It’s almost Christmas! This is the second biggest meal of the year for us, the first being Thanksgiving. For me, it involves planning a big menu, a huge shop, and cooking for days. But all that work means the meals leading up to Christmas dinner are quite simple. That is more true with breakfast, which I sometimes even skip. Then I stumbled upon this Healthy Chia Gingerbread Smoothie and I knew my breakfastless pre-Christmas days were over. It’s so perfect for the season, plus it’s a much-needed healthy option to get me ready for a huge meal. Let’s find out if it lives up to its name!
Indulge in this Healthy Chia Gingerbread Smoothie for breakfast. This energizing, protein-rich smoothie has all your favourite gingerbread flavours.
The Ingredients
I had a bit of shopping to do for this recipe since all I had on hand were the spices and chia seeds. My regular grocery store had everything except the hemp hearts, which I ordered online for about $8.
There were a couple of ingredients that listed options, and I chose what I like. Namely, I opted for unsweetened almond, but I think sweetened almond milk would work too (this smoothie isn’t super sweet). And I have never tried milk kefir, so I opted for tried and true Greek yogurt.
There were a couple of things I wasn’t sure about, so I guessed. The dates I chose didn’t specify they were Medjool dates, so I just crossed my fingers and hoped they would work.
I’m not the molasses I used was cooking molasses (a blend of blackstrap and fancy molasses), so I also crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. It was labeled ‘unsulphured’ and I think it did the job.
The Process
So, it’s a smoothie, and making it was exactly what I thought it would be. I just chucked everything into my blender as I prepped and measured. Then blended until smooth.
It took me six minutes to get everything mixed up. Next time (there will be a next time!) I think I will forgo the fresh ginger and use ground ginger. Grating the ginger was a bit frustrating for me so early in the morning. Otherwise, things went very smoothly (pun intended!).
