Chocolate Raspberry Smoothie

Who says chocolate covered fruit can only be a dessert thing? What if I told you that it’s possible to have a healthy breakfast smoothie that tastes like chocolate raspberry cheesecake? Trust me, it’s possible.

I’ve always been a lover of sweet breakfasts. Probably because I have the world’s most massive sweet tooth {is there an award for that?}. When I really began to focus on healthier eating, I thought to myself, “that’s it, no more sweet things, everything is going to taste earthy and I’m going to have to just eat salad for the rest of my life”. How WRONG was I?! I’ve since learned that healthy eating can be delicious {and not half as complicated as it’s made out to be!} and now I’m on a mission to share this knowledge with as many people as possible. Take this smoothie for example: it tastes decadent, but it’s packed with good-for-you vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Plus it’s got three servings of fruit blended in there to start your day off on the right track.

The trick here is to add cacao powder, instead of cocoa powder – slight difference in vowel use, bigger difference in nutritional value. Cacao is the purest form of chocolate, made from cold pressing cacao beans. Cocoa comes from raw cacao that is roasted at higher temperatures. When it comes to the nutritional value of cacao/cocoa, the higher the roasting temperature, the greater the loss of important vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Because cacao is the rawest form of chocolate, the taste will be a little more bitter than cocoa powder, and may take some getting used to. But if you love it {like I do!} you’re in for a nutritional treat! Cacao is loaded with antioxidants, which fight off free radicals in the body that have been linked to increasing inflammation. Not to mention Vitamins E and B, calcium, iron, magnesium {cacao is thought to be the best food source of magnesium}, and dietary fibre!

Raw cacao powder can be a little harder to find, and definitely a little on the pricey side, so if you’re not ready to make the cacao plunge yet, don’t worry! Surprisingly, cocoa powder still maintains quite a bit of its antioxidant content after roasting. Just be sure to look for plain cocoa powder – avoid any mixes that contain added sugar! Throw it in your blender with the rest of these smoothie ingredients, and enjoy that guilt-free, I-just-had-dessert-for-breakfast feeling.

Chocolate Raspberry Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 medium banana
• ½ cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• ⅓ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• 2 ½ tsp. cacao powder
• 1 Tbsp. honey (optional)

How to make it:

1. Add all ingredients into a blender and blend at high speed until smooth and creamy.

2. Pour into a glass and enjoy.

xo

Britney