestyle. It may seem like common sense, but where you live and how you live plays a big role on your bodily needs! My fascination with the 80-10-10 diet began in the early spring of 2013, when I was living in Lyon, France. I got hooked on YouTubers like Kristina the raw foodie, but overlooked the fact that a student living in the Rhone-Alps region doesn’t have quite the same dietary needs as a long-distance runner in Austin, Texas.

Though I no longer live off of breakfast smoothies, I do appreciate the quick protein fix smoothies can provide after a hefty workout.

Here’s what I consider the anatomy, or essential elements, of a protein-rich fruit smoothie:

1. Base: This is the “meat” of the smoothie, providing the majority of the caloric energy and the texture of the drink. Usually a tropical fruit and most commonly bananas. My other faves are oranges and mangoes.
2. Secondary fruit: Add some dimension and antioxidants with some fresh or frozen fruit like berries or kiwi.
3. Protein: To ensure your smoothie packs a punch, add a tablespoon of protein powder, peanut (or other nut) butter, or flax seed. Also a great option is to sneak in some protein-y greens like spinach or kale.
4. Liquid: This will help “glue” all the dry ingredients together. Depending on how light or heavy you want to go, add a milk (eg. soy, almond, dairy, etc.), juice (eg. orange, apple, cranberry), or water (eg. coconut).
5. Flava-flav: The best part is customizing the flavour, colour and texture with fun ingredients like: coconut flakes, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, medjool dates, raw honey, or matcha powder.

Here’s what I used for today’s Tabata Sunday smoothie:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 banana
• ½ cup frozen blueberries
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• ½ cup soy milk

In this extra protein-y shake, the peanut butter acted as both protein and the flava-flav. For extra fruit (and aesthetics), I garnished with a kiwi slice.

Work that body and treat yourself!