In need of something refreshing, inspiration came in the form of a bag of frozen fruit which had been languishing in the freezer for some time. It was bought with the intention of being added to bircher muesli but having tried a couple of times I found that the kiwi in the ‘tropical’ mix of mango, pineapple & kiwi jarred with yogurt for me.

Armed with the yogurt learning, I was going to have to steer clear of milk as the smoothie base but with no other juices in the house options were looking thin. Last night’s bottle of rum sitting on the kitchen work bench was probably not going to work as an apple juice substitute.

So (unsweetened) almond milk it was. This is a great thing to have in the cupboard – unopened it lasts for months and even opened has never done me any harm long past the advised five days. It also has the advantage over milk or juice of being in all meaningful measurements calorie-free, which makes a big difference to the total calorie content of any smoothie-like recipe (I reckon if you do manage to eat the whole portion as per the recipe it is around 270 calories).

I used the fruit straight out of the freezer to make a slushy sort of texture but this does demand a decent blender. I’m sure it would make a fine thinner-textured smoothie if you needed to let the fruit soften to give your blender a fighting chance.

Essentially the recipe is a simple mix of the frozen fruit and almond milk with ginger & mint to freshen up. Takes almost as long to wash up as make. (See tips on washing up a blender. Yes I know, what has life come to.)

It’s fair to say that my mint plant is somewhat worse for wear – it does seem that I am the only person on the planet who can’t even grow mint. Worse-for-wear mint though is still very flavoursome so in it went. (I always buy potted herbs rather than cut – with only two of us at home it helps to get a considerably longer shelf-life. You may ask why I keep having to buy potted herbs but see my previous comment on growing mint. Even with my anti-green fingers, the average life of a supermarket potted herb vs pre-cut packet means the economics stacks up.)

This recipe makes a generous portion for one or a more moderate portion for two. You could easily add some chia seeds to make a more nutritionally-balanced and substantial breakfast. That way it would also firm up a little and make for a perfectly portable breakfast.

Alternatively, it would freeze well to make a sorbet for a future dessert. In which case, now I think about it, adding a few capfuls of rum might not be such a bad idea.

Read the recipe or watch th highlights below.