Chocolate Brain Smoothie

This smoothie contains a handful of ingredients that can help boost brain power! So let's try it!

2/3 c. blueberries

1/2 c baby spinach

1/3 banana

1/3 c. cucumber

handful of red grapes

1/4 chia seeds

splash of almond milk

sprinkle of cinnamon

dark chocolate (optional)

For the grapes, I used 13 and I wanted to use hemp seeds but since those were unavailable I went with my next option, chia seeds, which are extremely beneficial by the way. An article on the Health Benefits of Chia Seeds says that "they are an excellent source of Omega-3 fatty acids."

The color of my smoothie wasn't as blue as I would've liked it to be for a blueberry smoothie, but it tasted good and I wanted to drink the whole thing right away. However, to experiment further, I decided to try adding some chocolate. That being said, I put in hardly any; I actually counted out 12 chocolate chips. In addition to making the color a little darker after blending, it had the slightest flavor of chocolate which was pretty perfect. Next time I'd mix in the chocolate chips with the whole batch as opposed to adding them after it was blended because some little chunks were left over when I was finished. (Not that that was a problem anyway, but still.)

Dark chocolate could also be considered a good brain food. In the post 9 Brain Boosting Benefits of Dark Chocolate, dark chocolate can increase blood flow to the brain and (of course) relieve stress, among many other points.

I chilled my smoothie before I drank it, but not before I took a picture of it! I truly liked the way this one turned out and I'd definitely make it again, perhaps with a few minor modifications.

~ Olivia