For those of you who saw my video interview with Mustafa Koita, Entrepreneur and Founder of Koita foods (plant-based nut milks), you may have watched till the end when I made this pretty tasty smoothie that contains the Koita Oat Milk product and just a few other things. Here’s the recipe all laid out and a few notes on the substitutions at the end.
To a blender, add the banana and pour in the Koita Oat Milk. Add the tahini and mix well on high. Add the Medjool date and almonds and mix again on the highest setting to finely chop and blend both ingredients.
Pour into one tall glass or two small cups and garnish with chopped pistachios, if desired.
NOTES
Try to consume this drink soon after making it, as refrigerating it may not taste as good since the banana is quick to degrade.
If you require a little more sweetener to this drink, you can add about 1/2 teaspoon honey or grape molasses (will change the color slightly). (The honey would make this smoothie vegetarian instead of vegan).
For a different topping, you can garnish with any type of chopped nut or coconut flakes and it would be equally delish!
One of my all-time favorite recipes for drinks that truly hydrate without artificial sugars. This is great for a Spring or Summertime Ramadan when you really want something cool and refreshing and super hydrating for Iftar, too.
Don’t skimp on the fresh mint, either. That little detail at the end makes it extra special and tasty.
This recipe appeared first in my Summer Ramadan Cooking cookbook, which you can find on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats.
In the heat of the summer, sometimes we crave hydration more than food, especially when fasting during a summer time Ramadan. That’s why I love to freeze fruits and use them as ‘ice cubes’ in a variety of drinks and one of my favorite of these drinks is the super delicious homemade Strawberry Lemonade. It’s not too sweet (you can adjust the sweetness as you like or take it out altogether) and so fresh because you’re using real fruits strawberries and lemons, both of which are hydrating and packed with important nutrients.
This recipe can also be found in the paperback and Kindle editions of Summer Ramadan Cooking: Recipes & Resources for Healthy Meals All Month Long, available on Amazon.
There’s no doubt that one of the hardest part of the fasting day might not even be going without food, but going without water. That’s why it’s super important to hydrate during the non-fasting hours, all throughout those hours. It’s easy to remember to do if you make a huge jar of a natural, hydrating drink and keep it on hand to fill up large cups to drink after eating the Iftar meal, take it on the go to the taraweeh prayers, and more.
I made this wonderful large jar of fruity coconut water earlier in the day, refrigerated it and took it out at Iftar time. I drink as much as I can throughout the night and before it’s time to stop eating and drinking once again. Use fresh fruits you have on hand, the best coconut water you can find (or just water) and fresh herbs from your garden to make it extra special and refreshing.
This past Ramadan I got really used to drinking smoothies at iftar and sometimes even at suhoor. Now here were are a couple of months out, and they are very much still on my radar, especially since I’ve frozen so much of the fruit that was leftover and still gets left over from weekly shopping. But what I decided to do this time around was to make packs of fruits, combining the ones I wanted to have together in a smoothie since it’s just easier to take it right out of the bag and add the things you can’t necessarily freeze so well. Here’s what I do:
Gather your favorite fruits, freshest fruits, most seasonal fruits and think about what combos you’d like to prepare in a smoothie. Then, get proper freezing bags, plus think about what liquids you’d like to add to the smoothies once they’re prepared fresh (I don’t actually advise freezing milk, yogurt, coconut water or any creams but just showed them here for visual purposes).
Mark the bags, using freezer tape and nice and bright markers like Sharpies, which don’t bleed when cold or frozen.
I personally like to combine dates with figs, dates with apricots, figs with bananas, pineapple with banana and coconut flakes.
Proportionally, I bag enough for one or two, but not more than that at a time so that they’re easy for everyone in the house to make their one when they want, especially for breakfast.
For example, I put 2 large figs (cut in half so that when they’re frozen they’re easy on the blender), 1/2 banana, 1/2 cup whole milk. Really delicious and makes about 12 ounces of a very smooth smoothie when blended until all the lumps are gone.
One last word of advice is to use whole milk products such as whole-milk yogurt so that the resulting drink isn’t too watery. Coconut water is so excellent in smoothies, too, but you almost never need as much as you think because the fruits have so much water in them, too, especially after they’ve been frozen.
One last word of advice is to use whole milk products such as whole-milk