I am pleased to partner with O.N.E. Coconut Water, the sponsor of this post
Mango Coconut Lassi
Welcome Summer!!
I always view the summer solstice with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I'm thrilled that summer is finally here. Up north here in Boston, June can be hit or miss when it comes to weather. In the past couple of years, June has been surprisingly cool, with weather barely hitting seventy degrees. It really doesn't feel like summer in early June!
Typically by the third week, however, the sun grows stronger, and we can finally leave the house without a jacket! By that point, we are usually so starved for sunshine we take full advantage of every possible moment to spend outside.
On the other hand, the summer solstice signals the looming inevitability of shorter days. It's always bittersweet that the true beginning of summer weather is also the harbinger of darker nights ahead (if you can't tell, I love love love daylight).
The warm weather and long days make it much easier for me to exercise and be healthier. I've had lots of fun this week taking advantage of our long summer nights. One evening last week, I spontaneously decided to take the long way home by biking the opposite direction along the Charles River (towards Boston!) just to enjoy being outside. I was out for over an hour, and it was glorious.
This past weekend, Bryan and I needed to leave church at different times. Since we only have one car, I told him I'd be perfectly happy biking back to Cambridge from Lexington. After all, the Minuteman bike path is lovely, and the weather was perfect. It took a little over an hour, but it felt amazing to do a longer bike ride.
In honor of summer - the happy season of fresh farm produce, increased exercise (at least for me, ha ha), and overall healthier eating habits - I'd like to share with you a healthy smoothie recipe I created using O.N.E. Coconut water.
I decided to do a healthy twist (or "hack") on mango lassi, a traditional Indian summer yogurt drink, by replacing water and refined sugar with pure coconut water. Coconut water is a great source of potassium, nature's own "electrolyte". It's definitely great for post-workout hydration (heh, I definitely downed a carton of it after my bike rides earlier in the week!). It also has a small amount of natural sugars, which can provide that touch of sweetness.
O.N.E. Pure coconut water, which is Non-GMO Project verified, is made from coconuts that are hand-picked, drained, and packaged at the source (not from concentrate!). Can you believe three to four coconuts go into every 500mL carton? Looking back, when my family (pictured above - aren't they so cute?) decided to buy a single coconut as a drink on the beach in Miami, clearly one coconut was nowhere close to enough to hydrate all four of us, ha ha.
My mango coconut lassi recipe is pretty simple, and quite forgiving. I had two mangos on hand, so I made a pretty big batch that could serve 3-4 people. Feel free to use more.
I used Greek strained yogurt, which has a lot less water than normal yogurt.
I then used pure coconut water for the liquid portion of the drink. I threw in the whole carton.
The resultant drink is not super sweet, but perfect for me. Coconut water has a slight sweetness that adds a natural sweet flavor to the drink (along with the ripe mangoes, of course).
Lime adds an extra brightness that balances out the creaminess of the drink. I also love adding a bit of mint on top as a garnish. It adds a lovely herbal freshness.
If you like spice, definitely try adding some chili powder. I tried adding some Malaysian chili powder, and I loved the kick and the heat. If you want to make the flavors more Indian, consider adding a touch of tumeric or cardamom to the mix.
- 1 carton of O.N.E. Pure Coconut Water
- 2-3 ripe mangos, peeled and chopped
- ¼ cup strained Greek yogurt
- juice of ½ lime
- mint (optional)
- other optional ingredients: chili powder, tumeric, cardamom
- Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend and serve cold. Top with mint and optionally chopped mango and serve.
- *note* - the style of strained Greek yogurt I use is especially dense (it is made from a local Greek shop called Sophia's right outside of Boston). You may want to increase the amount of yogurt if you are using normal yogurt, or even store-bought Greek yogurt.
Disclaimer - this post was sponsored by O.N.E. Coconut Water. O.N.E. Coconut Water provided me with free coconut water to write this post.
