Saturday Smoothie!

Hello, world! I am going to share with you my go-to recipe for a smoothie today – this is yet another recipe that I have been asked for on Instagram, Twitter, and elsewhere. This is just my most basic of basic smoothie recipes – kind of one of the few I always “go to” when I can’t stomach the idea of eating anything (chronic illness issues! / #spoonieproblems – I will get into all of that soon too I promise!). Here it is:

about 1.5 cups FROZEN spinach or kale (or a blend! whatever you like; it is good to mix up your greens, nutritionally)

about 1/3 cup FROZEN dark cherries

about 1/4 cup FROZEN wild blueberries (I greatly prefer them – use whatever you like; you can use the frozen “mixed fruit” but I go through phases during which strawberries and I don’t get along so I try to avoid using them here)

1/4 cup sliced firm or extra firm tofu (I know, I hear the soy haters vehemently objecting …. if you don’t like a particular ingredient, just don’t use it – try 1/2 banana or 1 small banana; I slice mine and freeze them IN HALVES in individual bags which helps. Sometimes I will use BOTH … whoa.)

2-3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder (if you’re all about the alkaline thing, go with “Dutch-process” cocoa powder, which is more alkaline than acidic; for reference, “natural cocoa powder” is more acidic than alkaline … if my memory serves….) or to taste

1 “serving” of a vanilla (or coffee, banana, &c. work well too!) VEGAN protein powder (that’s just me; if you aren’t vegan or aren’t terribly strict about it, use whatever you like!)

1 Tbsp flaxseed oil, FISH OIL (see ( ) to follow!), or a nut butter – basically some source of fat – good fats are … GOOD! Your brain NEEDS fat to function! (it can be REALLY difficult to find flaxseed oils that aren’t … pungent. The one I have had the best luck with is the Trader Joe’s version. If you’re not opposed to the consumption of the fishes … the Barlean’s Fish OIl “Cremes” are really good, especially the lemon – https://www.barleans.com/products/16oz-lemon-zest-fish-oil-omega-swirl – although it doesn’t really “go” with this particular recipe; as far as nut butters, I would use almond butter for this one!)

1 scoop greeens powder (I like the extra greensies … I just do. My favorite is the Hum Nutrition Vanilla Berry – https://www.humnutrition.com/product/35/raw-beauty—vanilla-&-berry
I like the “tropical” one for other kinds of smoothies though!)

Enough water or unsweetened soy milk or almond milk to blend to desired consistency! *You can also use tart cherry juice for the added antioxidant *boost* … especially good for those of us with creaky joints! You don’t really need more than 4 oz / day of tart cherry juice either, just fyi!*

I like to blend it in steps, starting with the CHERRIES (just to make sure there are no pits! I have made the mistake of blending the cherries in last and hitting a pit and having to strain the whole … yeah, it was just a mess!), then add in the “dry ingredients,” then the greens/tofu/”fat,” then the rest of the frozen stuff at the end.

And that is it! Give it a try and let me know how you like it! This can be a lot for one person as well, so you might want to save half for later (that is often what I do – you can even freeze it for the next day if you remember to put it in the fridge before you go to sleep so it has some time to thaw out a bit – just put it back in the blender with a little liquid and re-blend!); if you have someone to share it with, well, lucky you!

At any rate, I hope you are all having a happy and healthy day, wherever you are in the world!

❤ Always, Beth