Building The Perfect Smoothie

Remember when I shared with you that I was starting to make smoothies? I promised some recipes once I perfected them and those are coming. Before I share some of my favorite concoctions I thought I'd pass along a few tips I've learned.

Above is a visual "formula" for my smoothies. I've detailed each "layer" below. Basically, I mix and match what I have (or what is in season)to come up with the daily smoothie. I love this method because I can customize it by making it low-oxalate (which I've been trying to follow recently due to some recurring GI/pain issues).

Oatmeal Date Bars

I was excited when I saw these date bars while awhile ago. It’s hard to find approved desserts on my restrictive, low oxalate diet, and I absolutely love dates. Browsing the ingredient list I deemed these to be low oxalate as long as I left out the lemon zest.

I did make a few tweaks. I added cinnamon, nutmeg, and ½ tsp vanilla to the date paste. I sprinkled a bit more cinnamon in the flour/oat combo. And I had to leave out the lemon zest. :(

These bars turned out to be really yummy, a bit on the sweet side. Next time, I will decrease the amount to sugar to ¾ c, decrease the flour to 1 c and up the oats to 2 c, because I love oats, but that’s just me. Also, I'd love to add some finely chopped walnuts or almonds to these. Once I'm off the low oxalate diet, I want to try the recipe with these tweaks and ,of course, add in the lemon zest.