Summer Blackberry & Fig Smoothie

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My Master’s of Nutrition program is kicking my booty – in a good way. Although three hour classes that focus on food policy and combing through pages and pages of anatomy and physiology has left me, I’ll admit it, a bit overwhelmed –I’m still totally loving the process. My favorite class so far? Farm to Table – where we quite literally go to a local Portland farms, learn and feed our soul with knowledge and plant power, and then pick and eat plentiful amounts of goodness. How amazing is that?

A few weeks ago I headed out to Sauvie Island with my F2T class on a perfect summer morning. There we visited Bella Organic Farm and all channeled our inner farmer as we picked and harvested buckets of blackberries, carrots straight from the ground, heirloom tomatoes off the vine, shiny zucchini, bright summer squash, vibrant kale, and the brightest and most beautiful rainbow chard I ever did see. I was in my happy place and never, ever, ever wanted to leave.

But leave I did, I had another class; but luckily a giant bag of fruits and vegetables came home with me. Of that haul were blackberries: vibrant, enormous, thumb sized, succulent, juicy blackberries. I could sing a song about them, they were that delicious. Instead, I froze half of them, added them into every oatmeal and salad concoction I could think of, and lovingly dumped them into this smoothie.

This smoothie is kind of a wonder. It’s filled with antioxidant rich blackberries, juicy and fresh figs, sweet raw honey, coconut flakes, and creamy almond butter. Plus do-it-yourself instant nutty hemp milk makes the whole thing even dreamier and creamier. The stars, of course, are the blackberries – the reason why this smoothie is just so colorful and photogenic. That beautiful deep purple color is thanks to blackberries’ ample phytonutrients – notably flavonoids, anthocyanins (hello gorgeous color!), and ellagic acid. Why should you care about these hard-to-pronounce words? Because these phytonutrients are incredibly beneficial to your beautiful bod: they reap anti-carcinogenic properties, help beat chronic inflammation, and protect your cells and DNA from oxidative damage. In short, these berries are bursting with juicy goodness, plant powers, and a wide variety of vitamins and minerals for glowing insides and outsides.

The juiciest blackberries + succulent figs + creamy coconut flavors + sweet raw honey + homemade hemp milk + healthy fat filled almond butter = a summer smoothie fresh from the farm and straight to your table. Yum!

Summer Blackberry & Fig Smoothie

Makes 1 large serving, or 2 small

1 cup filtered water
3 tablespoons hulled hemp seeds
1 tablespoon almond butter
¼ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 cup blackberries
6 fresh figs
1 teaspoon raw honey

Method:

Add water, hemp seeds, almond butter and coconut flakes to a high-speed blender. Blend on high for about 40-60 seconds, until liquid turns into creamy and frothy milk.

Add blackberries, figs, and raw honey to the milk and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.

Pour into glasses and sip to your heart’s content!

Nourishing Notes:

-If you cannot find fresh figs, substitute with dried figs. You may not need to add in raw honey with them, as they are quite sweet on their own!
-Frozen Blackberries also work perfectly in this smoothie.

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