Power-packed Tropical Smoothie

Some would say we live in paradise when they see the abundance of local fresh fruit and vegetables in our fresh produce stores.
Many coastal Kwazulu Natal gardens have banana trees, BUT we also have pesky monkeys who are forever foraging for food in our gardens, so we have to protect the fruit from their raids. One cannot blame them, as more and more of their territory is being replaced with residential estates.

Tamarillo is a fruit from South America and is not commonly found in South Africa, but it has adapted very well here in our sub-tropical coastal region. Thankfully the monkeys do not like them as much as I do, and we've had a bountiful crop this year; enough to share with friends.

This fruit is also known as the tree tomato, although it doesn't taste anything like a tomato.
It has tiny soft seeds similar to a tomato, and the fruit is scooped out of the hard outer skin.
Tamarillo tastes like a blend of passionfruit and guava, absolutely delicious!

We're at the end of our summer and still have some really hot and humid days, so having an ice-cold smoothie for breakfast makes a great start to the day.

I diced 2 bananas, froze them overnight, and placed a couple of Tamarillos, and a can of Coconut Milk in the refrigerator.

Even though the Tamarillo is slightly tart, the Bananas and Coconut Milk would have made it quite sweet. I also wanted to add extra goodness to the smoothie, so added a handful of Flax and Pumpkin Seeds.

All into the blender, what could be an easier breakfast?

Blend on high speed and in no time, breakfast was ready - easy to pour into a glass smoothie bottle. Yep, glass is way healthier than those plastic bottles everyone carries around with them.
This one has a screw-type lid with a hole just big enough for a straw. As we were having it right away, I totally forgot to seal it for a photo!