 This isn't very seasonal. November is a month for pumpkin and turkey, I know. But we've had some really hot days recently and I was reminded of how much we enjoy this smoothie. Both my kids love it, and I originally dreamed this idea up when I read about the amazing benefits of antioxidants for skin in summer. It's like healthy, light ice cream. Normally the phrase "light ice cream" would turn me off, but I mean it in a good way this time! An article I read last spring explained the dangers of all sunscreens. If you are as pale as I am, it's a devastating read, but I bought the book by the author and I'm happy to say I made it through a whole summer with no sunscreen. I'll let you read the article for yourself and draw your own conclusions. Here is the link to the article. It was when I was desperately trying to incorporate more berries in our diet (for our skin! so I'll look young-ish forever!) that we started drinking this. We make this with raw goat milk from our goats, but I think it would taste great with any kind of milk. You can play around with the proportions if you like, whether you want it thicker, more chocolate-y, or sweeter, but this is how we like it. Honestly, I never actually measured until this morning, so I don't think you really need to either, but this is a good guideline. Did you know that you can use a mason jar with a standard mouth (NOT wide-mouth) for your blender? I tried this yesterday for the first time and absolutely love it. We made this smoothie a couple times, and then we made a matcha latte using a tiny little pint mason jar. No mess and it came out clump free. In the picture I'm using a quart jar.  Chocolate Cherry Smoothie Ingredients: 1 cup frozen cherries 1 cup milk 1/4 cup cocoa powder 1-1/2 to 2 Tablespoons maple syrup Directions: Dump it all in the blender (or mason jar) and blend it until it's smooth and frothy. Stop and shake it a few times to make sure all the cocoa powder isn't stuck in a dry clump to the jar. Even if you end up with a few cherry chunks, the results are great. You can make it look pretty in a glass with a straw, but usually we just drink it straight from the jar.
According to my taste testers, this one is good to the last drop.
I haven't tried this yet, but I was thinking about adding some chocolate extract. Or vanilla extract. Or maybe even some powdered astragalus since I sneak it into everything over the winter. Clearly there are more smoothies to come.
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 When my kids were smaller my friend Angela started blogging, and this is one of the recipes (of many really good ones) that she posted. Unfortunately, I think she took down the site a while ago, but I still have my favorites scratched out on recipe cards. I make them with my kids every year around this time. I have long been a fan of the pumpkin-chocolate combination. Someday when I have the time and I plan on cooking through a huge collection of pumpkin-chocolate recipes I've torn out of magazines over the years. Someday. It is best done with an enormous bowl, because it makes about 3 dozen muffins. Ingredients: 5 cups flour (white, all-purpose) 2-1/4 cups sugar 1 T. baking soda 1/2 T. baking powder 1/2 T. salt 1-1/2 T. cinnamon 1/2 T. nutmeg 1/2 T. cloves 6 eggs 3 cups canned pumpkin 1-1/2 cups butter, melted 2 cups chocolate chips Directions: In one bowl, stir the dry ingredients together (flour through cloves). In another, mix the wet ingredients together (eggs through butter). Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and add the chocolate chips, stirring to distribute them evenly. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan (this makes 36, so you will probably have to do this in batches), and fill each liner about 2/3 up with batter. Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes.  |
AuthorI love trying new foods, cooking, and gardening. I hope to share these experiences on this site. Thanks for taking a look! Categories
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Photos from Mechanoid Dolly, Mechanoid Dolly, fidber, Ken_Mayer, eflon, Dendroica cerulea, Urban_Integration
