Pistachio and Fig Smoothie

The notion of having pistachio ice cream for breakfast, and feeling good about it, seems as impossible as a Welsh person complementing the English Rugby team.

Yet with my pistachio and fig smoothie you can enjoy a healthy sweet start to the day and feel great.

I recently got myself a fancy blender as a lot of recipes I wanted to try out required one. The blender came with a smoothie making attachment which has sparked my love of the liquid breakfast (not the sort that make your family worried).

The ingredients in this recipe can be found in most supermarkets so it's pretty simple to put together

You could substitute the coconut water for regular water, but coconut water is great. Similar to a sports drink it's packed full of naturally occurring electrolytes, making it the perfect ingredient for a morning drink. If you did want to use water as a substitute I would recommend adding a tsp of maple syrup or something to give it a bit of sweetness.

I did a little prep for this by shelling the pistachios the night before so that I wouldn't have to faff around with them in the morning.
The flax seed is also completely optional, I just like to include a teaspoon or so in most of my meals as it's so damn good for you.

RECIPE
Takes around 5 minutes and makes 1 big portion

Ingredients
250ml coconut water (or just normal water)
2 tbsp shelled pistachios
1/2 an avocado, diced
1 fig, diced
A handful or two of spinach
2 dates, chopped
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground flax seeds (optional)
Ice

Method
First pour the coconut water into the blender, then add in all the additional ingredients and blend until smooth.
I used around 6 ice cubes for this, but feel free to add as many as you like.

Put in a glass and enjoy your guild free pistachio ice cream!