What is your favourite quick breakfast?
I always say I’m going to bake a whole bunch of muffins to grab and go, but either the muffins don’t get baked, or they don’t make it to breakfast. 😉 I like granola and muesli but I can’t eat commercial brands due to my allergies…and for some reason, I never get around to whipping up a nut-free batch. This is where fruit smoothies come in…and in particular, smoothies with added shoots and leaves.
My current favourites are smoothies containing corn shoots. I’ve been growing batches of corn shoots on the windowsill, in full sunlight, as well as in the darkness of the closet (not sure if my hubby enjoys having corn growing on the floor below his freshly washed and hung shirts, but hey! he ought to be used to my weird experiments by now). The blanched corn shoots are definitely sweeter in taste, but I must admit I almost prefer the “grassier” notes of the shoots grown in sunlight. Either way, they are absolutely stellar in smoothies!
Green
Blanched
Here’s the recipe if you want to give them a try:
Corn Shoot Smoothie
1 frozen banana, roughly chopped
1 handful corn shoots, thoroughly washed
2 oranges (I like Cara Caras), peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
1 cup plain yogourt
Throw everything into a food processor and pulse until thoroughly blended.
This recipe can have a ton of add-ins and substitutions – the sky’s the limit! If you don’t like (or grow) corn shoots, try sunflower shoots…or kale…or spinach. If you wish to go dairy-free, use almond or cashew milk. If you want a thicker smoothie, use Greek yogourt instead of regular. If you’re substituting a less sweet green such as kale or spinach, you can add a bit of honey, agave syrup, or maple syrup. I’m going to put in some coconut next time I make this – I haven’t seen fresh coconut in the grocery stores here just yet, but I think some finely shredded unsweetened baking coconut would give the whole thing a pina colada type of vibe.
Mmmm…pina coladas….
Do you like breakfast smoothies? What greens – if any – do you put in your smoothies?
Flowery Prose 
The whole idea of something green for breakfast makes me yearn for bacon. 🙂
I laughed so hard when I read this; I’m glad I wasn’t drinking anything at the time! I agree, bacon (and biscuits and gravy) will always trump green smoothies, no doubt about it. But, unfortunately, I don’t always have enough time to cook bacon…. 😉
Awesome ! Cook a huge batch of bacon and keep it in the fridge ready to trump the green mushy thing…
Ha ha, then I can have corn shoot smoothies AND bacon for breakfast every day!
I was going through some recipes the other day and came across one for bacon jam…now doesn’t that sound lovely? That would keep well in the fridge, I’m thinking. 😉
I’m with Bella. I like smoothies OK, but I’ve never tried it for breakfast. I’m a toast, cereal and fruit person, usually. Pancakes or eggs for special occasions. Oh, and biscuits and gravy if I am in the right place and no one is watching.
Biscuits and gravy wins, hands down, for breakfast! 🙂
I had never heard of these before. What is their nutritional value and how does one start growing them in the closet or on the windowsill? They would make a pretty houseplant! ~Thea
I did a search online and couldn’t find any specific nutritional information, but I imagine the ones grown in sunlight would be almost as nutritious as wheatgrass or something similar. They’re just popcorn seed grown as microgreens – I grow mine in potting soil, but many people grow them in soilless media instead. I buy popcorn (not regular sweet corn) seed from an organic seed company and soak it for a few hours before sowing it fairly densely in the soil. I cover the seeds until they’ve germinated, and then I let them grow until they are about four inches tall, whereupon I cut them off at the base and wash and eat them. It takes about a week or two from germination to harvest. The soil and roots of the plants are composted and then I start all over again if I want to. I couldn’t recommend them as houseplants, as the energy in the seed is expended quickly and within a month or so, the plants would start looking sickly. (They would need to be thinned, transplanted and fertilized at that point so that they could grow to mature full sized plants). If grown this way, they need to be harvested quickly, at a young stage. They are definitely delicious, though – and sunflower and pea shoots are even tastier! 🙂
Thank you for sharing your expertise! I am thinking it will something fun to grow some time now that I know what it is and where to get it. Popcorn… who would have guessed. ~Thea
It really is a great, easy project – and as I mentioned, you can harvest in less than two weeks, which is the best part! You can grow microgreens outside in pots (or even in beds) as well but then you have to worry more about pests getting to them. I’m sure the hares would LOVE the corn shoots!
I hope you get a chance to try them out!
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