Welcome back to Meatless Monday! Join Annmarie and me every week as we post some of our favorite meatless recipes to share with you. Link your own meatless recipes at the bottom of this post!
Just because marathon training is over and it’s the month of birthdays and Thanksgiving in my house does not give me free reign to eat whatever I want, whenever I want. I’m in maintenance mode right now. I want to maintain my fitness level and continue to eat good, nutritious things. I mentioned last Thursday that I’ll be taking part in the Health Up Your Holidays challenge. I hope you’ll join me by making a healthful change this holiday season!
This post is sponsored by Designer Protein through my affiliation with Sweat Pink and Fit Approach. All opinions, reviews, and recipes are my own.
One way I plan on staying on track throughout the holiday season is to continue with my post-workout smoothie, packed with vitamins and minerals — and protein to boot. I prefer plant-based protein. I’m lactose intolerant and I have an auto-immune inflammatory disease — which means I try to stay away from dairy as much as I can. Luckily, there are things I can do to calm the inflammation if for any reason I have consumed a trigger food, for example, cooking with cannabis, but I do my best to avoid them altogether. The casein in milk-based protein powders seems to set it off the most. I’m a sucker for Greek vanilla yogurt, though, and I do use it to sweeten almost all of my smoothies.
After each workout, I make myself an eco-friendly smoothie — meaning I use fruits and vegetables that are plentiful in my area for that particular season. Since we’re entering winter now and almost all the good fruits and veggies have long been grown and picked, I’ll be relying a lot on frozen and citrus fruits going forward. One of my favorite smoothies incorporates frozen blueberries, anti-inflammatory tart cherry juice, and plant-based protein from Designer Protein. I’ve been particularly inflamed lately — the tart cherry juice really helps to calm things down. It’s delicious, it’s easy, and it hits all the nutritional points necessary for my post-run replenishment. Try it!
Berry Cherry Anti-Inflammatory Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 banana, peeled and sliced
- 1/3 C frozen blueberries
- 3/4 C tart cherry juice
- 1 level scoop unflavored Sunshine Protein powder
- 1/3 C vanilla Greek yogurt
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a single serve blender cup. Pulse until well combined and smooth.
I’m a big proponent of plant-based protein powders. Since making the switch from milk-based protein, I’ve felt better than before. Add in the anti-inflammatory tart cherry juice and it tastes great and works well, too.
xo
TALK TO ME!
Do you use anti-inflammatory ingredients in your recipes?
What’s your favorite “base” for a smoothie?

Linking up with Confessions of a Mother Runner and A Whisk and Two Wands for Meatless Monday, and Marathons and Motivation for Fitness & Food.
40 Comments
Love using cherry juice in smoothies! That reminds me, I need to get more, actually
Me too! I can’t believe I’ve been without it for so long!
With a delicious smoothie like that I’m sure you will easily be able to maintain!
I hope so… I can’t get suckered in to all the pies and chocolates and cookies… gah!
Yum! this looks so delicious, thanks for hosting 🙂
Thank you!
bananas are always my favorite base because they make smoothies so creamy, but i do love adding frozen cherries to my chocolate smoothies!
Try as I might, I can’t get on the chocolate smoothie bandwagon. I don’t know why because I love chocolate so much — but I feel like maybe I’m drinking dessert and it’s taboo. Hah!
I always start with bananas for the flavor and texture. Using cherry juice is a great idea! Thanks for hosting!
I start with bananas, too! They’re so easy to add to virtually any smoothie.
I keep forgetting about cherry juice!Thanks for linking up for meatless Monday today
I only recently discovered cherry juice but I have to say, I love it!
I don’t eat enough cherries! They look so good! Thanks for hosting.
Cherries, strawberries, blueberries… I love all types of berries!
This looks delicious! I haven’t made smoothies in ages…I’ve tried using protein powder but wasn’t sure I was using the right type. I’ll have try the tart cherry juice!
I’ve used a bunch of different ones and it’s all trial and error. So far I’ve only disliked one and it was one my husband purchased. Haha!
I love cherries!!! Thanks for sharing this recipe. I’ll be trying it soon.
Me too, they’re amazing!
Yummm. This is my kind of smoothie. Love the combo of blueberries and cherries!
It’s amazing!
LOVE cherry juice, especially in smoothies! I need to try that protein powder, too.
Thank you for hosting!
I love cherry juice, too. It’s so good straight up but even better in a smoothie!
This sounds soo good! Will definitely be joining this link up. Yum yum 🙂
Thanks! Glad you’re joining.
I didn’t know that cherry juice is good for inflammation- good to know!
Yes! SO good for inflammation.
I love smoothies like this – especially after a run. I have never tried Sunshine Protein Powder, but it sounds great!
I really enjoy it!
This sounds awesome… I love the tart cherry juice in there… usually I just do a shot glass of the concentrate in the evening after a workout.
Great idea!
This looks amzaing! I have never tried cherry juice, but will!
Cherry juice is amazing. I highly recommend it!
This sounds delicious! I miss cherries this time of year, so this is the perfect way to get them back into my life 🙂
Yes! Cherry juice is amazing. But not nearly as delicious as the real thing, of course.
I always love getting ideas to recover after a workout! Can’t wait to try this anti-inflammatory smoothie!
It’s so simple to make — I hope you like it!
YUM cherry in smoothies is SO good!
I love cherry juice. If I didn’t love it in smoothies so much, I’d drink it straight! (Who am I kidding. I do that, too.)
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