Keto Kale & Coconut Shake

I love the idea of healthy shakes, smoothies, and green juices...in theory.

The problem, is that I often find that they have much more sugar than I want to consume in liquid form.

Even the ones that only get their sweetness from the addition of a single apple or banana are generally way too high in sugar for me to enjoy without feeling a bit jittery afterwards. (This is the same reason why I created a Savory Sangria last year.)

If I'm going to get that jittery sugar-high feeling, then it had better come from something that's worth it. (Like cake.)

But I can't deny that there are days when I really do just want to sip a big tall glass of something green.

Hence--this No-Sugar Kale & Coconut Shake!

With NO added sugar or high-carb fruits, this shake is just slightly sweet, but still totally delicious.

The secret is all in a pinch of salt, which serves to bring out the natural sweetness of the coconut and kale. Seriously--it's kind of brilliant! Try it both with and without the salt, and I promise you'll notice a difference.

The fresh ginger also adds a lovely touch of spicy heat, though it's optional if you're not a fan

***Note that if you really, truly do want to make it a little sweeter--then I suggest adding either 1 date OR 2 teaspoons of coconut palm sugar--you don't need any more than that!

Keto Kale & Coconut Shake Recipe (No added fruit or sugar)
Makes 1 large shake

Ingredients
1 cup unsweetened almond milk (substitute your favorite non-dairy milk)
1/2 cup full-fat canned coconut milk
4 cups chopped kale (you can also do a mix of spinach & kale)
1/4 cup ground coconut (unsweetened)
1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled (optional--skip it if you don't like the taste of ginger)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (or Celtic sea salt if you have it--it's rich in beneficial minerals!)
1 cup ice 

Directions
Pour almond and coconut milk into base of blender, followed by ginger, kale, ground coconut, salt, and ice.

Puree until very smooth. (I have a professional style Ninja blender so this only takes 1 minute for me, but with a standard blender you may need to let this go about 3-5 minutes.)

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Spiced Sweet Potato Juice

I know. This sounds so weird.  Spiced Sweet Potato Juice?!

But it is SO delicious. Creamy, sweet, nutty, spicy. I can't express to you just how much I love this stuff. It's like dessert, but it's a fresh-pressed juice, and it's my new favorite breakfast treat.

I got the idea while reading one of my favorite food blogs, The Little Red House. If you haven't checked it out, go and do it now! It's a gorgeous site with simple recipes and stunning photographs. Lovely lovely.

She regularly posts recipes for homemade fruit and vegetable juices, and a recent recipe for a Sweet Potato Pear juice caught my eye.

Before this, I'd never realized that it was TOTALLY OK to both drink and eat raw sweet potatoes.

Seriously!

While I've yet to try the raw sweet potato sticks, I was excited to give the juice a try. I personally like to avoid fruit juice, so I skipped the pear and instead added fresh ginger, a bit of vanilla extract, and increased the almond milk.

I suppose this is more like a smoothie or a flavored nut milk, than a juice. Maybe a mix of both? Call it what you will, but it's fantastic.

You definitely need a juicer for this (a blender will not work)--I was surprised by how much juice I got out of one large sweet potato.

Then you simply mix the fresh sweet potato and ginger juices with the almond milk, chia seeds, ground cinnamon, and vanilla. The sweet potato provided enough sweetness for me, but if you'd like, you can also add a teaspoon of something like maple syrup, honey, or rice malt syrup too.

The natural starches in the potato make this a really creamy drink, and the chia seeds also thicken it up a bit. I love this for breakfast those mornings when I just really don't want any food, but still need...something.

Have you ever had raw sweet potato before? Let me know if you try this, and what you think. I suspect you'll be totally smitten like I was!

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Spiced Sweet Potato Juice
Serves 1

Ingredients
1 large raw sweet potato (about 10-14oz), washed but not peeled
1 2-inch piece of fresh ginger
1 cup almond milk (homemade or storebought)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon chia seeds
Optional: your favorite sweetener like maple syrup, honey, etc. (I don't add any additional sweetener, but you may wish to.)

Directions
Juice the raw sweet potato (unpeeled) and the ginger. Pour the fresh juice into a large mason jar or a blender. Add the almond milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and chia seeds. Cover the jar and shake vigorously for 30 seconds. (Or process in blender to mix well.)

Pour into a large glass.

Optional: sweeten with honey, maple syrup, or your choice of sweetener, to taste. 

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