smoothie recipe Archives - Wild Blueberries

7 Healthy & Delicious Smoothie Recipes from Health Experts

During August we took twelve health experts from across the country on an incredible 3-day adventure through Maine’s wild blueberry fields. From hand raking wild blueberries, to an amazing dinner featuring the delicious berries, and a smoothie-making competition, our health experts received a whirlwind introduction to Maine’s nutritious and delicious superfruit.

Our registered dietitians, doctors, nutritionists, and health coaches started their Maine adventure at the Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company Barrens to learn more about the history of the wild blueberry. The Tribe’s wild blueberries are harvested from 2,000 acres of barrens in Maine on the largest Native American-owned wild blueberry farm in the world. Our health experts got the chance to hand rake wild blueberries, which is the traditional way of harvesting, and meet the folks integral to Maine’s wild blueberry industry. And, they discovered how wild blueberries, flash frozen at their peak of ripeness to lock in taste in nutrition, get from farm to freezer, and ultimately to you!

Wild Blueberry Smoothie Competition

On the final day of our trip, we challenged our guests to a fun smoothie-making competition and of course the main ingredient was wild blueberries. Our guests had dozens of ingredients to select from including some out of the box ones like cauliflower rice and cooked beets.

The Winners!

After plenty of sips enjoying all of the incredible smoothies our guests crafted, our judge Wild Blueberry Nutrition Advisor Kitty Broihier selected our winners based on taste, texture and visual presentation. The winner of our competition was Malina Malkani! Malina is a Registered Dietitian, author, speaker and the single mom of three girls behind the Instagram & TikTok accounts, @healthy.mom.health.kids. Malina created a unique recipe called Wild Blueberry Basil and Tahini Dream. Our judge calls it very creative, and fresh.

Wild Blueberry Basil and Tahini Dream Smoothie by Malina Malkani, MS, RD, CDN

NEW Inspiring & Healthy Smoothies

Looking for inspiration to ramp up your smoothie making game? Explore the six new recipes created by our wonderful team of food and nutrition experts. Each has its own unique character, flavor, and appearance:

Simple, Wild & Smooth Mango Blueberry Smoothie

Simple, Wild and Smooth Mango Blueberry Smoothie by Wendy Lopez, MS, RDN, CDE

1% Better Dark Chocolate Blueberry Smoothie

The Maine Snickerdoodle

Wild Blueberry Cream Pie Smoothie

Full Body Booster Smoothie

Skin Glow Summer Smoothie

Wild your Smoothie & Have a Healthy Scoop of Wild Blueberries Daily!

If you haven’t tried frozen wild blueberries yet, consider making them a staple for your frozen food pantry so you can make delicious and nutritious smoothies every day. Frozen wild blueberries have twice the antioxidant capacity, 72% more fiber, 32% less sugar and a more intense blueberry flavor when compared to regular blueberries found in the produce section.

Having a wild blueberry smoothie is a nutritious way to start the day. Plus, wild blueberries have been linked to better brain health and cognitive performance. There’s growing evidence from numerous studies suggesting eating wild blueberries daily may be a practical and effective part of a brain-healthy diet. With 33% more deep purply blue anthocyanins and 2x the antioxidants of ordinary blueberries, wild blueberries contribute to healthy brains!

Learn more about the difference between wild blueberries and regular blueberries here.

Top 5 Smoothie Making Hacks

Let’s face it – we love smoothies for their convenience, ease and portability. However, in the busy mornings we know that every minute (and every second!) counts. So while it may not take that long to make a smoothie for breakfast before you head out the door, there are some time-saving tips for smoothie making that can help you hit the snooze button one more time, get to the office before everyone else or even better, carve out some time for morning self-care.

I love taking time on Sundays to prep meals for the week ahead. This makes the workweek less chaotic and allows me to carve out some “me time” during the weekly grind. My morning routine is sacred to me. I gave up checking my phone and emails upon waking a long time ago. Now my mornings are my quiet time to meditate or practice yoga to start the day feeling grounded and present. The only way I can find the time to practice self-care in the morning is if I plan ahead and make breakfasts for the week on Sunday.

Now, you may be thinking how can I prepare ahead of time for smoothies? Well, I’ve got 5 simple smoothie-making hacks to share with you today to help make your weekday mornings stress-free.

Make smoothie freezer packs. Ever feel like smoothie making is quite the production? Do you have a counter filled with bags of frozen fruit, liquids, greens, powders, nuts and seeds? Does it take you forever to find that bag of walnuts at the back of the cupboard? Ever wish you could just have all your smoothie-making ingredients ready to go in one place to throw in the blender? You can! Portion out your smoothie ingredients like frozen Wild Blueberries, sliced bananas and kale into freezer Ziploc bags at the beginning of the week and label them with the date and type of smoothie. Come morning all you have to do is open up the bag, toss the contents into your blender, add liquid and blend away!
Take advantage of the ice cube tray. With the ice cube tray, you can add a frosty consistency to your smoothies while adding flavor! No more diluting your smoothie’s flavor with regular ice cubes; think about freezing liquids like coconut milk, juice, coffee or tea. Simply add a few liquid ice cubes to your smoothie and cut the amount of liquid added in half. However, with frozen Wild Blueberries, you don’t have to worry about using ice cubes or diluting your smoothie – they help keep your smoothie cold while packing in deliciously sweet flavor, which is just one of the many reasons I love using them in smoothies. For another time-saver, pre-portion yogurt into ice cube trays and add the yogurt cubes to your smoothie freezer packs!
Don’t waste about-to-turn produce. We’ve all been there – you buy a bunch of bananas only to watch them turn brown in your fruit bowl. Rather than tossing them, avoid food waste and take advantage of their ripeness and flavor and use in smoothies! Puree extra ripe bananas and store in ice cube trays or simply slice them and store in Ziploc freezer bags. Take ‘em out when you’re ready for your banana-powered smoothie.
Batch-make smoothies. Heard of batch cooking to help you save time and energy during the week? It involves making a large portion of a meal to refrigerate or freeze to enjoy later in the week. Well, you can batch-make smoothies too! Make 3-4+ servings of your favorite smoothie recipe on Sunday evening and pre-portion them into mason jars. All you’ll have to do in the morning is grab a mason jar, give it a good shake (as the contents will begin to separate) and be on your way!
Turn leftovers into popsicles. Food waste is one of my biggest pet peeves so I try to repurpose leftovers whenever I get the chance and smoothies are no exception to this rule! Whenever you make too much of a smoothie and have leftovers, pour the remaining smoothie into a popsicle mold and freeze for a refreshing treat another day.

Ready to start hacking away at your smoothie hacks? Try my Wild Blue Velvet smoothie recipe below. You can freeze the yogurt in an ice cube tray and make smoothie freezer packs with frozen Wild Blueberries, beets and yogurt. Toss the contents into the blender in the morning, add your powder and liquid and you’re ready to conquer the day!

It’s Wild Your Smoothie Recipe Contest Time!

Last year’s Wild Your Smoothie Recipe Contest was such a huge success – we have more than 100 Wild Blueberry Smoothie recipes – that we knew right away we had to bring it back and keep inspiring smoothie lovers with delicious ideas. While the recipe contest is only open to Registered Dietitians, Food and Healthy Lifestyle Bloggers, we wanted everyone who loves frozen Wild Blueberries and smoothies to have a chance to participate. This year, we’ve added a voting phase for our loyal fans and all lovers of Wild Blueberry smoothies and will be asking for help in selecting this year’s winning recipes. You’ll also have chances to win some fun prizes, too so follow along with the #WildYourSmoothie on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.

We’re thrilled to have Kara Lydon, RD, LDN, RYT, The Foodie Dietitian, joining us again this year as our smoothie guru. Kara tells us that, “frozen Wild Blueberries are the perfect smoothie ingredient,” and we agree! Throughout the contest, Kara will be busy creating tasty new Wild Blueberry smoothie recipes using some of today’s trendiest health ingredients and she’ll be inspiring smoothie lovers and answering their questions during Twitter chats, Instagram and Pinterest Takeovers, and during even a Facebook LIVE event.

So, how’s does the Wild Your Smoothie Recipe contest work?

If you’re a Registered Dietitian, or a Food and Healthy Lifestyle Blogger visit our Wild Your Smoothie Recipe Contest page and submit your original Wild Blueberry smoothie recipe. ALL submissions are due on or before 3 p.m. EST on February 10 13, 2017.

Once we’ve received all the recipe submissions, we will be busy selecting our Top 10 finalists of the 2017 Wild Your Smoothie Recipe Contest for you to vote on beginning on February 28, 2017. You could even win a NutriBullet PRO, the official blender of Wild Blueberries, by showing us your own smoothie creation (or make one of the finalists’ recipes) and posting to Instagram between February 28^th and March 6^th. Be sure to tag @WildBlueberries and include #WildYourSmoothie in your Instagram caption to enter to win.

There’s a lot happening during this year’s Wild Your Smoothie competition. Below are the important dates to remember. And, if you have any questions, please ask us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram Be sure to include #WildYourSmoothie in your question and we will answer you as quickly as we can.

LIVE Twitter Chat! On Wednesday February 1, Kara will host a LIVE Twitter chat with us to answer questions about the competition, share fun smoothie making tips and top trending ingredients
VOTE! From Tuesday February 28 – Monday March 6, vote on your favorite Top 10 Wild Your Smoothie Recipe Contest Finalists.
Facebook LIVE video! On Wednesday March 1, join Kara to talk about the Top 10 Wild Your Smoothie Recipe Contest Finalists and how you can help us select this year’s winners. And, find out how YOU could win one of two NutriBullet PROs during our Instagram contest.
Instagram it to win it! Starting Tuesday February 28, through Monday March 6, after you’ve voted on your favorite Top 10 Wild Your Smoothie Recipe Contest finalist, show us YOUR creativity and how you Wild Your Smoothie – stay tuned for more details.

Just one more thing!

We plan to announce the winners during our LIVE Twitter Chat on Tuesday March 14, 2017. During this LIVE chat, we will talk with our Top 10 finalists about their recipe inspirations, their love of frozen Wild Blueberries and announce the Grand Prize winner and two runner ups. We will also announce our Instagram contests winner.

Kid-Friendly Fall Smoothie Recipe: Low-Sugar Wild Blueberry Banana Pumpkin Smoothie

I do most of my grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s and I know it’s the start of pumpkin season when they bring all their pumpkin products to the front of the store. I’ve never seen such a vast array of pumpkin-related items. They’ve got pumpkin everything: pumpkin cereal, pumpkin oatmeal, pumpkin crackers, pumpkin-infused oil, pumpkin dip, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancake mix, pumpkin soup, pumpkin croutons, pumpkin coffee – I kid you not, this is just a partial list. They really know how to do pumpkin.

Personally, I’m more of an essence of pumpkin kind of gal. I don’t particularly like to lead with pumpkin that much in my recipes. But I do think it’s fun to use pumpkin unexpectedly in a recipe, like adding it to chili and creamy soups, for example, or stirring some pumpkin puree into yogurt.

My Wild Blueberry Banana Pumpkin Smoothie is a great example as well. I find straight pumpkin smoothies to be a little too sweet and, well, too pumpkin-y. By sharing the spotlight with the delicious flavor of Wild Blueberries, you get a tasty combination of berry-pumpkin flavor with the perfect amount of sweet. This low-sugar smoothie gets its sweetness naturally from one frozen banana and ½ cup of frozen Wild Blueberries.

In addition to keeping the sugar content low, I also like to sneak super foods into my smoothies whenever possible. Buried inside this smoothie you not only get the antioxidant power of Wild Blueberries, but you also get a hit of inflammation-busting turmeric and blood sugar-lowering cinnamon. But wait, it doesn’t stop there. You also get a dose of healthy fats and soluble fiber from ground flax seed.

You might be thinking right now, this smoothie sounds too healthy…does it taste good? No worries, I’ve got that covered. I use a very scientific method to determine taste-ability. It’s called the “Will a 4^th Grader Drink This?” test.

Needless to say, this smoothie passed with flying colors.

So there you have it! A low-sugar, kid-friendly pumpkin-inspired smoothie that’s bursting with powerful antioxidants and Wild Blueberry flavor.

It sounds like the fall season is off to a good start!

Wild Blueberry & Beet Paleo Breakfast Smoothie

Besides the jaw dropping color, this paleo Wild Blueberry beet smoothie packs a healthy dose of vitamin C and antioxidants.

I think for the most part, people assume paleo and smoothies don’t mix. Whether it’s due to the dairy, the sweeteners or even the sometimes-used thickeners, smoothies don’t naturally fit into the paleo world. But I beg to differ, and there is no better way to start off a paleo smoothie than by using a wild fruit. Wild Blueberries are a special crop that has grown for over 10,000 years in one special corner of the world (Maine, Eastern Canada and Quebec). They are unchanged by man, and you can’t get more paleo than that.

Here’s a Wild Blueberry and beet smoothie that’s not only delicious but it’s beautiful too. Have a look at that color, naturally derived from the roasted beets and frozen fresh Wild Blueberries! And if the color alone doesn’t entice you into wanting to make this dairy-, gluten- and grain-free treat, the fact that it’s packed with antioxidants, Vitamin C, fiber and potassium will.

When I make my smoothies I like to choose my base first. Since we’re keeping things dairy free here, coconut milk is a great choice. Not only is it creamy and indulgent tasting, using the light canned variety brings a healthy balance of good-for-you fats to the smoothie and also helps curb some of that earthiness from the beets.

After choosing my smoothie base, I like to decide on my sweetener. Since this smoothie contains both fruit and vegetables, a powerful natural sweetener is in order. Bananas are always a good choice since they have a strong sweet flavor and they work much better than maple syrup or honey when trying to counteract something like a beet. They’re also a great complement to the intense Wild Blueberry flavor. These smaller Wild Blueberries pack an unrivaled intensity of sweet and tangy flavors.

I want this smoothie to be more of a meal (rather than a snack), so the next step is to choose my protein. Since we’re not using dairy, adding protein powder or, in this case, collagen peptides is a great way to give the smoothie some staying power. Collagen peptides (my new favorite way to add protein without altering taste or consistency) are creating quite the buzz in the paleo community lately and rightfully so. Derived from grass-fed, pasture raised cows, collagen is vital to our overall wellness and one of the basic building blocks of healthy skin, hair, nails, bones and joints. Collagen dissolves in cold liquids (unlike gelatin) and with no taste of its own, it makes an excellent addition to things like smoothies, drinks, soups and stews when you want a boost of protein but don’t want to alter the flavor or consistency of the dish.

And to finish off your smoothie, don’t forget the toppings! Arguably the best part of any smoothie is the sprinkling of toppings. Toasted coconut flakes and a few frozen Wild Blueberries help highlight the flavors already in this smoothie but the world is your oyster with this step. For paleo options, think nuts, seeds, fruit or even a drizzle of nut butters. Coconut butter would be fabulous on top of this one!

All of these ingredients combined with tiny, flavorful frozen fresh Wild Blueberries make this Wild Blueberry & beet smoothie one heck of a start to the day!