by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, retreat host, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
Like many of us around the world, smoothies are one of my go-to simple easy to prepare healthy breakfast options.
For years, I’ve been making smoothies with a base of home-made nut milk or coconut water with chia seeds. Add-in a banana and frozen fruit, especially raspberries and black cherries. Then I top with goji berries, hemp seeds, and raw cacao, for a quick healthy breakfast.
This month I’m participating in the Plantlab Culinary Superfoods course, so I decided to create a new-to-me smoothie with a few superfoods – Acai and Maqui – which I’ve honestly not experimented with very much. Acai and Maqui both grow in South America, which I’m happy about since I was an exchange student in Brazil for a year many decades ago.
Acai berries are known to be antioxidant-rich and full of omega-3 fatty acids. Maqui berries are deep purple, and is the fruit with the highest level of antioxidants. In addition to the berries, other powerful superfoods in this smoothie: chia seeds and hemp seeds, both rich in protein and good omega-3 fatty acids. Finally, wild Maine blueberries are also full of antioxidants and grow on a low bush and balance sweet and tangy.
Purple Superfood Super Berrie Smoothie
Simple Ingredients
- 1-1.5 cups coconut water
- 3 TBSP chia seeds
- ½ cup wild Maine blueberries
- 1 banana
- 1 TBSP hemp seeds
- ¼ tsp dried acai powder
- ¼ tsp dried maqui
- Chamomile flowers
Simple Steps
- Soak chia seeds in coconut water for about 15-20 minutes.
- Blend all ingredients, except flowers, until smooth.
- Garnish with blueberries and chamomile flowers.
- Enjoy!
Excerpt from Melanie’s cookbook, “A New View of Healthy Eating: Simple Intuitive Cooking with Real Whole Foods”
Smoothies
Smoothies are a perfect way to eat a variety of organic fruit and veggies and a simple morning meal or afternoon snack. Because we drink all of the nutrients and fiber in smoothies, they’re nutritious and slow the digestive process. Make your own smoothies with your intuition using these steps. Have fun mixing and matching the ingredients in your smoothies based on what’s available in season and your own cravings.
No-Recipe Smoothies: 5 Simple Steps to Create an Intuitive Smoothie
- Pour 1 cup of non-dairy liquid into a high-speed blender.
- Coconut water
- Homemade nut milk (coconut water with almonds, soaked cashews)
- Homemade seed milk (coconut water with hemp seeds or sunflower seeds)
- 1 date for sweetness
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract for smoothness
- Add a thickening ingredient to liquid and blend.
- Avocado
- Bananas, frozen or fresh
- Chia seeds; use 1 tablespoon of seeds and 3 tablespoons of liquid, pre-soaked for 10 minutes
- Add about ¼ cup fruit, fresh or frozen.
- Apple, sliced
- Cherries
- Blueberries
- Raspberries
- Strawberries
- Add about ¼ cup vegetables.
- Carrots
- Celery
- Cucumber
- Kale
- Spinach
- Add other extras.
- Flaxseeds
- Fresh basil
- Ginger root
- Goji berries
- Raw cacao powder
- Turmeric root
Interested in Melanie’s cookbook, “A New View of Healthy Eating” you can purchase here or at her local Arizona events.
So beautiful (and aromatic). Sharing the beautiful wild chamomile that grows at an urban farm less than a mile from my home…
A final look at the Superfood Super Berry Chamomile Smoothie
