A zingy sweet and floral breakfast smoothie to wake you up in the morning. Packed full of nutrients, this raspberry cashew smoothie is almost guaranteed to put a spring in your step.
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New year, new me, new you, perhaps. Veganuary is a good time to explore plant milks. And what a coincidence, there’s a splendid new book out which will help you do just that. Read on for a review of Plant Milk Power by Dr Aparna Prinja & Shital Shah. You’ll also find a recipe for a delicious raspberry cashew nut milk smoothie.
Veganuary
For the second year running I’m taking the Veganuary challenge. I’m over a week in now and I’m loving it. This book along with the raspberry cashew smoothie has helped, but I just find it really exciting to come up with three meals a day that are entirely vegan. So far this year I’ve posted a recipe for roasted hazelnut bliss balls, but do watch out for some more substantial recipes further down the line.
You can find all of my Veganuary posts by clicking on the link. Most of them are recipes, but you might find these ideas for 31 healthy vegan breakfast recipes useful as well.
Plant Milk Power
Authors Dr Aparna Prinja and Shital Shah debunk the myth that plant milks are difficult to make. Their book, Plant Milk Power: delicious, nutritious and easy recipes to nourish your soul is stuffed with gorgeous recipes for easy and quick to make vegan milks and smoothies. There’s no need to strain or sieve anything. How fabulous is that?
From the title, I was expecting worthy recipes for conventional nut milks such as my hemp seed milk. But Plant Milk Power is actually a lot more interesting than that. The premise is that they are delicious drinks in their own right. Yes, you could add them to hot drinks or your cereal, but that’s not the real point of them.
I haven’t tried to use them this way as they are sweetened with dates and I prefer my conventional milks to be unsweetened.
As the subtitle suggests, the milks and smoothies are meant to be nourishing to both body and mind. So they taste good, look good and are healthy too. Dr Aparna Prinja is a professional nutritionist and Shital Shah runs a nutrition-based catering business. So I reckon their credentials for coming up with nutritious and tasty recipes are sound.
In Love with Plant-Based Milks
As well as recipes for various nut and seed milks, there are lots of what I’d call light smoothies. As you can see from the front cover, these are beautifully coloured and range from green to yellow to pink to purple. If you like green tea, I can highly recommend the matcha, chia and almond milk.
My matcha is a bit past its best, so the photo below is not as vibrantly green as it should be. But it was still a great way to start my day. I’d definitely call it a smoothie rather than a milk though. The chia seeds made it quite thick. For something similar, but different, I have my own version of a matcha, chia and almond milk smoothie.
The base recipes for the plant-based milks are interesting too. They not only include the usual suspects, but you’ll find pistachio milk, oat milk and sesame seed milk amongst other less obvious ones. As for the smoothies, you can go safe, as in this raspberry cashew smoothie. Or you can go wild. The baobab, cacao, almond, chia and sesame seed calcium punch has just got to be tried.
Walnut milk is my new favourite thing. I was expecting it to be a bit bitter, but not at all. It’s absolutely delectable. You can see a photo of one I made further down the post.
Ingredients
At the back of the book, you’ll find an ingredient section. This not only tells you about linseeds, for example and their health benefits, but also shows a photo so that you can easily identify them. Possible allergies and intolerances are not forgotten either.
Standard nuts and seeds are covered in the first section. Although oats are a grain, they have a place too. The second section covers ingredients that are used both for flavour and health. These include baobab, cardamom, maple syrup, moringa and saffron. The final section is all about fruit. These have also been chosen for their health benefits as well as their flavour.
Although some of the ingredients take a bit of effort to find, many of them are everyday ones that you can buy anywhere. Many of the recipes require nuts or seeds, dates and water only. Oh! Don’t forget that pinch of kelp, if you so desire. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read on.
Publisher Details
Plant Milk Power: delicious, nutritious and easy recipes to nourish your soul */ Dr Aparna Prinja & Shital Shah. Published by Meze Publishing in paperback with an RRP of £15. ISBN – 9781910863411.
If you like the sound of Plant Milk Power, head down to the bottom of the post where you’ll find the chance to win a copy.
What I Really Liked
I have to say I’m completely in love with this book. It’s just perfect for jumpstarting that healthy new year, whether or not you’re vegan or participating in Veganuary. Even if I get tempted by less healthy foods later in the day, I like a nutritious start. I also like my breakfasts to be interesting.
There are so many good ideas in Plant Milk Power that I feel completely inspired. I can’t wait to get going with almond, cacao, chicory and walnut milk. Sadly, I threw out my chicory powder when I was having a clear out a few months ago. I wasn’t using it so thought the compost heap needed it more than I did. Oops!
There are lots of good tips too. I’m already incorporating some of them into my morning smoothie. Iodine is one of the nutrients often lacking in plant based milks. It just so happens that kelp is full of it. So if you add a pinch to your morning milk or smoothie, it’s going to help.
When I remember, which isn’t very often, I take a kelp supplement. But I’d far rather add it to a smoothie than take it on its own. It doesn’t affect the taste, so that’s an added bonus as far as I’m concerned. I’m not a fan of the flavour.
Plus there are simple drink ideas to kickstart the day that are a lot healthier than coffee. As I may have mentioned, walnut milk is my new favourite drink. Every recipe sounds delicious and the photos are appealing. There are lots of pictures, so the book gets extra brownie points for that.
What Could Be Better
Really, there’s very little I can think of to improve Plant Milk Power. The main issue I have with the book is that it’s a paperback. I much prefer my cookery books to be hardbacks as I find paperbacks get tatty really quickly. Especially if they’re used as often as this one is likely to be.
The other niggle is that with my librarian’s hat on, I want and expect a recipe book to have an index. It makes it so much more useful. Whilst the book only has 43 recipes in it, it’s still quicker to go to an index to look for recipes with raspberries in, for example, than it is to trawl through the page of contents.
Plant Milk Top Tips
Overnight Soaking
You need to be organised. Every recipe requires overnight soaking of the nuts or seeds. I haven’t tried nearly as many of the recipes as I otherwise would have done as I keep forgetting to do this. Activating the nuts and seeds is key to these nourishing milks and smoothies.
Power Blender
You will need a power blender to make the plant milks in these recipes. An ordinary blender just won’t cut it. You need a machine that’s able to grind the nuts and seeds up finely enough to make a smooth milk.
As a Froothie ambassador, I have tried a number of power blenders. By far and away the best so far is the new glass-jugged Froothie Evolve*. I much prefer to blend in a glass jar as I’ve always been a bit wary of plastic. The Evolve is powerful and has a vacuum function so that the nutrients don’t oxidise. This makes your plant milks even more nutritious.
Having said that the Nutri Force* is a powerful little blender which is the perfect size for the milks and smoothies in Plant Milk Power.
Raspberry Cashew Smoothie
It’s a rare occurrence for me to buy fruit and veg out of season. But when I spotted some reduced raspberries recently, I couldn’t resist. Raspberry cashew nut milk smoothie was one of the recipes in the book after all. Gosh, I can’t wait until the raspberry season so I can guzzle this again. Plus there’s a couple of other raspberry recipes I’d like to try. The raspberry and tiger nut smoothie has my name written all over it.
As you can imagine the combination of raspberries and cashew nuts is a really good one. The cashew nuts make for a particularly creamy milk and the raspberries provide colour and punch. But the ingredient that got me particularly excited was the addition of rosewater.
As anyone who’s been following me for a while will know, I adore the combination of rose and raspberries. Initially I was tempted to use my rose syrup instead of rosewater. But I wanted to stay true to the recipe and not use refined sugar, so in the end I went with the ingredients as stated in the recipe.
These include lemon zest. What a lovely addition this is. And why haven’t I thought of using it before? It brings a bit of extra vibrancy as well as flavour. And lemon and raspberries are another good combination.
So, once you’ve soaked your cashews overnight, it’s just a case of whizzing everything up in a power blender. So simple and so quick.
Alternatively, you can add chia seeds and transform your raspberry cashew smoothie into a ‘Turkish Delight’ chia bowl.
Stay in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you get hold of Plant Milk Power or try this recipe for raspberry and cashew nut smoothie, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do share photos on your preferred social media site and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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If you’d like more smoothie recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious, of course.
Choclette x
Raspberry Cashew Smoothie. PIN IT.
Raspberry Cashew Smoothie – The Recipe
Raspberry Cashew Smoothie
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 cashew nuts (about 9g)
- 150 g fresh raspberries
- 2 dates
- 1 tsp rose water
- ½ organic lemon zested
- 1 pinch kelp powder
- 110 ml water
Instructions
- Soak the cashews in 60ml water overnight.6 cashew nuts
- In the morning, remove the cashews from the soaking water and place them in a power blender. Discard the water.
- Add the remaining ingredients and whizz until you get a smooth smoothie. I used the smoothie function on my Froothie Evolve, then gave it an extra minute at speed 7.150 g fresh raspberries, 2 dates, 1 tsp rose water, ½ organic lemon, 1 pinch kelp powder, 110 ml water
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
I’m sharing this healthy and delicious raspberry cashew smoothie with The Peachicks Bakery for #CookBlogShare.
Plant Milk Power Giveaway
Meze Publishing is offering one Tin and Thyme reader a copy of Plant Milk Power. To be in with a chance of winning, please fill in the Gleam widget below. You will need to leave a comment on this post, answering the question, which then gives you additional chances to enter if you so wish. Gleam will pick a winner at random from the entries received. If you are commenting anonymously, please give me some way of identifying you as I will be verifying the validity of entries. Any automated entries will be disqualified.
This giveaway is only open to those with a UK postal address. Winners will need to respond within 5 days of being contacted. Failure to do this may result in another winner being picked. Leaving your details gives permission for them to be passed on to Meze Publishing should you be a winner in this giveaway.
Prizes are offered and provided by Meze Publishing and Tin and Thyme accepts no responsibility for the acts or defaults of said third party. Tin and Thyme reserves the right to cancel or amend the giveaway and these terms and conditions without notice.
Closing date is Saturday 8 February 2020
Thanks to Meze Publishing for the copy of Plant Milk Power. They did not expect me to write a positive review and all opinions are, as always, my own. Thanks to my readers for supporting the brands and organisations that help to keep Tin and Thyme blithe and blogging.
Fiona jk42 says
I’m vegetarian and lactose-intolerant, so always use plant milks. I usually have soy milk with my porridge, and use coconut or almond when making milk-based smoothies or desserts. I’ve never made my own plant milks though, so would be interested to try.
Natalie Gillham says
My daughter has recently found out she is lactose intolerant so we are keen to find healthy alternatives to incorporate into our regular diets x
Orange23 says
The smoothie recipe sounds fab. I’m dairy intolerant so I’m always interested in trying new plant based milks
LaurenC says
Defo going to be trying this! I’m dairy free and trying to find a nice vegan smoothie I’ve found hard! Yummy 🙂
Sarah Mee says
I absolutely love the look of this, can’t wait to try it!
Megan says
I’m a vegan, so I love trying new plant milks.
Steven Beasley says
I would love to find out more and different alternatives to dairy.
Laura Green says
dairy makes me feel poorly so defo want to try these
Carole Nott says
Would love to find out more information about this subject – sounds very interesting
Sheena Read says
I am interested in plant based milks as I am looking for an alternative to dairy.
Samantha Jayne Brown says
im trying to find ways to help with my PCOS so we can try for a a baby and have heard this is actually really good
Kim W says
I’m allergic to dairy and I am not sure I like the taste of any other milks other than Alpro soya as soya bean is pretty strong. I’d like a few recipes to check out some other alternative milks for my medical diet.
Juli Savage says
Firstly I love the taste of plant based milk, but most important we are not taking away the milk from a animal that is meant for their baby
Lauren Old says
My main reason for drinking almond milk is that I’m dairy intolerant and I really like the taste
kirsty charleston says
Ive been vegetarian my whole life and this looks gorgeous i cant wait to get the ingredients to try it
natalie s says
for my health and for the planet and for animal welfare!
Liz T says
It looks great and I’m vegetarian. I do need to add more fruit into my diet so amything which encourages me would be good.
Adrian Bold says
My partner is vegan so this would be a good alternative for her.
Christina Wadeley says
I would like to try this type of product as I am always trying to find recipes and a way of life that is healthier than the one I am living at the moment.
Patricia Barrett says
I’m trying to cut down on animal products so these sound great.
Alice Dixon says
I actually just hate the taste of cows milk, always have, so I never used to drink any avoiding it in drinks on cereal etc but now there’s so many great alternatives out there I love trying them all. Also my son has a dairy allergy!
Choclette says
This book sounds absolutely perfect for you then Alice.
ADEINNE TONNER says
I love milk and i’m trying to get all my family eating healthy and more better than we have been eating in the past few years
Helena says
So much to discover – these smoothies look healthy, delicious and really nutritious!
Troy Easton says
Because its nice to try different types of milks as I have never had it before and do like cow milk but good for my nan as she is not drink as much as she use too.
Nick says
I love the combination of rose and raspberry and would like to try
Kim M says
Have never enjoyed milk, like the taste of plant milks better especially as a smoothie x
Dale Dow says
I think it would make my smoothies and shakes a lot healthier while making them more vegan
Sheri Darby says
My son is vegan and I would love to try some plant based milks for him
Sarah Heath says
My stepdaughter has just decided to become a vegan, so any ideas to help her get variety in her diet are a winner.
Rachel Livett says
I actually love trying new plant milks and experimenting in recipes, so far I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the results of switching from cows milk in recipes and baking!
Jo Nichol says
Because I suffer from IBS and think it may help soothe my symptoms
Sally says
They Sound lovely,am going to make one! Love smoothies
Sallyanne Rose says
I am trying to live a healthier lifestyle and reduce my consumption of meat and dairy
Kitty Sarah says
Lovely! Oat milk tastes sooo much better than all the other plant based milks in my opinion – richer and more ‘savoury’ than the others
Choclette says
Oat milk was my favourite until I discovered cashew milk. That’s now my go to.
Natasha Cross says
I am looking into becoming vegan, so would be great to try some plant milks
Nixxy says
Love a smoothie, especially raspberry.
Really easy to have after the gym.
Singh says
Scrumptious vegan recipes
Refreshing and healthy
Great fun to make
TIna H says
I’m interested in plant milk as I hate the taste of cows milk, and I’m vegetarian but leaning more towards vegan now.
Choclette says
Plant milks have improved so much over the last few years. They used to be really horrid. Now there’s quite a few I like.
Helen Thurston says
Have been using plant-based milks for a few years now – I do my own ‘quick n easy’ oat milk if I run out of shop bought. I really ought to look at making it more often as it’s not difficult (oats and water blitzed in a nutribullet and leave to settle, bottom layer gets added to porridge, top and middle layer get shaken up and used for coffee) Tastes far nicer than dairy, better for you, and far better for the cow.
Choclette says
I’m not sure why, but I’ve never tried to make oat milk. I really should give it a go.
Konlish says
I love plant based milks as no animals need to be harmed or exploited to get them. They are tasty and creamy.
sallie burrows says
must try some smoothies and try and make my own soups.must buy a blender
Choclette says
I use my blender all the time Sallie. Would be lost without it now.
Lyn Geddes says
I am interested I plant based milks but I have to admit to being in the dark as to which one is better for which recipe
Cathy @ Planet Veggie says
I have this book – your post has motivated me to dig it out and make something!
Choclette says
Ah, mine hasn’t been relegated to the bookshelves yet. I’ve been using it whenever I remember to soak the nuts first.
Richard Eldred Hawes says
I am trying to live a healthier lifestyle and reduce my consumption of meat
Choclette says
It can be tough changing your diet. Doing it in small stages seems like a sensible way to go. Good luck.
Michelle - Lost in Food says
Wow – this looks delicious. Whilst not doing Veganuary I am trying to ensure I get some meat free meals per week. This looks a great recipe as well to help kick start my kids for the dark winter mornings here is Scotland and I always buy loads of fresh berries in the summer to freeze so I can enjoy them all year. Thanks for sharing with #CookBlogShare. Michelle x
Choclette says
Loading up the freezer with berries when they are in season is a sound idea. I don’t really like eating them when they’re imported from half way around the world and they’re expensive out of season too.
Amanda Graham says
I am attempting Veganuary this year and definitely need some inspiration!
Choclette says
It’s a bit disconcerting to begin with, but I found once I’d cracked breakfast, the rest was quite easy. Oh! And found that almond butter was a good substitute for butter on toast with Marmite. You should find quite a few vegan recipes here on Tin and Thyme. And I wrote quite a bit about how I managed Veganuary on last January’s posts.
Clara says
I can’t drink cows milk so always interested in non-dairy recipes
Choclette says
Sounds like this book is just what you need then Clara.
Leslie says
This is the second time this year that I have heard of Veganuary. I’ve never heard of it until this year. Love the concept. This post had a lot of great info. I’m also dying to try that raspberry cashew smoothie!
Choclette says
Only the second time Leslie? It’s hard to escape it over here in the UK.
Solange says
They are rich in calcium and are found to help control cholesterol levels.
Jupiter Hadley says
These smoothies sound delicious! My partner is actually allergic to cashews, so we tend to avoid them – it’s a pain as a lot of vegan desserts and recipes call for them.
Choclette says
That is frustrating. Cashews are good because their flavour isn’t that obvious and they’re not as hard as other nuts, but you should be able to substitute other nuts for them in most vegan recipes. Unless he’s allergic to all nuts of course.
Geri Gregg says
I love trying new plant based recipes instead of milk. My latest switch was using almond and soya in my coffees
Choclette says
I’m not a fan of soya, but I’m loving all the nut milks available now.
Kimberley Harris says
I’m trying to reduce my consumption of animal products and these sound fantastic.
Choclette says
This lovely book should definitely help Kimberley. Even if it is dedicated to milks and smoothies, they are a great way to start your day.
Rosemary says
I love the combination of raspberry and rose too and have used it in a number of cakes and desserts – none of which are at all healthy! This book sounds inspirational and I will definitely be doing a bit more experimenting with plant-based milks. I love almond milk but, so far, that is about all I have used..
Choclette says
I’m not sure any of my rose and raspberry combinations can be described as healthy either – until this one anyway. I’m in danger of becoming a bit evangelical about this, but do try walnut milk. It’s so delicious – or at least the recipe I’ve tried from this book is.
Midge @ Peachicks' Bakery says
What a lovely recipe, sounds like a great one for veganuary too! Happy New Year & Thanks for sharing with #CookBlogShare
Choclette says
Thank you and Happy New Year to you too. It is indeed a lovely recipe, though i have to say my favourite so far is walnut milk.
Chloe Edges says
I know this isn’t the point but I absolutely love those bottles in your pic!!!
Choclette says
Hahaha. I was sent them a few years ago now – they contained coconut water and I had to review it. The bottles were a definite incentive.
Leanne says
I usually add vegan recipes to a few meals throughout the week. With all the plant based protein options, it’s never hard to make a filling meal! And since the start of January, I’ve been on a bit of a smoothie kick. It’s cold and snowy here, but I’ve been craving them every morning for breakfast. I’ll have to add this one to the list!
Choclette says
Sounds great. Since I did Veganuary last year, I’m trying to have at least one day a week that’s completely vegan. I find it’s hard to resist smoothies as good as this whatever the weather.
angiesrecipes says
Not a smoothie fan, but I do love cashews!
Choclette says
Just try walnut milk Angie – it’s so very good.
Bev Cannar says
I need the protein so any way of getting nuts into my diet is good !
Maike says
This smoothie recipe sounds wonderful and refreshing. I love raspberries in smoothies. Soaking the cashews overnight is a great tip, I’ll definitely do try that. Thank you for sharing.
Choclette says
Soaking the nuts overnight is a really good thing to do if you can get organised enough.