One of my favorite dessert combinations is chocolate, almonds and raspberries! It’s a rich and decadent combination where the raspberries tame the sweetness in each bite.
Have you had a Chocolate Almond Raspberry Tart? Oh it’s to die for! Just looking at it makes me salivate. Anyways, I have digressed from the original intent of this post–all things healthy.
Focus! Focus!
I’ve come up with a healthy smoothie to indulge my taste buds with the rich chocolatey and raspberry flavors but without the guilt. My goal this month is to enjoy a healthy smoothie each day whether it’s for a snack or with my breakfast and my thoughtful husband made this possible by purchasing a NutriBullet® for me. He was encouraging me to get serious about my “New Year goals and my New Me” regimen with this awesome “blender” from JCPenney . It’s not really a blender it’s hard to explain but this is what it looks like.
Honestly, when he gave it to me I thought to myself: another blender, do we really need another blender. Where am I going to put another kitchen gadget?… Those were the things going on through my mind but I was hooked after I used it for the first time. Basically, I told him after making my yummy apple cinnamon smoothie, “It uses everything and pulverizes it so it’s not chunky.” When I used my blender to make any smoothie with apples or carrots it would leave my drink chunky which was fine but now that I’ve had it smooth and creamy–I’m hooked. Well, this is not a sponsored post on behalf of NutriBullet so I’m not trying to get you to purchase one, but I do highly recommend it because I love mine.
So the trick in making a healthy smoothie is to layoff the sugar. If you’re not already in the know there are natural sugars found in most fruits and some vegetables. Obviously, this sugar is different from the sugar that comes from eating a candy bar but it still raises your sugar levels. When you make your smoothie lay off the sugars because you don’t want to have sugar crash at 10 a.m. and lethargic until lunch. Even though you’re drink was “healthy” it was packed with sugar so you can still experience a sugar crash.
The ratio I’ve heard that works great is 75% veggies and 25% fruit but I usually stick to 50% veggies and 50% fruit (10% high sugar fruit (bananas, oranges, pineapple…) and 40% other fruit (berries, kiwi, golden berries, papaya…)
Your liquids shouldn’t be high in sugar–like orange juice, sports drink…
Here’s my healthy and delicious packed with antioxidants smoothie with–no sugar, no dairy! Chia seeds offer an easy source of protein, anti-inflammatory omega-3s, and antioxidants to your diet.
Chia Chocolate Almond Raspberry Smoothie
ingredients:
- 1/2 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1/4 cup of fresh or frozen raspberries w/o sugar added
- 1/2 cup of spinach fresh or frozen
- 1/2 cup of coconut water or almond milk
- 4 ice cubes if you use mostly frozen fruit & veggies you don’t really need ice
- 1 teaspoon of almond extract
- 1/2 tablespoon of cacoa powder (natural no sugar added)
- optional: 2 tablespoons of chocolate protein powder
- If you’re needing for it to be a bit sweeter add 1/2 of a small banana (I like to buy the mini bananas)
Place all of the above ingredients in a blender and enjoy!
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Find more products like these to aid you in your quest to live a healthier lifestyle at JCPenney and jcpenney.com.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of JCPenney. The opinions and text are all mine.
