Tastes-Like-Ice-Cream Kale (the Holy Grail of Kale) and a Blender Girl Cookbook #Giveaway

by Dorothy Reinhold on April 7, 2014


Print This Post Print This Post Tastes-Like-Ice-Cream Kale / www.ShockinglyDelicious.com

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.

Tess Masters making Tastes-Like-Ice-Cream Kale / www.ShockinglyDelicious.comPhooey!

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 / www.ShockinglyDelicious.comOlive Tapenade   

Incredible Edible Edamame Dip / www.ShockinglyDelicious.comIncredible Edible Edamame Dip

Creamy and Crunchy Spuds / www.ShockinglyDelicious.comCreamy and Crunchy Spuds

Mental for Lentils / www.ShockinglyDeliicous.comMental for Lentils (my favorite!) 

Glowing Greek SaladGlowing Greek Salad

Chocolate Truffles / www.ShockinglyDelicious.comChocolate 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

  1. 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 sourceThe Blender Girl Cookbook on Shockingly Delicious

“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 5 stars:  ★★★★★ 

Cookbook Giveaway!

Tastes-Like-Ice-Cream Kale / www.ShockinglyDelicious.com

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. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: Melissa’s Produce provided a copy of the book for me, and a copy of the book for the giveaway.

{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }

Mary April 9, 2014 at 9:24 am

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.

Reply

Jill April 9, 2014 at 7:56 am

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)!!

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Becca F April 8, 2014 at 10:19 pm

I love kale, almond milk, frozen banana, a splash of vanilla flavoring and some cinnamon

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ilona t April 8, 2014 at 7:32 pm

strawberries and bananas!

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theresa krier April 8, 2014 at 5:40 pm

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

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Candice April 8, 2014 at 12:07 pm

My favorite smoothie includes kale, spinach, and blueberries.

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Cathy | She Paused 4 Thought April 8, 2014 at 11:51 am

Definitely going to try this one.

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Dana Law April 8, 2014 at 10:57 am

I love smoothies using my Vitamix.

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Miss Linda April 8, 2014 at 9:41 am

Yum!!!!! Here’s to your good health!!

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Liz April 8, 2014 at 8:29 am

Many, but I’ll say blue berries and bananas.

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Ivy April 8, 2014 at 8:03 am

I love almond butter in my smoothies! It makes me feel full longer and adds some protein.

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Terrilea April 8, 2014 at 7:54 am

mango, orange, pineapple, and spinach with all smoothies!

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Felice/All That's Left Are The Crumbs April 7, 2014 at 6:14 pm

My favorites smoothies usually involve bananas and acai, but I’d love to start incorporating more vegetables.

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Diana Lundin April 7, 2014 at 5:47 pm

Pineapple, kale and carrots are in my favorite homemade juice!

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Kelster April 7, 2014 at 5:31 pm

Frozen bananas, mangoes and strawberries.

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SeattleDee April 7, 2014 at 5:25 pm

My fave blends bananas, blueberries and mango — but then again I haven’t tried kale or spinach yet.

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Kelly @ TastingPage April 7, 2014 at 4:41 pm

I’m so intrigued by the tastes like ice cream kale – I love them both so I’m pretty sure I can’t lose!

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cathy April 7, 2014 at 4:36 pm

that cool green kale smoothie is so neat!

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Alice // Hip Foodie Mom April 7, 2014 at 4:34 pm

in my fave smoothie? kale, spinach and berries!

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Roz April 7, 2014 at 4:32 pm

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

Reply

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