Cucumber, Mint, and Pineapple Smoothie Bowl
By: Nikki Brown
Published: Saturday, September 23, 2017 - 6:52am

Ingredients




100g/3.5oz cucumber, roughly chopped
1 tbsp. chia seeds
15ml/0.5fl oz maple syrup
50g/2oz pineapple, cut into chunks
1 small handful mint leaves
62.5ml/2fl oz yoghurt

Preparation

1 Puree cucumber, yoghurt, mint leaves, and maple syrup in a blender. Cut the fresh Pineapple in half, cut the pineapple into chunks and use the halves as bowls. 2 Transfer to the pineapple bowl, add chia seeds, and chill for about an hour. 3 Top with fresh pineapple chunks.

About

Give a warm welcome to this cool smoothie. Mint has traditionally had a role in welcoming guests throughout history, and by many different cultures. The ancient Greeks rubbed mint leaves on the dining tables to greet guests, mint tea is offered to guests in the Middle East and many cultures boil the leaves to freshen the air. This is also the recipe to say goodbye – to stomach problems  –  mint has a soothing effect on the digestive tract, relieving symptoms of indigestion, cucumber too is high in fibre, also good for digestive health and pineapple contains a digesting enzyme that is unique to pineapples, Bromelain. Bromelain is know to be good for brain health, also, when you are cooking one of our delicious meat recipes, the meat can be tenderized with pineapple because the Bromelain breaks down the meat proteins. Cucumbers are cool too, they are mainly water, 95% in fact, making them ideal for hydration. Cucumbers contain polyphenols called lignans which are considered helpful in lowering the risk of breast, ovarian and prostate cancers. Be prepared to be bowled over by this smoothie!