04/15

Cookbook Review: Superfood Smoothies by Julie Morris

Julie Morris is one cool chick.  She is my go-to gal in the land of Superfood. She’s incredibly knowledgeable, and she’s got the culinary magic to make our Superfoods taste like heaven! Julie has appeared on MollySims.com more than once and every time she stops by the Sims test kitchen (aka my house) I know that I’m guaranteed supreme yumminess.

Her new book, Superfood Smoothies, is way more than a collection of delicious smoothie recipes. It is literally a smoothie encyclopedia! Julie tells you:

• how to build your smoothie (what order you should put your ingredients in) for optimum blending potential
• great tips on what are good bases (Julie calls them the “heart” of the recipe)
• smoothie magic tricks like making flavored ice

The bottom line with any smoothie is that simple whole foods are the best ingredients of all and that every ingredient has a healthful purpose.

As a quasi superfood newbie, I really liked the section of the book called the “Super 15”. Julie explains in great detail her top 15 Superfood smoothie ingredients. Each Superfood on the “Super 15” list has earned its spot by being a valuable addition to enhancing broad spectrum health, readily available in health food stores or online, palatable, blender-friendly, and cost-effective in terms of nutrients per serving and per dollar. I could go on an on singing the praises of this great book, but I will let the smoothie speak for itself by sharing one of Julie’s scrumptious recipes with you. 

Mint Chip

Tucked beneath a very convincing ice cream-like flavor, a wealth of beneficial spinach awaits you in this smoothie.  It’s so good it almost makes a person wonder why spinach isn’t used in all minty treats.  I love how the cacao nibs provide a bit of dark chocolate crunch without being overpowering. 

Makes 2 18-Ounce Servings

Ingredients:

• 2 cups frozen spinach
• 2 cups frozen bananas **
• ¼ cup raw cashews
• 3 Tablespoons cacao nibs
• 2 Tablespoons (packed) minced fresh mint leaves
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 Cups rice milk (original variety)
• ½ Cup coconut water
• sweetener to taste (optional)

Blend all ingredients until smooth.  Taste, and sweeten as desired.

** Frozen bananas are an amazing for creating rich, frosty and healthy smoothies.  Any time I have overripe bananas, there’s a battle in the Sims test kitchen over using them for banana bread or freezing them for smoothie fixins!!  Frozen bananas make AH-mazing non-dairy ice cream, too!! The easiest thing to do when freezing is to take the brownest, ripest bananas you can find, then peel and slice them.  Place them in a sealable freezer bag and lay them flat in your freezer.  It’s that easy!!

Check out Julie’s previous contributions on MollySims.com!

• Cooling Kale Juice
• The Magic of Goji Berries
• Apple Pie Chia Pudding