Sometimes, even my blender needs a spark of inspiration. And there is one person I know who is always able to light that spark for me: my friend Tess Masters, also known as The Blender Girl. Tess is awesome. So awesome that she agreed to participate in our 2015 Culinary Nutrition Conference that I hosted with the Academy of Culinary Nutrition. She's also the author of The Blender Girl Smoothies.
One of the things I was so excited to talk to Tess about when I interviewed her for the conference was how she makes everything look just perfectly beautiful. We all know a few of those people. I am not one and have given up aspiring to be one and instead just enjoy the people I know who can expertly style a plate, a vase of flowers, a messy top knot hairdo, an outfit, and of course, a smoothie. Tess is one of those people. She likely thinks I have a staring problem because of it.
Needless to say, when Tess contacted me about blending up some goodness from her brand new book, The Blender Girl Smoothies, I was overjoyed to play along and share the results with you. I warned her that I am the worst, worst, worst at following recipes, but I figured it's a smoothie. How hard could that be to follow?
I did my best.
Here's what I did wrong. Or right, in my opinion. As I was browsing through Tess's book, I kept getting so many new ideas. Like boosting with wheat grass powder - not a new idea but something I forgot about. And she had extra boosters like jalapenos in some recipes and cauliflower in others.
Come again? Cauliflower in a smoothie. Oh no you didn't?
But she did. And so I did.
And then I ran a taste test and no one knew it was in there!
And so what you get below is Tess's cauliflower-free version of her Green Mojito Smoothie recipe as she wrote it, and my version with a few tweaks and the addition of cauliflower because who has ever heard of putting cauliflower in a smoothie? Is it an LA thing, where Tess lives? Is it a weird Aussie thing, where she's from and where they do loads of weird stuff?
All I know is I loved it, and the new dose of smoothie inspiration!
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Cook time:
Total time:
Yield: Serves 2
- 1 cup (240ml) coconut water or water
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
- 3 limes, peeled and quartered
- 1 cup (25g) torn-up curly green kale leaves (1 or 2 large leaves with stalk removed)
- ½ cup (18g) firmly packed mint
- 2 cups (320g) frozen pineapple
- 5 drops alcohol-free liquid stevia, plus more to taste
- 1 teaspoon wheatgrass powder
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- Throw all of the ingredients into your blender and blast on high for 30 to 60 seconds, until smooth and creamy.
And here was what I made, using the ingredients I remembered to get, and what I found in the fridge at my cottage.
Prep time:
Cook time:
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Yield: 2 servings
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup ice
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
- 2 limes, peeled and quartered
- 1 cup green kale leaves (stems removed)
- 2 cups fresh pineapple
- ½ cup chopped cauliflower (shazzaaaam!)
- Sweeten as needed
- Place all ingredients in your blender and blend until smooth.
Get Your Copy
The Blender Girl Smoothies: 100 Gluten-free, vegan and paleo friendly recipes. (Canadians: here's your link.)
To make your smoothie making super easy, there's an app for that!
To accompany her new book, Tess has also released an app that is an awesome reference. Check it out here.
