Coffee and Chocolate.
I mean they are just one awesome combination are they not? That bitter, sweet, dark and earthy flavour that is wrapped up in a light sweetness = yum.
So today I have taken this golden combination and given it a super naturally healthy twist for those of you who like me want to be healthy but also still secretly want to start my day with a blissful blend of coffee + chocolate.
Hello – Green Smoothie Mocha.
Why is it so good for you?
Did you know kale is one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet? Pretty impressive is it not? Especially for such a feeble looking green!
It contains 206% of the RDA (Recommend Daily Allowance) of vitamin A, 684% of RDA of vitamin K (needed for blood clotting), along with magnesium, potassium, manganese, and calcium. It knocks oranges out of the park when it comes to providing vitamin C, which as we know helps with the immune system, but ALSO is necessary for synthesis collagen – a protein needed to help your skin (and body) glow.
Plus when in a smoothie with things like fats and protein the bio – available and synergy of these nutritional elements is more powerful. It doesn’t matter if a food has 1000% of you vitamin A if your body can’t absorb it
(All my green smoothie challengees’s know this well!)
You also get some natural fibre and sweetness from the medjool dates, calcium, protein and fat from the almonds and lovely punch of magnesium from the cocoa/cacao. And of course this is super speedy to make too! Green smoothies take 2 mins tops to make and can keep you full for HOURS.
One recent Green Smoothie Challengee, Karen, emailed me to say:
I am eating less especially sugary things, I love(d) sweeties but now when I eat them I don’t enjoy them so much so I just don’t eat them anymore. I have lost my pregnant belly and I feel fuller longer. My family tells me I look so much better, slimmer. I have tried to lose weight for years and this is the first time it’s worked and I don’t even feel like I’m doing anything. Love it, thanks! Karen Wilson.
Click here to start the Green Smoothie Challenge today
- If you feel like you digestion is very poor blend the kale with some hot water for 30 seconds before adding other ingredients to ‘cook’ the kale to make it more digestible and make sure you add about 2 handfuls of ice to cool it down.
- Feel free to use spinach and kale interchangeably just be aware that kale is slightly more bitter that spinach in taste.
- You can use medjool dates, raw honey, banana or just stevia to sweeten this to your preference.
But if you want more Green Smoothie expertise (it is possible to get this wrong and for them to not only look like pond water but to taste like it too!), resources like meal plans and support, delicious dessert like recipes (over 45 of them!) and obviously some fabulously healthy results then you will want to come join the Green Smoothie Challenge 😉
(I use a Froothie blender which works fab for me and gets things super smooth but any blender will do. This is the coffee I use too as I am too lazy to make it fresh and a sucker for awesome packaging! Feel free to use caffeinated coffee to I am avoiding caffeine as much as I can to help sort out my adrenals.)
Green Smoothie Mocha
Ingredients
- 2-3 medjool dates
- 2 tbsp cocoa/cacao
- 1 tsp decaf organic instant coffee
- 500 ml water
- large handful spinach
- 80 g almonds or 2 tbsp almond butter
- pinch salt
- a pinch of vanilla powder
- 3-4 stevia drops - optional
Instructions
- Blend until smoothie.
- Serve with ice if desired and drink immediately.
Notes
Please note this will separate if left so drink immediately.
Any nut would also work well - brazil, cashew, even pistachio!
Feel free to use spinach instead of kale.
You talk about kale at the start of the post but I don’t see it in the recipe-is the spinach supposed to be kale?
I think I’ve edited it and switched it to spinach as I was finding that Scottish kale was making the recipe too bitter and spinach is a lesser flavour. Feel free to use kale though especially your kale isn’t too bitter 😉