Beyond Smoothies: How To Use A Blender For Vegan + Vegetarian Dishes
Put your blender to work by whipping up delicious, creative meals from vegan and gluten-free home chef and blogger Tess Masters.
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Your blender can do so much more with healthy produce than just churn out green smoothies. Put it to work whipping up delicious, creative meals from vegan and gluten-free home chef and blogger Tess Masters and her new book, The Perfect Blend: 100 Blender Recipes to Energize & Revitalize.
I have a blender that is the greatest tool for making delicious, beautiful, healthy food on the fly. While my blender recipes include a full repertoire of what you’d expect—smoothies, juices, and soups—they also go beyond puréed options you sip, glug, or scoop up with a spoon. The blended components for appetizers, salads, main dishes, and desserts help elevate fork-worthy foods. All of the recipes are super easy and can be made by time-strapped and novice cooks alike.
People often ask me for recipes geared to specific health outcomes—energy, immunity, detox, weight loss. So, for my new book, The Perfect Blend: 1oo Blender Recipes to Energize & Revitalize, I went with ingredients I love that help me stay in optimal health. Rather than serving up a comprehensive analysis of the nutritional properties and virtues of each of these hero foods, below I’ve shared a few top-line takeaways—practical information on their health benefits, and how to prepare, blend, and cook them for amazing textures and tastes. All my heroes boast more than one special power, and these powers often work in concert and offer multiple benefits—or even all the ones I’ve outlined. The chart serves as a guide for combining diverse, nutrient-dense foods to create a balanced, healthy diet.
While I do want you to eat well, I also want to inspire you to have fun with food. The recipes on these pages are functional and geared toward flexibility, with a list of optional ingredients so you can tailor each dish to your own tastes and requirements. Grab your blender and discover what makes your perfect blend.
See also The Natural Gourmet: Pitaya-Cherry Smoothie Bowl
Foods for Optimal Health
Almonds: energy, immunity, detox, weight loss, anti–inflammatory
Asparagus: energy, detox, anti–inflammatory
Avocados: energy, immunity, detox, weight loss, anti–inflammatory
Bell Peppers: immunity, anti–inflammatory
Bok Choy: detox, anti–inflammatory
Broccolini: energy, immunity, detox, weight loss, anti–inflammatory
Brussels Sprouts: immunity, detox, weight loss, anti–inflammatory
Cabbage: immunity, detox, weight loss, anti–inflammatory
Carrots: immunity, detox
Cauliflower: immunity, detox, weight loss, anti–inflammatory
Cayenne Pepper: immunity, detox, weight loss, anti–inflammatory
Celery: detox, anti–inflammatory
Cilantro: detox, anti-inflammatory
Collard Greens: immunity, detox, anti–inflammatory
Cucumbers: detox, anti–inflammatory
Garlic: immunity, detox, anti–inflammatory
Ginger: immunity, detox, weight loss, anti–inflammatory
Lemons and Limes: immunity, detox, weight loss, anti–inflammatory
Parsley: detox, anti-inflammatory
Sea Vegetables: immunity, detox, anti–inflammatory
Sesame Seeds: energy, anti-inflammatory
Sweet Potatoes: energy, immunity
Walnuts: energy, anti–inflammatory
Zucchinis: weight loss, anti–inflammatory
Get the Recipes
Gluten-Free Sesame Soba
Roasted Veggies with Lemon Tarragon Dressing
Haitian Heaven Soup
Mini Chocs
Recipes reprinted from THE PERFECT BLEND: 100 Blender Recipes to Energize and Revitalize Copyright © 2016 by Tess Masters Photographs copyright © 2016 by Anson Smart Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
