Red, White & Blue Smoothie

One of my very favorite flavor profiles is raspberry and chocolate.  This goes back as far as I can remember, when I was 4 or 5 and savoring chocolates in the shape of a mouse stuffed with a Cadbury crème egg like filling, only flavored with raspberry.  Incidentally, there were other mice chocolates with other flavors – I have a vague recollection of something tropical and perhaps something banana – but the raspberry ones were the best.  I liked them even better than the more exotic After Eights. 

These days, I get my chocolate raspberry fill using more natural means, like real raspberries and raw cacao, perhaps with some chocolate raspberry stevia to tie it all together.  I have a go-to chocolate raspberry smoothie with spinach, but lately I have been playing around with it.  It all started when Ricki and Kim announced that this month’s Sweet or Savory Challenge ingredient was blueberries and I wondered what blueberries would do to my stand-by – the answer? Make it more complex and interesting and worth making over and over. Particularly if you have it in a bowl topped with more frozen berries and some coconut flakes (from nutsonline) and coconut butter.  I mean, just look at this:

And yes, the berries are still frozen – I know it is berry season right now, and believe me, I am getting my fill at the market, but for smoothies I prefer to use frozen berries.  They just make the smoothie taste that much more like a sundae, particularly in a bowl with a little coconut butter magic shell effect.  Also, the above pictures were taken before the berries hit the local markets and during a heat wave, when I was looking forward to smoothie bowls as a means to cool down.

Red, White & Blue Smoothie (Gluten-Free, Vegan, Soy-Free) – makes 2 smoothies

• 1 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk of your choice (I like unsweetened almond milk)
• 3-4 Tbsps raw cacao (I like my smoothie intensely chocolatey – also, it cancels out the hemp protein powder taste)
• 3 Tbsps unsweetened hemp protein or hemp seeds
• 2-3 cups spinach, washed
• chocolate raspberry stevia to taste (I like 1/4 tsp but if you are not used to the flavor, start with 1/8 tsp)
• 1 small banana, frozen into chunks
• 1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries and extra for topping
• 3/4 frozen raspberries and extra for topping
• 2-6 ice cubes (optional – it depends on how cold you would like your smoothie)
• coconut flakes and/or coconut butter, which has been heated enough to be spreadable

Blend all ingredients except for the reserved fruit, coconut flakes and coconut butter until smooth.  Pour into bowls and top with fruit, coconut flakes and/or coconut butter. I love using frozen berries for the topping because then when you pour the coconut butter over them, it freezes into clusters of coconutty goodness. 

Note: I use a high-speed blender so I just throw everything in the Vita, but if you have a regular blender, you might want to blend the spinach and non-dairy milk together first, and then add the remaining ingredients. 

I am submitting this recipe to the following events:

Ricki’s and Kim’s Sweet or Savory Challenge focusing on blueberries.

The Breakfast Club, a somewhat new to me blog event that focuses on vegetarian breakfast recipes and has the theme of berries this month.  The event was created by Fuss Free Flavours and is hosted this month by Simply Sensational Food.

The Spunky Coconut’s Gluten-Free July 4 Holiday Event.  Isn’t this such a festive smoothie?

I am also submitting this recipe to the following weekly events:

Real Sustenance’s Seasonal Sunday event.  All the vegetables in this recipe are seasonal to this time of year in my area – and blueberries and raspberries definitely fit!

A blog event hosted by Flip Cookbook called Sugar Free Sunday, which includes sweet and savory dishes made with non-refined sugars.

Slightly Indulgent Tuesday with Amy of Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free

Gluten-Free Wednesday with Linda, the Gluten-Free Homemaker

Real Food Weekly with Diane of The WHOLE Gang – as long as you use hemp seeds instead of hemp protein, this smoothie fits the parameters of this event.

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