Recipe: Chocolate Cherry Smoothie 🍒

Boy have we missed juicy organic cherries. Now that we were able to procure some from the local grocery store, we combined our love of this fruit with another favorite food, chocolate. Like many of our recipes, we try to avoid added sugar – even too much of the more natural, healthier kind- so adjust to your sweet tooth accordingly. Give this cherry chocolate smoothie a try!

Prep time: less than 5 minutes

Servings: about 4, makes ~64oz

Disclosure: some of the links below are affiliate links or discount codes, meaning, at no additional cost to you, if you click through an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may make a commission.

Ingredients

4 cups non-dairy milk (we used hazelnut from Elmhurst)

1 cup swisschard and/or kale

1 cup cherries (fresh or we used frozen too cool this drink down even more) and 1 cup blueberries

2 tbsp cacao nibs

2 tbsp cacao powder

2 tbsp beet powder (optional)

4 medjool dates

2 tbsp almond butter

4 tbsp shredded coconut

Instructions

Add all ingredients into a 64 ounce blending container and then blend. You got your veggies in, congrats! Enjoy 🙂

Chocolate Maca Smoothie

Caffeine and chocolate fiends, unite! This smoothie is the perfect wake-me-up for summer. Here’s the recipe we made today along with ideas for modifications:

Disclosure: some of the links below are affiliate links or discount codes, meaning, at no additional cost to you, if you click through an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may make a commission.

Yields: 2-4 servings

Ingredients

1/2 banana
1 pint blackberries (or blueberries)
3 tbsp cacao nibs
5 tbsp cacao powder
3 tbsp shredded coconut
2 cups swiss chard leaves
2 cups non-dairy milk (we used hazelnut milk from Elmhurst)
2 cups water
1 cup coffee
1 tsp maca powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ashwagandha powder (optional)

This recipe is meant to be healthy and full of veg! If it’s not sweet enough for you, consider adding your favorite form of sweetness (e.g. more fruit, stevia, dates, etc). Looking for more greens-based smoothies that are lower in sugar? Check out the Green Smoothie Challenge eBook! It has recipes, grocery lists, along with tips and tricks for making smoothies part of your life.

Instructions
You know what to do here – load all ingredients into the high-speed blender, cover, and blend to desired consistency. Enjoy!

Recipe for a Super Saturday

Often times Saturday mornings are spent facilitating clients’ breakthroughs, celebrating successes, and giving hugs or high-fives.

What is an alternate plan for a dietitian on sunny Saturday? Join us and we’ll walk you though:

Waking up naturally and refreshed, without an alarm. Ahh.

Hot tea or water with lemon (or organic apple cider vinegar tonic) on the porch.

Doing something nice for someone else. Whether writing out birthday cards, a letter, or making a homemade gift to give someone, this is relaxing way to start the day.

It’s almost time for the farmers market! Good thing we prepared our delicious skillet the day before.

Drive or bike to the local market. Getting our ‘glow’ on 🙂

Meeting those friendly, mostly organic farmers and ranchers, while learning about food and buying the freshest ingredients. Our purchases: swisschard, bee pollen, calendula flowers, fresh tomatoes, lettuce, micro-greens, shiitake mushrooms, senposai greens (a new food adventure!), and the sweetest, juiciest strawberries!

Seeking some shade and peaceful surroundings, we found a park full of blooming flowers and brought those strawberries to snack on. Finding a comfortable bench we enjoyed the scenery – the trees, flowers, the parents and children, the photography of a just-married couple. We alternated this sensory experience with awareness of the strawberry with each bite into the juicy, seeded skin.

If it were possible to get completely inebriated from drinking in the scents pumped out by the flowers in the area, we would have been unfit for operating a motor vehicle.

We found, and continue to find, this experience transformative. The peace and ease of a morning waking up and enjoying some solitude while later connecting with farmers and food as well as friends and community, fills the spirit and the belly.

Whether the rest of the day holds a barbecue, bike ride, festival, gardening, reading a book, or hosting a pool party, it will be done with a sense of having been replenished.

Will you give it a try this Saturday?

 

 

Fight Free Radicals with a Rainbow Punch!

photo source: http://www.birthgoddess.com.au

Antioxidants are phytochemicals, vitamins and other nutrients which protect our cells from free radical damage. Studies show antioxidants help prevent the oxidative damage that is associated with heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. So where are these superheroes found? Check out your local garden patch – most fruits, vegetables, and culinary & medicinal herbs can contain high levels of antioxidants.

A study in recent years found that botanical diversity plays a role in determining the bioactivity of antioxidant phytochemicals. Also, and this is exciting, smaller quantities of many different phytochemicals may have greater health effects than larger amounts of fewer phytochemicals. This is why we inspire people to ‘eat a rainbow’ (and we’re not talking about Skittles candy). Here’s how to form a rainbow of protection against free radical damage:

Red, Purple, and Blue

• Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, apples, cherries, pomegranates, red grapes, beets, red cabbage, black rice
• Contains anthocyanin, betacyanin, and proanthocyanidins
• Functions: protect cells from aging, reduce cholesterol and may reduce breast cancer risk

Yellow-Orange

• Carrots, squashes, lemons, apricots, cantaloupe, mangoes, nectarines, peaches, papaya, oranges, grapefruit, pineapple, passion fruit, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and yellow & orange peppers
• Contains beta-carotene and alpha carotene; often also cryptoxanthin, lycopene, lutein, zeaxanthin, astaxanthin
• Functions: protects against some cancers, supports immune system, healthy skin, and good vision

Green Fruits and Vegetables

• Spinach, kale, avocado, broccoli, swisschard, brussel sprouts, as well as dandelion, mustard, and collard greens
• Contains lutein, beta carotene, and chlorophyll
• Functions: builds resistance to certain cancers, protects eyes from oxidative damage that could lead to diseases such as macular degeneration and cataracts