WW Recipe of the Day: Avocado Pear Smoothie
(160 calories | 6 6 6 myWW *SmartPoints value per serving)
Creamy and Delicious Avocado Pear Smoothie
My exploration of power foods continues this week with this lovely creamy pale green Avocado Pear Smoothie, a refreshing healthy way to start the day.
A group of bloggers led by Mireya of My Healthy Eating Habits, is working their way through the healthy ingredients contained within Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients (affiliate link) from Martha Stewart and the editors of Whole Living Magazine.
This week's Power Foods ingredient is Avocado—a personal favorite—so I ended up making two recipes from the book: this avocado pear smoothie and a delicious Quinoa and Corn Salad with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds and Avocado that I lightened up to make more Weight Watchers friendly.
If you haven't seen the book, it's worth checking out.
The 38 Power Foods are categorized into 5 chapters:
- Vegetables;
- Fruits;
- Grains and Legumes;
- Nuts and Seeds; and
- Eggs, Yogurt and Fish
Along with recipes for each ingredient, there's interesting health information, as well as buying, storing, and preparation tips, making it a useful resource.
Avocado is number 3 of 15 power foods included in the vegetables chapter.
Can you believe that I was well into my 20s before ever tasting an avocado? It was love at first bite and now I feel like I'm trying to make up for lost time!
Fortunately, I live in Arizona where they are reasonably priced and plentiful, especially at this time of year.
Avocado Pear Smoothie Ingredients
The Skinny on Avocado Pear Smoothie
With their rich, creamy texture, it's easy to guess that avocados are high in fat. Thankfully, it's the good kind - monounsaturated - which may help lower your LDL ("bad") cholesterol and increase your HDL ("good") cholesterol.
But I don't think you'd ever guess just how rich in fiber avocados are (13 grams) or that gram for gram they have more potassium than bananas. They also contain a healthy dose of beta carotene, as well as vitamins B6, C and E, folate, niacin and thiamin.
I use avocado all the time in salads, sandwiches, for garnishing soups, and of course, for guacamole, but I'd never used one in a smoothie until today. The original recipe called for silken tofu (affiliate link), but since I'm not a fan I used non-fat Greek yogurt instead.
Light, creamy, refreshing, and slightly sweet, this lovely pale green smoothie is one I look forward to making again.
According to my calculations, each smoothie has 160 calories and:
6 *SmartPoints (Green plan)
6 *SmartPoints (Blue plan)
6 *SmartPoints (Purple plan)
4 *PointsPlus (Old plan)
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If you've made this Creamy Avocado Pear Smoothie, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
Avocado Pear Smoothie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ripe, firm Hass avocado
- ½ cup non-fat Greek yogurt
- 1 cup unsweetened pear juice
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups ice cubes
Instructions
- Cut the avocado into halves, remove the pit and scoop the flesh into a blender (affiliate link).
- Add the yogurt, pear juice, honey and vanilla and puree until smooth.
- Add the ice and blend again until smooth.
- Divide evenly among 4 glasses and serve.
Recipe Notes
*Points® calculated by WW. *PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT each plan's ZeroPoint Foods (Green plan, Blue plan, Purple plan) using the WW Recipe Builder.
If you like this recipe for avocado pear smoothie, check out these links to more Weight Watchers friendly avocado recipes:
- Guacamole Recipes - both classic and quick and easy versions, each with *3 Freestyle SmartPoints per serving (Simple Nourished Living)
- Chilled Asparagus Soup with Spinach and Avocado - easy, healthy and refreshing with *3 Freestyle SmartPoints (Simple Nourished Living)
- Ina Garten's Avocado & Grapefruit Salad - made lighter and healthier with just *7 Freestyle SmartPoints! (Simple Nourished Living)
- 9 Tasty Avocado Recipes - additional health information and recipes (Weight Watchers)
- Avocado Banana Smoothie - avocado, banana, orange juice, Greek yogurt and honey (Martha Stewart)
For more great delicious avocado recipes, check out the blogs of these fabulous ladies who are participating in the 38 Power Foods group today:
- Alyce @ More Time at the Table
- Ansh @ Spice Roots
- Jeanette @ Jeanette's Healthy Living
- Jill @ Saucy Cooks
- Mireya @ My Healthy Eating Habits
- Sarah @ Everything in the Kitchen Sink
- Casey @ Bookcase Foodie
- Bambi @ Adobo Down Under
Martha is the founder and main content writer for Simple-Nourished-Living.
A longtime lifetime WW at goal, she is committed to balancing her love of food and desire to stay slim while savoring life and helping others do the same.
She is the author of the Smart Start 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.
A huge fan of the slow cooker and confessed cookbook addict, when she's not experimenting in the kitchen, you're likely to find Martha on her yoga mat.
This post contains affiliate links to products I like. When you buy something through one of my Amazon links or other (affiliate links), I receive a small commission that helps support this site. Thank you for your purchase!
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Casey
This is the second drink, from the group, and I am convinced, this is delicious. I could drink this for lunch and I need nothing else and what fun it would be.
Ansh
Absolutely delicious take on Avocados. I agree with Casey. This will make a great lunch or any meal!
Mireya @myhealthyeatinghabits
It sounds like I just found a new breakfast meal! It's got two important factors going for it...fat and flavor. Yum!
Jill
This sounds so refreshing and filling for a lunch on the go!
Alyssa (Everyday Maven)
I love adding avocados to smoothies - so delicious!