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{Note from Jessica: Today’s post is shared by my sweet, longtime friend, Emily Sunwell-Vidaurri, author of the Recipes to Nourish website. Emily’s blog focuses on gluten-free real food and holistic health. She’s a real foodie, passionate about nourishing home cooking and advocate of “green” living. Her passion and mission are to make healthy and natural living as easy and enjoyable as possible. Stop by her site, Recipes to Nourish, for her latest recipes and natural living tips.}
Happy New Year … bring on the Superfood Smoothies!
It’s a brand new year – a time to refocus with gratitude and move forward. Why not spend some time focusing on wellness and health? Can’t hurt right?
I’m not one to jump into “guilt around food mode” or start up a totally restrictive diet. Now don’t get me wrong, certain diets are really wonderful for healing purposes, and I think that’s great. I fully support whatever works best for you because we are all so different.
That being said, we can all support our bodies with REAL, nutrient-dense superfoods. Easy right? Well, it can be. Real food doesn’t have to be complicated and can still taste good, too!
One of my favorite ways to get a lot of superfoods into my diet is with smoothies. I love smoothies! Berry smoothies, fruit-less carrot smoothies, orange creamsicle smoothies, green smoothies {with pre-steamed greens for better nutrition}, kombucha smoothies … yep, I love them all.
Smoothies are perfect for on-the-go meals, afternoon snacks, and portable lunches. They can also help curb a sweet treat craving, and they’re a great way to get multiple superfoods into your diet. Kids love them, too! [Quick Tip – Because kids love smoothies with straws, I highly recommend serving smoothies with straws if you want your little one to drink all of the smoothie.]
So what makes this smoothie so special? Well, it tastes great, but it’s also packed with whole + REAL + superfood ingredients. Let’s take a look at some of the stars of this superfood smoothie.
Hydrolyzed Collagen
I cannot say enough good things about collagen. My family loves it! Collagen is basically the same thing as gelatin, but it does not gel like gelatin does and it fully dissolves in liquid. One thing I love about it is the protein content. The brand I use is 11 grams of protein per scoop. This smoothie calls for 2 scoops, so you get a good dose of protein in this smoothie.
Some other awesome things about collagen – it’s known for helping support digestion and gut health, helps support bone and joint health, helps build and restore muscle, helps support metabolism, plus so much more. I only recommend using a quality grass-fed collagen. Knowing the source is very important, especially since we’re talking about superfoods here.
Healthy Fats
I love adding healthy fats to smoothies, especially fruit-based ones. Some great options for healthy fats are avocados, coconut milk, raw whole milk, whole yogurt, kefir, pastured egg yolks, avocado oil, and melted coconut oil/ghee/pasture butter. This smoothie contains avocado and whole milk/coconut milk. You can also add in a raw pastured egg yolk from a trusted source for extra nutrition.
Raw Cacao Powder
I love raw cacao powder … mostly because I love chocolate. Just being honest! That being said, raw cacao is high in iron, magnesium, and potassium – awesome right? It’s also an antioxidant!
Vitamins & Minerals
I love adding a quality, authentic sea salt for trace minerals. I also love to add whole food {non-synthetic} vitamin C powder to smoothies. It’s a great way to get those important minerals and immune-boosting vitamin C into the body.
Optional Add-Ins
If you want to add a little more boost to the smoothie, try adding a capsule of a quality probiotic and quality spirulina powder. A word of caution here: if you do add the spirulina, just know it will change the color and flavor of the smoothie a bit. Probiotics are great for supporting gut health and spirulina is known for helping support the immune system, increase energy, uplift the mood, plus so much more.
Blend it all together and enjoy!
Coupons for Chocolate Mint Smoothie Ingredients
I am always asked about my favorite ingredients and what I use in my own kitchen. I have linked to the products from my affiliate partners that I personally use and recommend. And now, here are the special coupon offers that select affiliate partners are currently offering:
- Thrive Market: If you sign up through this link, you will get 15% OFF your first order.
- Amazon, of course, has everything you need for this recipe. Their prices are often very good, though I love to shop around and sometimes find that Thrive Market has better deals. If you like saving money, it’s good to shop around! 🙂
Important Note On Gelatin Types
When it comes to gelatin, you don’t want any old gelatin off the supermarket shelves. You want to look for 100% grass-fed gelatin from healthy animals. Just like other animal products, quality is important.
That is why I recommend Vital Proteins Grass-Fed Gelatin products and Perfect Supplements products exclusively. I have compared these brand with other brands on the market and the quality far surpasses anything else I’ve tried. I am thrilled to be one of their affiliate partners and support such great products and companies.
Perfect Supplements offers a grass-fed hydrolyzed collagen (cold-soluble) right now and has a gelatin (hot-soluble) in the works for 2016. Read my review of their product here or watch the video below. You can order their own products via their own site here or on Amazon here.
Superfood Chocolate Mint Smoothie :: Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Nut-Free, Dairy-Free
Smoothies are perfect for on-the-go meals, afternoon snacks, and portable lunches. This smoothie tastes great and is also packed with whole + REAL + superfood ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups coconut milk (for making coconut milk ice cubes - see note below)
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 frozen avocado or banana* (See Notes)
- 2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
- 2 scoops grass-fed collagen
- 1-2 tablespoons raw honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract or 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
- 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon spirulina powder - optional
- 1/2 teaspoon whole food vitamin C powder - optional, but helps the collagen work better in the body
- Raw cocoa nibs, nuts, seeds, shredded coconut, etc. for serving - optional
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a high powered blender.
- Blend until the smoothie is thick and fully combined. Note - I use the ice cream setting on my blender. If you're not using a high powered blender, you will most likely need to add more liquid in order for the smoothie to blend. More liquid will end up producing a thinner smoothie consistency.
- Taste the smoothie and if desired, add more honey or peppermint extract.
- Pour smoothie into glasses. Serve as is or top with raw cacao nibs and garnish with fresh mint leaves. Drink up!
Notes
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND freezing the 1 1/3 cups coconut milk (or milk of your choice) first. It really helps improve the texture of this smoothie. The texture kind of falls between a thin smoothie texture and a milkshake texture. I just fill up my silicone ice cubes mold with milk/coconut milk the night before I want to make the smoothie. If you choose not to do this, just add the 1 1/3 cup milk/coconut milk as is to the blender. The smoothie will still taste great, but it will not be as thick without the frozen cubes.
Frozen avocados or bananas produce a better texture for the smoothie and help keep it thick. Make sure to freeze the avocado or banana the night before you want to make the smoothie. If you don't care for the banana flavor, use avocado instead because the banana flavor does tend to come through. The "green" flavor of the avocado is nicely masked in this smoothie.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.
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Terrasoul Superfoods Spirulina Powder (Organic), 6 Ounce
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Rapunzel Pure Organic Cocoa Powder, 7.1 Ounce
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Flavorganics Organic Peppermint Extract, 15.2 oz
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100% Coconut Milk - 8.5 Oz (6-pack) by Aroy-D
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Perfect Hydrolyzed Collagen
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Anthony's Organic Cacao Cocoa Nibs, 2lbs, Batch Tested and Verified Gluten Free
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 320Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 803mgCarbohydrates: 25gFiber: 8gSugar: 14gProtein: 25g
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered from Nutritionix and we often find their calculations to be slightly inaccurate based on the whole food ingredients we use on this site. Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on many factors. We strive to keep the information as accurate as possible, but make no warranties regarding its accuracy. We encourage readers to make their own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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