I did a lot of traveling this summer with my family. It was a great, full summer and I’m so ready to hunker down for the start of the school year. When traveling, I don’t always have my usual foods available, so I’m often changing up my eating routine and finding new temporary routines while I’m away. Now that I’m back, I’m enjoying reuniting with my favorite smoothie that I have just about every morning. I love how it provides a natural energy boost at the start of my day, and it’s a great way to get all the nutritional benefits that blackstrap molasses has to offer—not to mention all the other goodness contained in this smoothie.
Eating a mostly vegan diet, I had been researching natural non-dairy sources of calcium and discovered the wonderful world of blackstrap molasses. The particular brand that I use (pictured below) has 20% DV calcium and 25% DV iron—per one tablespoon! Talk about a nutritional powerhouse. And 9% DV potassium, 9g low-glycemic sugars, and just 50 calories. Determined to give it a try, I thought, OK it’s great for you, but… how the heck am I going to make molasses palatable?
Inspired by this Oh She Glows molasses smoothie (great blog to follow, by the way), I honed my own molasses smoothie recipe over the past year or so. Adding chia ups the iron content, and I also throw in hemp seeds and flax for more superfood power. If you use a fortified nut milk, it adds even more calcium. And this recipe has 2T blackstrap molasses, so you get double all the nutritional molasses greatness above! Mainly, a bunch of calcium and iron and a good hit of protein and potassium.
It’s important to note that regular molasses is not the same as blackstrap molasses—blackstrap has far greater nutritional benefit—and the nutritional content may vary depending on blackstrap molasses brand.
This recipe is also very flexible! Adjust quantities of all to taste and consistency desired. I’ve tried many variations but ultimately this is my favorite version. Let me know how you like it in the comments below!
1 1/2 C water
1/2 C favorite unsweetened nut milk
2 ice cubes
1 frozen banana
2T unsulphured blackstrap molasses
2 T chia seeds
1 T hulled hemp seeds
1 T golden flax seed meal
1/2 T pure vanilla extract
Blend all in a high-speed blender and enjoy immediately! Makes one large or two medium servings.