Spiced strawberry and goji berry smoothie is a healthy, naturally vegan breakfast that’s also filling and super flavourful.

Welcome to the weekend and the first few days of spring! I’m really pushing it with the imported strawberries in this goji berry smoothie, but I just couldn’t resist them at the store for some reason this week. Making our lives a bit more sparkly until we get the local ones in June (which feels SO far away, but I know it’ll be here before we know it).

I’m mostly getting ahead on some work this weekend, which I know is super boring of me, but it is what it is. Spring and summer are shaping up to be quite busy for us, so any little bit I can do to get ahead is ideal at this point.

Anyway! I hope that you get a chance to enjoy this smoothie and that you find something cool in this selection of links this week. Have a wonderful weekend and I’ll catch you back here again soon.

-This is the second week in a row that I’m plugging Rich Roll’s podcast, but I just really loved this episode with 22 Days Nutrition founder Marco Borges. A lot of people know 22 Days because of Beyonce, but Marco’s positive energy around living a healthy, plant-based lifestyle is SO infectious and palpable throughout this interview.

-Garance Doré’s site was one of the first that I followed religiously and I still love everything that she puts out. Her LA home tour on Domino is so dreamy.

-A deep dive on the ever-persistent mug cake phenomenon. “We’ve taken one of the most iconic foods that traditionally brings people together — whether to celebrate a birthday, a wedding, or just a random get-together — and turned it into a single-serving item to enjoy quickly and often alone.

-Yes, adaptogens like ashwaghanda are natural options for people looking to mitigate stress. They can also interact with pharmaceutical products that you may already be taking. Speaking from a place of guilt over older posts that contain items like adaptogens, I think influencers need to be a lot more careful about casually recommending these items. A quick disclaimer of “I’m not a doctor BUT…” is not enough.

-An excellent read about navigating sobriety and support systems within restaurant culture.

–Trader Joe’s is taking big steps to remove plastic from its stores. I love the accessibility aspect of TJ’s. They have a lot of healthy plant-based food at great price points. The degree of packaging has always been a big issue for me though. It’s great when a business takes the opportunity for leadership.

–Six big trends out of Natural Products Expo West. Loving the proliferation of hemp products and plant-based everything dominating the industry.

-Recipes that are looking real good to me this week: Sunflower Seed Queso Dip , Lemon & Tomato Baked Potatoes, and this Vegan Chocolate Tart with Tahini and Caramel.

–Does the world really need organic Slurpees? This seems well-intentioned on the surface, but there are undercurrents of diet culture here. What’s the point of dedicating significant real estate of a convenience store to healthier options when they aren’t affordable for the people that are actually shopping there? For more on diet culture, click here.

-Next up on my reading list: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World + Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. Sensing a theme? ;)

Spiced Strawberry & Goji Berry Smoothie

Spiced strawberry and goji berry smoothie is a healthy, naturally vegan breakfast that's also filling and super flavourful.

5 from 9 votes

Print Recipe

Prep Time: 5 minutes mins

Total Time: 5 minutes mins

Servings 1

Ingredients

• 1 cup non-dairy milk
• 1 cup strawberries, stems removed
• 1 ripe banana, preferably frozen
• 1 tablespoon goji berries, soaked in water until plump
• 1 tablespoon almond butter
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, (optional)
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 pitted Medjool date (optional)
• squeeze fresh lemon juice
• pinch sea salt

Equipment

• Blender

Notes

• Tahini and coconut butter are both delicious in place of the almond butter if you have a nut allergy (or you just want to change things up).
• I like to soak the goji berries ahead of time because you really do get a bit more flavour from the extra step. Plus, they tend to make the texture of the smoothie even creamier. You can keep a jar of soaked goji berries, submerged in water, in your refrigerator for up to a week.
• My favourite vegan protein powder right now is called Epic Protein by Sprout Living. I find it isn’t nearly as sweet as most of the other options on the market. It doesn’t have any weird gums, “natural flavours,” or additives. Plus the texture blends up nice and smooth–not at all chalky. My 20% discount code for their entire store is: thefirstmess

Instructions

• In an upright blender, combine the non-dairy milk, strawberries, banana, goji berries, almond butter, protein powder, cinnamon, ginger, pitted date, lemon juice, and salt. Slowly bring the blender’s speed up to high. Blend until completely smooth. Enjoy the spiced strawberry and goji berry smoothie immediately!

Author: Laura Wright

Course: Beverage, Breakfast, Drinks, Snack

Cuisine: Dairy-free, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Plant-Based, Sugar-Free, Vegan

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword: almond butter, banana, cinnamon, ginger, goji berries, lemon, medjool dates, non-dairy milk, strawberry, vanilla, vegan protein powder