Breakfast is super important – fuelling ourselves properly makes us more productive and efficient at work and gives us the energy to get going throughout the day.
But, there are some days when you just don’t want to cook breakfast (neither does your cat or lover.) You just haven’t got time to sit down in the morning… but you don’t want your six-pack to suffer.
That’s why we love smoothies since these power shakes are the easiest means for us to absorb our greens, flood our system with nutrients, and help us get a good dump in the morning (excuse me).
And having a good digestive system is crucial since this improves your athletic performance and helps you achieves your goals faster (be it burn fat, gain muscle…)
To figure out the best ingredients to put in your smoothie, I’ve invited Emily von Euw to share with us her 7 must-have superfoods she stocks in her pantry, as well as her unique savory protein-packed smoothie recipe.
To recap, Emily is the creator of the blog This Rawsome Vegan Life, with over 1 million views a month, as well as author of Rawsome Vegan Baking, published by Macmillan. Emily’s blog won The Vegan Woman’s 2013 Vegan Food Blog Award, was named one of the Top 50 Raw Food Blogs of 2012, and was nominated for “Favorite Blog” for the 2013 VegNews Awards. Emily’s second book 100 Best Juices, Smoothies and Healthy Snack, will be released in December.
Let the fun begin.
Q: What ingredients are must-haves for smoothies?
#1: Frozen fruit, like frozen berries and bananas. Having the frozen fruit component is nice because it makes the smoothie creamy. If there are no frozen ingredients, the smoothie is just not as creamy.
#2: Dark leafy greens, preferably grow them yourself. It’s easy to grow greens in Canada. We still have kale and bunch of different greens in the garden right now.
#3: Non-dairy milk – nut milk, coconut milk. With nut milk, you just need to blend up nuts with water.
If you don’t have the nut milk pre-made, you can just throw in say 1 cup of water and ¼ cup of nuts blend up until smooth and add the rest of the ingredients.
Nut milk is super easy and cheap to make. Nut milk gives the smoothie flavour and makes it creamier. Great treat when I have nut milk.
#4: Superfood powder – say maca or vegan protein powder.
#5: Herbs – Peppermint is really delicious and leaves you feeling refreshed. You don’t need so much. If you have fresh herbs, just add and taste as you go. You don’t want your smoothie to taste way too strong.
#6: Plant Fat – Sometimes I add coconut butter and coconut oil when I feel I need more fat that day. Get in tune with what your body needs as far as nutrition goes.
Some people don’t need as much fat as others; just listen to your body.
Avocado is nice for smoothies sometimes, and the flavour is pretty subtle when you add other things to it.
Cacao is nice, if you want it to be chocolate-y, or carob powder. Cacao is from the cacao bean, and carob is from the fruit of carob tree. Carob is sweeter but still kind of chocolate-y.
Chia seeds are great for magnesium, omega 3 and 6s. They’re fun because you can add them to your smoothie afterwards and they make the smoothies gel-like , kind of like smoothie pudding.
#7: Spirulina – Spirulina makes the smoothie very dark green and kind of strange. I actually like the taste of spirulina; it comes from a sea algae, so that’s neat. Some people don’t like the flavour, and they may recommend just using a little bit. Spirulina has lots of iron and protein, especially for women during their time of month. (Editor’s Note: We’ll be featuring a rather controversial article on spirulina soon.)
I tend to keep my smoothies pretty simple.
Q: Can you share with us one simple recipe from your book as a sneak peak to readers?
A: The savoury one. When people think of smoothies, they think of fruit smoothie, but they don’t think of savoury smoothies.
It’s called Creamy Broccoli Smoothie with Garlic and Cilantro. At the beginning of the chapter, I tell people to think of them as soups because honestly I wouldn’t want to drink a broccoli smoothie but broccoli soup sounds very good.
It is amazing how creamy the broccoli soup becomes, and it glows green – so fresh because you haven’t cooked it to the point that it loses it colour, and its’ all just raw and delicious and made in a few minutes.
Throw some garlic and cilantro in there. There you go – a cream of broccoli soup with garlic, cilantro, coriander, paprika, and turmeric.
I also throw in an avocado, and an orange in there as a natural sweetener. And you get this delicious soup! The savoury smoothie chapter broadens people’s horizon on what smoothies can be and how quick soup can be to make.
When I talk about raw soup people, they think that it’s cold and chunky but if you use hot water, which I always do, it is very nice and warm. When you put the soup in the blender, it gets warmer so you get this delicious warm bowl of vegetables and it’s so flavourful. I love it.
Q: Emily, thanks for your time.
A: You’re welcome
Creamy Broccoli Smoothie with Garlic and Cilantro
SERVES / PREPARATION TIME
1 / 10 minutes
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups broccoli
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 tablespoons miso paste
- 1 orange
- 1/4 cup almonds
- 1/4 cup pitted dates
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 cup cilantro
- 1 1/2 cups hot water, as needed
- 1 avocado (optional)
DIRECTION
Blend everything until smooth!
About Emily von Euw: Emily is the creator of the blog This Rawsome Vegan Life, with over 1 million views a month, as well as author of Rawsome Vegan Baking, published by Macmillan. Emily’s blog won The Vegan Woman’s 2013 Vegan Food Blog Award, was named one of the Top 50 Raw Food Blogs of 2012, and is nominated for “Favorite Blog” for the 2013 VegNews Awards. You can follow Emily here.
We’ll be publishing an express exotic healthy holiday recipe package with a menu plan next week. And I have more gifts for you to help you jump start your new year in a happy + healthy way. Stay tuned.
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