Recipes
A Nutritious “Berry Blast” of Goodness
Guest Blogger, Tess Masters, also known as The Blender Girl, shares her Driscoll's exclusive recipe, Creamy Lemon Strawberry Smoothie with Coconut Water
I LOVE Driscoll's organic strawberries. Not only are they juicy and delicious, they are a versatile, fat-free, low-calorie, low sugar, low sodium superfood! Rich in nutrients such as vitamin C, vitamin K, folate, manganese, potassium, magnesium, and containing essential dietary fiber, these high quality strawberries are wonderful for promoting heart, bone, eye, skin, and digestive health, as well as lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, stabilizing blood sugar levels, and boosting immunity. Loaded with powerful phytonutrients, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory agents, strawberries also help to combat oxidative stress, and neutralize free radicals and cancer cells.
Just one cup of Driscoll's Strawberries contains about 136% of the RDA of vitamin C, 21% of manganese, over 13% of the RDA of dietary fiber with just 43 calories, making them a glorious nutrient-dense addition to drinks, smoothies, shakes, salads, desserts, and baked goods, to stir through yoghurt, or just as a simple healthy snack!
One of my favorite ways to enjoy strawberries is in a smoothie. Just throw a couple of cups of berries into your blender with your favorite milk; banana, avocado, coconut meat, or tofu; some flaxseeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds etc, a sweetener of your choice (stevia, dates, maple syrup, coconut sugar, honey etc) and enjoy a healthy, “berry blast” of goodness.
There are several wonderful strawberry smoothie recipes here on the Driscolls website, so I thought I would share a strawberry smoothie with a twist.
This delectable concoction is a rich, decadent “dessert in a glass” -- a delicious blend of sweet and tangy flavors, with a vibrant zesty twist on the back end. If you are not partial to the lemon tones, you could always omit the zest and reduce the lemon juice just a tad.
You could also make this smoothie nut-free and reduce the calories by substituting the cashews and water with 1 ½ cups soy milk, rice milk, or other milk of your choice. It will result in a drink with a slightly different personality, but will still taste amazing. You could also add a cup of romaine lettuce or spinach to boost the nutritional value of this smoothie. These two mild-tasting greens don’t alter the flavor at all, and it is a fabulous way to get some greens into children or “greenophobe” adults.
A high-speed blender will yield the best results pulverizing the nuts into a super smooth consistency. But, you can still enjoy this smoothie with as regular blender.
Either way, this strawberry smoothie is absolutely spectacular, and is a treat the whole family can enjoy.
Tess Masters, or The Blender Girl, is a spokesperson for Vitamix and offers a wide variety of healthy, simple and delicious smoothie recipes on her blog, healthyblenderrecipes.com