Your Next Recipe Assignment: The Summer Beauty Smoothie!

  I hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend! My hubby John and I celebrated by taking a spontaneous road trip to Scotland (just a few hours drive from London, where we are working right now) — and it was a blast! I feel refreshed from the green hills and breathtaking sunsets, as I’ve been working long hours with clients’ foods/needs… and also editing the third Beauty Detox book!  It’s quite fitting that I’ve been editing it and writing some new sections around the world, and pulling inspiration from the world, and this one might be the most inspired one yet. :) I’ve been keeping it pretty close to my heart, but I wanted to just share that with you here (the first time I’m mentioning publicly, besides one Instagram comment!). Stay tuned for more.  I’m super excited to share another recipe with you today, as the Beauty Detox Network and blogging program is flourishing beyond what we imagined — so much participation and excitement — and growing by the week!  I also want to let you know that we have a special webinar scheduled for THIS THURSDAY evening, 6pm PST/9pm EST — where I’ll be explaining more about the blogging program. If you’ve been sitting on the fence or have questions, there’s a good chance the discussion we’ll have on that webinar will answer them from you.

A Round of Applause for Last Week’s Participants…

Before we go into the recipe, I want congratulate everyone who participated in our Beauty Detox Blogger Recipe Assignment last week, which was my  Sweet Potato Beauty Detox Salad, sans egg and mayonnaise.  I really enjoyed seeing your creativity expressed in the different salad ideas this week, using the beauty foods in your own unique way. Truly beautiful!  I also appreciate you using the hashtag #beautydetoxrecipe (and sending them to our community manager Katelyn at beautydetoxgirl@gmail); I’m finishing up the last of the blog comments this afternoon and so if I haven’t personally commented on your recipe yet, it will be today! Let me also thank some of the recipes that really stood out for Katelyn and me (with the caveat that I loved ALL the recipes and it was tough to pick just four!) They are:  a. healthfulgoddess.com – Liz Shaw b. greenshushi.com – Nour Schoueri c. myquest4life.com – Paloma Uribe d. basicallydelish.com – Jill Judd Kornegay These all look so creamy and delicious, and I truly love avocado and sweet potatoes, so these pics make me want to dive right in! I ate my whole sweet potato recipe I tested last week by myself, before hubby even came home (sorry hub!).  When you see the blogs, I hope you realize that you can do it too — everyone started from the same position. And in fact, one of the things I’m going to discuss on Thursday’s webinar is how I first got started with blogging, despite not knowing anything about websites or technical about the internet.  So I really hope you join us Thursday! I think you’ll find this event informative and inspiring. And yesterday, I did a blog post where I answered a bunch of questions about how you can personalize the Beauty Detox way of eating so that it works perfectly for you. There is no one size fits all to a lifestyle and these tips will help you use the principles to better listen to your body and thrive…helping you in getting over any roadblocks, possible frustrations and confusion you may have. Sometimes you may need to eat more at lunch or sometimes you want to switch up your GGS…and you can and should customize all these things for YOUR body. Please check out this blog if you haven’t already, and let me know your thoughts.  Finally, when you post your recipe, be sure to use the #beautydetoxrecipe hashtag and link back to the original content/recipe here so we can find you and to be part of the network, and to keep that integrity! And then be sure to follow the guidelines in this graphic as well: Now for This Week’s Recipe Assignment! Da da da daaaaaa!!!   The Summer Beauty Smoothie We haven’t made a smoothie yet in our assignments, and I thought no better time than now, in the height of summer! “Beauty” in this case implies that this smoothie is beautifying, which it is, with all the vitamins and antioxidants from the fruits and ingredients. It also refers to the beauty in nature, as these foods really are beautiful when you look at them, whole and natural and so vibrant!      I like a little cinnamon in this smoothie, which I love with fruit. It’s a great warming spice. And I added a some maca powder. I like the nutty taste of maca, which contributes more vitamins, and can be helpful with balancing moods as well as women’s issues such as cramps and menstrual issues. But if you are pregnant or breast-feeding, please avoid it, and just leave it off the recipe! 

The Summer Beauty Smoothie

Yield: 2 cups, or 20 ounces

1 cup coconut water 1/2 cup blueberries 1 cup sliced peaches 1 Tbs. chopped mint 1 1/2 Tbs. lime juice 1 cup very ripe sliced banana (or about 1 medium banana, if you peel and freeze ripe bananas!) 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. maca powder    Blend all  ingredients together until smooth. Enjoy the fresh, simple taste of nature!    

Now It’s Your Turn!

I’m eager to see what YOU do with this smoothie recipe. Here are the next steps:  1) Try out this recipe on your own, with the ingredients that you have at home. You can follow it exactly, or you can substitute your own ingredients and put your own “spin” on it. There’s a lot of great summer ingredients to choose from, so become inspired by what you see, as I did for this base recipe (the mint is particularly amazing in London right now!). Either way, this process should get your creative juices flowing!   2) When you make your own version, be sure to write down the ingredients, take pictures and turn it into a post. Once your blog post is live, be sure you share it — while linking back to this post. 3) Be sure to also post your recipe post into the Private Facebook group and/or on our main Facebook page, so that we and others can see it. We’ll like or share or comment on all recipes that you send our way, to support you and show the community your amazing work.  4) Also, email the link to Katelyn, our community manager, at beautydetoxgirl (@) gmail dot com with a link to your post so she can keep track. 5) Share your post on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram — and be sure to hashtag #beautydetoxrecipe so that others can find it. That’s it! It might seem like a lot of steps, but it’s something that can be done in under an hour (not including making the actual recipe) — and it’s well worth the effort to part part of this movement and learning to blog. The bonus is that you get to make and create a beautiful new delicious smoothie! And put your creative energy into the universe.  I’m can’t wait to see what you come up with! And see you on the webinar tomorrow night, from here in London!!  Lots of love, Kimberly