What to do with frozen cranberries? I asked that on RCR! facebook and got great suggestions, including cranberry mead, cranberry orange muffins, and cranberry rhubarb jam. I’ll definitely keep those in mind for future recipes, but this week with our newest bout of snow, I needed a pick-me-up recipe and went with Monique’s suggestion of cranberry smoothies.
After a bit of experimenting (which no one around my house minded), here are two recipes to share with you. The first is Cranberry Kick Smoothie and it’s packed full of tart cranberry flavour, and a few other surprise ingredients, that will wake you up in the morning or boost your energy before you get some exercise (or go out to shovel, aargh). The second is the Classy Cranberry Milkshake, a still beautifully pink, but much less sweet re-invention of classic strawberry milkshakes. One for breakfast, another for dessert, cranberries all day long? Both great ways to use local berries that you froze last Fall. My cranberries went into the blender thanks to Fagan’s Farm retailing at Churchill Square in St. John’s.
Cranberry Kick Smoothie
Step 1 for Cranberry Kick Smoothie: Put a big handful of local, frozen cranberries and 1 small banana into a blender.
Step 2 for Cranberry Kick Smoothie: Add a handful of fresh spinach leaves, 1 tsp ground flax powder, and cover with the juice or milk of your choice (I used vanilla almond milk).
Step 3 for Cranberry Kick Smoothie: Blend it all together and give it a taste. Is it too tart for you? At this point maybe add a small dollop of honey, maple syrup, or sweetened yogurt to your taste. The cranberries pack a cheek puckering kick, so sweeten it up with those things if you like. Re-blend it and then enjoy your energizing smoothie!
Classy Cranberry Milkshake
Step 1 for Classy Cranberry Milkshake: Put a big handful of local, frozen cranberries and 1 small banana into a blender.
Step 2 for Classy Cranberry Milkshake: Add a fairly big scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt and cover with the milk of your choice (I used 1% dairy milk)
Step 3 for Classy Cranberry Milkshake: Blend it up and voilà! Maybe make another one and share it with someone you're sweet on, because nothing says love like sharing a milkshake.
Just after posting this we also saw an announcement that the provincial government will be putting more funds into assisting cranberry farmers with education and development, which means more delicious local cranberries for us! :)