Matcha and Banana Superfood Breakfast Smoothie

Although I can often be seen running down the road with a piece of toast in my hand first thing in the morning, I have had a bit of a love affair with breakfast smoothies recently. Packed full of healthy and delicious ingredients, they can be a great way to start the day. If I'm at home on my own, I sometimes have one as an easy lunch option. Normally I use milk, but when given the opportunity to try some unsweetened Almond Breeze recently, I thought I'd take the chance to reacquaint myself with almond milk.

Made from Californian almonds, Almond Breeze is dairy free and soya free. It is very low in calories with only 14 per 100 ml, making it ideal for those on the 5:2 fasting diet. 100 ml also provides 15% of the recommended daily allowance for Calcium.

Foodies 100 set a challenge to come up with an "easy to make but incredibly scrumptious breakfast smoothie". Well, I had this one sorted without even having to think about it. I've honed my matcha smoothie to the point of perfection and for optimum nutrition, it was just a matter of swapping the dairy milk for Almond Breeze.

This is how I made:

Matcha and Banana Superfood Breakfast Smoothie

• Soaked 2 tbsp of porridge oats and 2 tsp of chia seeds in a litre of unsweetened almond milk (Almond Breeze) for 15 minutes so that the oats and chia would swell and thicken the smoothie.
• Added two chopped fairtrade bananas, 1 tsp matcha powder and 2 tsp honey (I usually use Cornish honey, but I had been sent some Beech Forest Honeydew from the New Zealand Honey Co, so thought I'd use that to give an extra boost with its 10+ pre-biotic factor).
• Whizzed this in a liquidiser for a couple of minutes until smooth and frothy.
• Poured into 2 large glasses and topped with shavings from a bar of 100% chocolate.

Pure breakfast bliss and so simple. It was thick and frothy, just as I'd expected. The matcha green tea gave a pleasant green colour and infused the smoothie with its distinctive taste and high density of antioxidants. The chia seeds gave a lovely speckled look and added additional powerful nutrients. The chocolate on the top gave a real burst of intense cocoa with every sip and without the addition of sugar is super healthy too. For a vegan alternative, the honey could easily be replaced by date syrup or agave nectar or left out all together.

Disclaimer - I was sent two litres of almond milk to try. As always, all opinions expressed are my own.