This vegan Black Forest Smoothie is just a little sweet and a nice contrast of tart. The chocolate notes are forward with a tang of the yogurt (I've made it without the yogurt when I ran out; pass - it's essential here). The secret ingredient is frozen cauliflower. I know! So odd and a little scary, but you don't taste it, I swear! It gives the smoothie a nice "cream" mouth feel and now I've been playing around with adding it to a lot of my smoothies in lieu of frozen banana to get a nice vegetable / fruit smoothie paring in lieu of mostly (if not all) fruit.
Sustainability Spotlight: Cherries have a relatively short seasonality making them a treat when they are available; especially tart cherries where you might only have 2 weeks with harvest. For some of these "treats," I generally look for options where I can still enjoy out-of-season produce. In this recipe I utilize cherry juice to get the tartness of a black forest cake and round out the flavors with other pantry, seasonal or frozen ingredients. This helps reduce food waste and minimize the carbon footprint of my kitchen, and it will for yours too!
Ingredients:
1 cup frozen cauliflower florets - trust me, you can't taste it and it's my new favorite frozen "secret" ingredient!
1 ripe banana (chunked)
5-6 fresh strawberries (hulled)
1/3 cup cashew yogurt (plain) - I prefer Forager Plain Cashewmilk Yogurt
2 scoops of chocolate protein powder - I exclusively use Garden of Life - Sport (vegan) which you can get on Amazon
1.5 cups 100% cherry juice (no sugar added)
Directions:
Add ingredients to your blender in the order above (it's very important for any smoothie blend to put any frozen items directly at the bottom on the blades).
If you have Vitamix with a smoothie automatic option, click it over to that setting, turn on and let her rip! The blender will stop automatically & control your speed along the way. Once it stops, you are good to go.
If you do not have a smoothie option, turn on blender at 1-2 speed to break up the frozen cauliflower, then gradually increase over ~15-20 seconds in intervals until you are on high. Blend for ~2-3 minutes (depending on blender strength) until smooth.
Pour into glasses and enjoy!