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I have two friends who shall remain unnamed (cough Ann and Denise) who both hate kale. They’ve never met a kale concoction they liked, no matter how hard I try to tempt them with ideas of this salad, this salad, this drink or this cheesy skillet dinner.
They don’t like the flavor, the texture or the aroma of kale. I’m guessing you have two of your own friends who feel the same way.
Phooey!
They’ve never had this green smoothie drink, which a room full of food lovers recently agreed was like deliciously sweet ice cream!
Tastes-Like-Ice-Cream Kale is the creation of Tess Masters, a vivacious Australian import of a blogger who has made a name – and a new cookbook! – for herself as “The Blender Girl.”
“Hello, my name is Tess, and I’m a blendaholic,” she begins, both in writing and in person. That’s pretty much all you need to know, as she whips up this creation in a high-speed blender powered by a motor that could give a Bugatti a run for its money.
She regaled a room full of food writers recently at Melissa’s Produce near downtown L.A., where she kicked off her book tour for “The Blender Girl: 100 Gluten-Free, Vegan Recipes,” (2014; Ten Speed Press; $19.99).
Although the star of the show was this smoothie – thick from cashews and bananas, verdant from kale, sweet from dates – we noshed on a bunch of her other recipes that also can be whipped up in a blender, including…
Olive Tapenade
Incredible Edible Edamame Dip
Creamy and Crunchy Spuds
Mental for Lentils (my favorite!)
Glowing Greek Salad
Chocolate Truffles
Get your hands on this book, because you’ll be cooking out of it all the rest of this year. Enter my giveaway, below, and you might get lucky!
And then fire up the blender for what she calls “The Holy Grail of Kale.”
Sweeeet!
Recipe: Tastes-Like-Ice-Cream Kale
Summary: This sweet green kale smoothie by The Blender Girl is fashioned after one served at SunCafe, a Los Angeles raw restaurant.
Ingredients
- ½ cup (120ml) water (or use coconut water)
- ½ teaspoon probiotic powder (optional)
- ½ cup (70g) unsalted cashews, soaked
- 1 cup (25g) torn curly green kale leaves (1 or 2 large leaves with stalk removed, ripped into small pieces), plus more to taste
- 2 ripe bananas, fresh or frozen
- ¼ cup (43g) chopped pitted dates, soaked, or 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup, plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups (250g) ice cubes (a bit less if using frozen bananas)
- ½ teaspoon minced ginger, plus more to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Put all of the ingredients into the blender in the order listed and puree for about a minute, until smooth and creamy. Tweak flavors to taste (you may like a bit more kale, sweetener or ginger).
Quick notes
With a conventional blender, you’ll get the smoothest consistency if you use maple syrup or chop the dates finely before adding them to the blender.
Recipe source
“The Blender Girl: 100 Gluten-Free, Vegan Recipes,” by Tess Masters (2014; Ten Speed Press; $19.99).
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Diet type: Vegan
Diet tags: Gluten free, Raw
Number of servings (yield): 2
Culinary tradition: USA (Nouveau)
My rating
Cookbook Giveaway!
Want to win a copy of “The Blender Girl” cookbook? You’ll be the first among your friends to have it!
- Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below, and good luck!
- Deadline: Contest ends April 16, 2014.
- Sweepstakes open only to U.S. residents 18 and over, with mailing addresses in the U.S. (I will be mailing the winner a copy of the book).
- Read the legal fine print here.
Disclosure: Melissa’s Produce provided a copy of the book for me, and a copy of the book for the giveaway.
Welcome to my kitchen, where the oven is always on, and the fridge is packed with delectables! 
Alright, I admit, you got me with the idea that kale can taste like ice cream. That makes me smile! I’ll have to give this a go to see, because I do love ice cream! Thanks for the recipe.
Debi,
This version is SERIOUSLY good!
I love to put spinach, frozen berries and apples in my smoothies.
Great recipes. Hope I get the book
i like blueberries,strawberry, banana and greek yogurt with a touch of honey.
I love to make smooth soups in the blender. I love the lentil photo and would love the recipe. This cookbook looks like a treasure trove of great recipes. What a great giveaway.
i love a smoothie with mango and pineapple in it
My favorite smoothie has blueberries in it!
That olive tapenade is right up my alley
Michelle,
I could not stop eating the olive tapenade!
I made a kale smoothie from an Eating Well recipe and was very pleasantly surprised! Ingredients contained orange juice, kale, banana, ice and maybe greek yogurt. I love Shockingly Delicious and would love to learn to make different kinds of smoothies – yum!
Love to use spinach in my morning smoothies. Can’t wait to try them with some kale!! Thx for the recipe!
frozen bananas are a must then get creative (and maybe a bit sneaky)
Smoothies are tough for me because I hate bananas, and that’s always the thickener. But my all time fave is almond milk, blueberries, sunflower butter, dates and a little ice. It’s a meal, and I could have it three times a day!
My favorite smoothie is mixed berries, rainbow swiss chard or kale, toasted coconut Califia almond milk, sometimes a protein powder, and some ice cubes. All in my Vitamix and then in my belly
I have recently received a Vitamix blender. OMG, making ice-cream in that thing is amazing, as well as blending and making soups. I make smoothies all the time, and every time, it’s a mishmash of whatever I can dig up, plus lots of spices. To me, making a smoothie for me or anyone else that’s picky, is such a great way to hide healthy things. Kale is so tough, that blending it in smoothies makes it the only way I want to eat it.
Gotta add Pineapple or we are all doomed !! Besides that it is great.
Strawberry mango and bananas yum
Oh man. I’m smoothie challenged. I used to make one for breakfast every morning for years, and got away from it. But I’m a sucker for strawberries. So I’d have to go with that
I love this! I am a huge fan of kale, however my other half runs away at the mere mention! He does love my banana, almond milk, spinach smoothie, so maybe I can turn the tides with adding a kale smoothie to the mix.
My favorite smoothie (at least of this moment!): black cherry yogurt, fresh whole (frozen) cranberries, and vanilla unsweetened almond milk (OR cherry pomegranate crystal light)!!
I love kale, almond milk, frozen banana, a splash of vanilla flavoring and some cinnamon
strawberries and bananas!
my favorite smoothie is greek yogurt, fresh peaches, coconut milk, & blueberries. thanks for the chance to win, i love cookbooks, they are the main source of my reading material
My favorite smoothie includes kale, spinach, and blueberries.
Definitely going to try this one.
I love smoothies using my Vitamix.
Yum!!!!! Here’s to your good health!!
Many, but I’ll say blue berries and bananas.
I love almond butter in my smoothies! It makes me feel full longer and adds some protein.
mango, orange, pineapple, and spinach with all smoothies!
My favorites smoothies usually involve bananas and acai, but I’d love to start incorporating more vegetables.
Pineapple, kale and carrots are in my favorite homemade juice!
Frozen bananas, mangoes and strawberries.
My fave blends bananas, blueberries and mango — but then again I haven’t tried kale or spinach yet.
I’m so intrigued by the tastes like ice cream kale – I love them both so I’m pretty sure I can’t lose!
that cool green kale smoothie is so neat!
in my fave smoothie? kale, spinach and berries!
My favorite ingredient in smoothies is PINEAPPLE! great giveaway! come on over if you can and see if you’re interested in my giveaway too! thx for this opportunity for a great cookbook about something that I need to learn more about!
Roz