Getting enough calcium into your diet – especially if you’re a woman – is hard enough as it is. If you’re dairy-free, the challenge multiples. When the holidays roll around and our calcium-rich leafy greens are a bit more few and far between, it’s essential to find ways to fit more of this super-powered mineral into our diets.
Our Body Book’s McKel Hill (also of Nutrition Stripped, one of our favorite foodie blogs – try her Stripped Green Smoothie!) has three delicious dairy-free recipes for the season: a smoothie that tastes just like gingerbread, a sweet tahini drizzle perfect for a dressing or dip, and a nut milk with one secret ingredient (spoiler: it’s figs). Try out McKel’s calcium-filled recipes this holiday season, then head on over to Our Body Book for more nutritious recipes for all palates and plates…
My Gingerbread Molasses Smoothie is not only delicious and tastes like a cookie in a glass, but contains 1-2 tablespoons of blackstrap molasses giving you a hefty serving of calcium. Also, this smoothie contains chia seeds, which not only contain calcium, but also give this smoothie fiber and protein making a good balance of the simple sugars found in the molasses.
The recipe for Sweet Tahini Drizzle is perfect to use as a salad dressing, a dip for fresh or roasted vegetables, or one of my personal favorites, stirred into quinoa or rice. It contains tahini as the main ingredient, which is sesame seeds! Sesame seeds contain calcium, healthy fats, protein, and a bit of fiber as well.
Gingerbread Molasses Smoothie
Ingredients
1 cup almond milk
1 frozen banana
1 fresh pear
1-2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses (adjust to your taste)
1 tablespoon chia seeds (soak in the almond milk for at least 20 minutes)
½ scoop Sunwarrior warrior blend vanilla protein (optional)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon fresh ginger root (adjust to your taste)
¼ teaspoon all spice
¼ teaspoon maple extract
handful of ice cubes, as needed
gluten free gingersnap cookies to garnish, optional
Directions
Soak the chia seeds in the almond milk for at least 20 minutes to allow them to absorb the liquid and become like a gel. Blend all ingredients except the garnish cookies, into a high speed blender until thick and creamy. Add ice in as needed to your desired texture. Garnish by crumbling gluten free gingersnap cookies on top with a dash of cinnamon. Enjoy!
Sweet Tahini Drizzle
Ingredients
3 tablespoons of tahini
3 tablespoons of filtered water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon coconut oil
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper (to taste)
juice of a fresh lemon
Directions
In a small mixing bowl combine tahini, maple syrup, ½ teaspoon of sea salt, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and water until thick and creamy.
After you try these two calcium-rich recipes, head on over to Our Body Book to check out McKel’s recipe for Fig Nut Milk by clicking here!
