Out here in the Sierra Foothills, wild blackberries are so abundant that they are considered a weed! I’ll grant that the brambles are invasive, but I’ve always found it odd that the grocery store sells blackberries for $4 per half pint while the hardware store next door sells bottles of toxic blackberry killer. During blackberry season I’m always trying to invent new and delicious ways to consume as many of these little buggers as I can. And one of the easiest ways to eat more berries is to toss them into a berry breakfast smoothie.

One caveat: Here’s where having a high-speed blender like the Vita-mix really pays off. If you blend blackberries or raspberries in a regular ‘ole blender, your smoothie might not be very smooth. The flax and sunflower seeds will blend up just fine, but the little berry seeds will probably survive. It’s totally fine to drink them right down, but some people find them annoying. A high-speed blender will go to work on those berries and you will hardly notice the seed bits.

One more warning: this berry breakfast smoothie is such a beautiful shade of purple that you might just spend your morning staring at it instead of drinking it!

Berry Breakfast Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup of your favorite unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk)
1 teaspoon alcohol-free vanilla extract (you can omit this if you use a vanilla-flavored milk)
1 banana
1 tablespoon flax seeds
1 tablespoon hulled sunflower seeds
1/2 cup blackberries