If you are one of those people who would eat chocolate with just about anything, the cacao nib is an amazing discovery. Nibs are simply crushed cacao beans. They provide complex chocolate flavor without any sugar (perfect food for a no-sugar challenge) so they can be used in both savory and sweet dishes. Cacao nibs contain potent doses of antioxidants, magnesium, and fiber, and they even stimulate the brain to release mood-enhancing chemicals. With all these magical properties it’s no wonder they have achieved the uber-hip status of “superfood”. If you aren’t quite ready to start eating handfuls of cacao nibs right out of the bag (they are slightly bitter and are an acquired taste somewhat like dark chocolate and red wine—not too hard to acquire, really) then you can begin by putting some into a cacao smoothie.
This blueberry cacao smoothie was born when I found myself in the following smoothie circumstances: I realized that I had to use up some bananas before they got too spotty. In our house, we do not like brown spots on our bananas. One dark spot appears and suddenly no one will touch the poor banana. But I can put these poor neglected bananas into a smoothie where their ripe sweetness is welcome. Also, I was craving chocolate, even though it was about 8:40 in the morning. To further complicate the smoothie challenge, I needed the smoothie to turn out either pink or purple so my kids would drink it.
Behold! The Blueberry Cacao Smoothie took care of everything in one fell swoop. If you don’t have a natural food store nearby you can get Navitas Organics Cacao Nibs
online. Fell free to swap the milk or yogurt to a dairy-free version if you prefer and it won’t change the flavor much, although if you use anything that has added sugar you may want to omit the dates or the smoothie might be too sweet. According to my 4 year old, this smoothie already tastes like candy. Enjoy!
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