Drinking this Black Forest Gateau Smoothie for breakfast, with it’s chocolatey undertones, makes feels like I’m cheating: like having my cake and eating it. Yet it’s also very healthy with good amounts of protein, good fats, fibre, vitamins, minerals and an excellent array of micronutrients from the goji berries and cacao (not cocoa) powder.
Chocolate is frequently extolled for it’s health benefits, yet not all chocolate is made equal. Most shop-bought chocolate, especially those with less than 80% cocoa content, contain high amounts of fat and sugar. This means any benefits from the cocoa is far outweighed by negative impact of the fat and sugar. However, raw chocolate and other food, drinks made with raw cacao powder (as used in this recipe) have some health benefits as raw cacao contains good amounts of flavonoids, antioxidants and the minerals—magnesium, iron, potassium, calcium and zinc. See The Clinical Resource for Cellular Nutrition’s article: Chocolate & Cocoa: Healthy Benefit and Negative Health Effects for more information.
This smoothie is not an everyday smoothie—but wonderful treat for when you want to feel special.
Ingredients for Black Forest Gateau Smoothie
- Half a banana
- 120 g (1 cup) of frozen black forest fruits
- A small handful of spinach (approx 20 g)
- 25 g hemp protein
- 25 g goji berries
- 1-2 teaspoons of Greens Powder (my favourite is Udo’s Beyond Greens)
- 1 teaspoon of raw, organic cacao powder
- ¼ teaspoon of vanilla powder or vanilla extract (avoid vanilla essence which is mostly sugar water)
- 2 teaspoons of melted organic coconut oil
- 200 ml of organic rice milk (or unsweetened almond milk). Brands I use and recommend are Rude Health, Rice Dream or Ecomil
Method
Pop all ingredients into a high-powered blender/smoothie maker. You may need to blend for slightly longer than usual to get all of the ingredients to be smooth. The resulting smoothie will be very thick – you may need a spoon.
I am huge fan of Udo’s Beyond Greens because it’s so nutritionally rich. It contains organic, fermented grasses, algae, spices, vegetables and seeds all which helps support your immune system. I buy Udo’s Beyond Greens and other super foods such as hemp protein, cacao powder and goji berries from BODY KIND who are typically cheaper than Amazon or other health food shops.
If you make 2–3 smoothies a week, the nutritional-superfood ingredients will last between 2–4 months and the cost per smoothie will about the same as a coffee at Costa. However, the superfood packs/jars/bottles are expensive, and this puts people off trying the smoothies, in case they don’t like them. To help you, I have created a Breakfast Starter Kit that contains all the superfood ingredients to make 5 Breakfasts: 3 Protein Smoothies, Chia Pudding and Buckwheat Pancakes.
Buy these directly from me at the special introductory price of £15 plus postage.
Eat Well—Be Well 🙂
