They say, "write about what you know." Well in a food blogger's case, "blog what you eat." And so my Matcha Smoothie / Shake deserves one last salute before I officially welcome in this new fall season of crushed leaves, my Vaute Couture fall coat, crisp breezes and golden pumpkin daydreams.
Techie Side Note. Notice anything different today? Last night, my husband and I had quite a wild Saturday night - and you are viewing the remnants. If tech hangovers exist, I think I have one. Yes, more fun than clubbing, we stayed up until 2am making some big changes to my blog. And by BIG, I am most excited by the larger photo size possibilities. I hope you all like it too!
Today's recipe (the first in my new 700px image format!) is the 2.0 version of my Secret Ingredient Matcha Shake - a salute to my most-blended recipe of the summer 2012. Seriously guys, I have chopped and frozen more watermelon this summer than in my entire life just so that when morning dawns I am ready to blend up my Zen-tastic matcha smoothie / shake. Have you tried it yet? I hope you do..
I like to enjoy my matcha shakes in a morning sunbeam .. it makes me feel kind of like this..
Green is good. I know, I know. This shake is green. Very green. Due to the green tea matcha. But guess what - it tastes amazing. So if you are one of those people who gets scared off by all things green - please try this! You might be surprised how delicious green can taste.
Matcha is my favorite discovery of this year. It has officially stomped out my coffee cravings during the workweek. Instead of tall lattes - I crave green tea matcha. I do enjoy my soy latte from Le Pain Quotidien on the weekends. But it is even more of a treat to abstain from coffee all week and splurge for Saturday brunching.
Crave THIS - ZENergy..
And this matcha stuff is kind of magical - from my experience anyways. It is the ground up whole leaves of green tea - so you are getting more antioxidants than you would just drinking green tea via steeping a tea bag. And to be honest, I've never really like plain steeped green tea. But matcha smoothies drive me wild.
The powdery matcha has a tea-ish bitter taste with an accent of sweet - kind of like rice milk sweet. And when you blend it with sweet things like bananas and watermelon it takes on a whole new flavor that I am addicted to.
Some chia seeds too for added nutrition and texture.
I just may make this all fall long .. at least when chilly days come I can run to Urth Caffe and get a Warm Soy Mint Matcha Latte. Yes, that is a matcha art kitty cat...
Kathy's Matcha Shake
vegan, serves one
¾ cup non-dairy milk, I use vanilla soy milk
1 cup watermelon cubes, frozen
1 ¼ bananas, frozen
½ - 2 teaspoon matcha green tea powder (I usually use about 1 tsp)
optional add-ins:
* vegan vanilla protein powder
* 1 teaspoon chia seeds
Pro-Tip: For a thicker shake use ½ cup milk and blend in a high speed blender.
1. Blend the matcha + non-dairy milk on low for a minutes. Add in optional protein powder and/or chia seeds.
2. Turn off blender and add the watermelon and banana. Blend from low to high - using your high speed blender plunger to get the swirl blend going (yes, a vitamix or BlendTec blender will help make the thickest shakes - but any blender will work - you just may need to add a splash more liquid in a lower speed blender to get the blend moving.)
Serve and enjoy via a spoon.
I really hope you all love this blend as much as me. Dreamer: I want to open my own matcha food / smoothie truck and serve these babies to the masses.
Matcha Shake with a scoop of vanilla protein powder & a hint of spirulina too. Power shake..
Grab some matcha and try this shake! Amazon.com has good prices on matcha. Including one of my fave brands -> I love DoMatcha brand.
Learn more about MATCHA in my Green Tea Matcha Muffins post!
