Miso & Date ‘Salted Caramel’ Smoothie (Vegan, Dairy-Free)

How do you transform guilt-ridden salted caramel into something amazing for your health and skin?

You make a Salted Caramel smoothie with miso and dates instead!

DRINK THIS WHEN . . .

You are craving a sweet treat right now, but really want to:

• keep your skin clear from acne

• stay free from wrinkles for as long as possible
  

YOUR SKIN WILL LOVE THIS RECIPE BECAUSE . . .

This Miso & Date ‘Salted Caramel’ Smoothie is much richer in antioxidants compared to things like chocolate, ice-cream and even banana-based salted caramel smoothie recipes.

YOU WILL LOVE THIS RECIPE BECAUSE . . .

It’s sweet, creamy and quick to make!

I always have frozen mango in the freezer, date paste and miso in the fridge, and oats (or nuts) in the pantry. So this smoothie is always an available quick treat.

It’s also sweetened by dates, which are much, much healthier than refined sugar.

HOW MUCH EFFORT IS INVOLVED?

Hardly any! For the creamiest results use soft date paste instead of hard dried dates (unless you have a super strong blender) and pre-soak the rolled oats. Or swap the oats for nuts instead.

RECIPE SHORTCUTS

If you don’t have date paste, then soak the dates in very hot water first. For at least 10 min but the longer, the better.

If you can’t soak the rolled oats first, then substitute them for nuts. I like walnuts as they have the most antioxidants.

Are you worried about gaining weight with nuts? Then try this post: Plant-Based Perks: Weight-Loss Made Easy

ARE THERE SPECIAL INGREDIENTS OR EQUIPMENT?

Not really. All you need is a bullet blender, and some pre-soaked ingredients:

• Date paste (requires soaking overnight)*

• Rolled oats (for best results, also soak for 1hr+)
  

THE BEAUTY INGREDIENTS

While this is a very simple recipe, there is still a lot of ways your skin and health can benefit.

DATE PASTE 

Did you know that date sugar is the healthiest sweetener? (1). It’s because of all the antioxidants, which come from whole dates being ground up into sugar-like granules. 

While we aren’t using date sugar here, date paste is basically the same thing: whole dates blitzed into a smooth, antioxidant-rich paste!

This also means that all the fibre and nutrients are kept, ready for your skin and body to take advantage. Even better, your blood sugar level won’t shoot up as quickly thanks to those extra nutrients (2). 

You can find my recipe for DATE PASTE here. It takes about 5 min in total, with overnight soaking in between (my apologies if you wanted to try this smoothie right now!).

Are you too time-poor or just lazy to make date paste? You can buy date syrup or maple syrup instead, although I don’t think they will be as helpful for your skin.

MANGO

Banana is commonly used in smoothies, however mango is my preferred source of sweetness thanks to its antioxidants. While bananas have an antioxidant score of 27, mango has more than three times that amount with a score of 108! (3).

BEAUTY BONUS: Eating lots of antioxidants can also help prevent sun spots/age spots (4).

MISO

Unlike regular salt, miso doesn’t lead to increased blood pressure (5,6). Why should a skincare lover care about blood pressure? Well, healthy blood flow is important for…you guessed it, good health. And good health is important for good skin.

Does that sound like a cop-out? Let’s get into more detail. Poor blood flow is specifically linked to signs of skin ageing (7). 

MISO VS SALT: TASTE 

Miso tastes significantly different to salt, because of the fermented soy beans added in. That said, it’s famous for adding that special umami flavour to dishes, which really doesn’t have an English translation. It’s just one of those things that you have to try for yourself.  

As it tastes so different from plain salt, it’s not a good idea to use a straight 1:1 substitution when adding miso to recipes. However, considering how great miso is for your health, it’s worth a sample.

Start small to begin with. When I began using miso I was too liberal with it and ended up ruining multiple dinner recipes with a strong miso flavour overwhelming the other ingredients. 

WHAT KIND OF MISO SHOULD I BUY?

If you are new to miso, then welcome! You are about to make a terrific choice for your health. In terms of flavour, try white miso to start with as it has a more mellow flavour. Red miso has more salt but also a stronger flavour. Try to avoid it as a beginner until you know how miso works best in your individual diet. 

If you live near an Asian grocer then fantastic! Head over and you might find a more authentic brand to fall in love with. It will probably be cheaper too.

If you don’t live near a specialty Asian store, then you might find miso at your local yet large grocery store in the refrigerated section. I tend to see them where the tofu or vegan foods are kept. 

BONUS: Miso lasts a long time in the fridge. Mine is technically past it’s use-by date for a few months now but it’s still going-strong!
 

WHAT KIND OF DATES SHOULD I BUY?

I have seen several popular recipes ask you to use Medjool dates. I’m not going to and here’s why.

Medjool dates are expensive. Sure, they are sweet but so are other dates. At the end of the day you are simply going to pulverize these expensive dates into a drink. Will the taste of medjools be far superior to the cheap ‘no name’ dates? No. I have never noticed a significant difference.

Instead I like to save my money for something like better quality matcha, where you really can see and taste and feel a big difference between cheap, low-quality matcha and expensive matcha. 

If you really want to know what the superior date is, then I would recommend the Hallawi date. These amber-coloured dates have a higher antioxidant power than Medjool dates (8).

WHY I DIDN’T INCLUDE CALORIES

I don’t add calories to my recipes because when you eat a wholefood, plant-based diet, calorie counting is a waste of time. You simply don’t need to do it.  I have designed all the recipes at She Eats Lovely! to be weight-loss friendly.

References

1. Video: The Healthiest Sweetener at NutritionFacts.org
2. Rock, W., Rosenblat, M., Borochov-Neori, H., Volkova, N., Judeinstein, S., Elias, M., & Aviram, M. (2009). Effects of date ( Phoenix dactylifera L., Medjool or Hallawi Variety) consumption by healthy subjects on serum glucose and lipid levels and on serum oxidative status: a pilot study. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 57(17), 8010–8017. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf901559a
3. Carlsen MH, Halvorsen BL, Holte K, Bøhn SK, Dragland S, Sampson L, Willey C, Senoo H, Umezono Y, Sanada C, Barikmo I, Berhe N, Willett WC, Phillips KM, Jacobs DR Jr, Blomhoff R. The total antioxidant content of more than 3100 foods, beverages, spices, herbs and supplements used worldwide. Nutr J. 2010 Jan 22;9:3.
4. Greger, M. How Not to Die. Pan Books.
5. Video: Is Miso Healthy? At NutritionFacts.org 
6. Kanda A, Hoshiyama Y, Kawaguchi T. Association of lifestyle parameters with the prevention of hypertension in elderly Japanese men and women: a four-year follow-up of normotensive subjects. Asia Pac J Public Health. 1999;11(2):77-81.
7. Purba MB, Kouris-Blazos A, Wattanapenpaiboon N, et al. Skin wrinkling: can food make a difference?. J Am Coll Nutr. 2001;20(1):71-80. doi:10.1080/07315724.2001.10719017.
8. Rock, W., Rosenblat, M., Borochov-Neori, H., Volkova, N., Judeinstein, S., Elias, M., & Aviram, M. (2009). Effects of date ( Phoenix dactylifera L., Medjool or Hallawi Variety) consumption by healthy subjects on serum glucose and lipid levels and on serum oxidative status: a pilot study. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 57(17), 8010–8017. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf901559a