Eating a meal in my household that everyone enjoys can be tricky. We’ve got one vegetarian, one gluten-free mom and a lactose-intolerant brother. This smoothie is quick, easy, vegan and can be widely enjoyed by anyone with a sweet tooth. It’s also a nice grain-free treat for people who can’t enjoy traditional french toast.

This recipe is pretty open-ended in terms of substitutions. I made this one vegan by using soymilk, but you could easily use regular milk, almond milk, even coconut milk if you’re looking for a stronger flavour. I used frozen avocado but it’s not a necessity—you could throw in some frozen banana slices too.

Oftentimes I’ll use an immersion blender for smoothies, especially if it’s for a single-serving recipe. I used a traditional blender for this recipe because the frozen avocado needs to be completely blended and creamy, so I needed a strong blade.

I was inspired to make this because of an upcoming initiative by Williams-Sonoma for Smoothie Week. You can find a wide range of the blenders they carry here. It’s so easy to want to settle into comfort foods once the weather cools down, smoothies tend to keep my inner-snacker in check. Making your own smoothies at home is cheap and much, much healthier than buying fast food smoothies. I don’t know what they put in those things but it’s not meant to be ingested.

Ingredients

Makes 1 smoothie

• 1 cup plain soymilk
• 1/4 frozen avocado, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
• 1 1/2 tbsp. high-quality maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp. ground flax seed
• 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• Pinch of salt

Method

Remove avocado from the freezer and allow it to thaw for 5 minutes. Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Sprinkle a little bit of extra ground nutmeg and maple syrup on top for an extra kick of flavour.