Oatmeal Berry Smoothie with Cocozia 100% Organic Coconut Water Ice Cubes

I would like to start this post by asking a question. Why are glass straws so gosh darn expensive? I mean can you help a sister out and bring down the price tag a few notches?

I know when you think of the benefit to the environment ten bucks for one straw is really an insignificant price to pay. Plus, it's basically a one time investment deal. But on the flipside, in order to incentivize people to make environmentally-wise choices I think a drop in price would be beneficial for all, planet and wallets. 

Okay, I'm done with the glass straw talk.

Now, let's talk about coconut water.

Have you tried coconut water? We all know Rihanna has. I tried some variety once at Costco, very glamorous. But have you tried Cocozia coconut water? I hadn't until they contacted us. It's pretty good, very refreshing. We got a 12-pack of the on-the-go type containers. Very handy for those busy working folk. Each container comes with a straw, but not a glass straw ;)

It's readily available on Amazon, which is really helpful. No scrounging the shelves of your local health food store.

To be honest I'm not the biggest fan of coconut water, in general. The flavour is just something I can't quite get into. I know there are great benefits to it so, I find other ways to incorporate it into my daily life. My preferred way to enjoy coconut water is to freeze it into ice cubes and then use them in a smoothie. I find that it rounds out the flavour of any smoothie. It's hard to explain but it adds this great icy yet creamy texture to smoothies. I just love it! 

I just noticed on the website that Cocozia has chocolate coconut water!! Oooh and a pineapple one. Those sound intriguing! 

I like thick smoothies. None of this thin, juice-like stuff for me thanks. I want some substance! The addition of oats is essential in making a nice thick smoothie. They add protein and fibre too so, what's not to love?

You may be wondering, do you really drink your smoothies with that narrow little straw? And the answer is yes, yes I do. I like the challenge. The challenge of trying not to slurp down my smoothie in 0.005 seconds.

Oatmeal Blueberry Smoothie

Ingredients

1 to 1 ½ cup(s) non-dairy milk + more if needed, I used Silk Original Soy Milk

2 tbsp oats (certified gf for those gluten-free)

1 tsp chia seeds

1 tsp hemp hearts

2-3 Cocozia 100% Organic Coconut Water ice cubes 

1 scoop vanilla vegan protein powder

1-2 tsp nut butter, I used peanut butter

¾ cup frozen fruit, I used a mix of strawberries and blueberries with a piece of frozen watermelon

½ banana, frozen

Directions 

Add your non-dairy milk to your blender followed by the oats, chia seeds, and hemp hearts. Let those sit in the milk to soften for 5-7 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.

Sidenote: We recently got a Ninja Duo Blender with Auto IQ and although it sounds like a rocket launching, it's been serving us well. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than the almightly Vitamix but blends pretty darn well (the chia seeds were completely blended away). I'll say it's quite a step-up from the Magic Bullet!