Purple Punch Antioxidant Elixir

I've been loving the Acai and Maqui Berry recipes we've been making lately, like the Breakfast Bowl I already wrote a blog entry on, so I thought let's try and make a little something of my own using these guys.  I wanted to make an anti-oxidant, free-radical butt-kicking, powerhouse of a beverage.  Given the reputed age-defying properties of many antioxidant containing fruits and considering how many I squeezed into this one beverage, I decided it was more fitting to call it an Elixir.  ;-)

e·lix·ir

[ih-lik-ser] noun

Also called elixir of life. an alchemical preparation formerly believed to be capable of prolonging life. 

Purple Punch Antioxidant Elixir

The official name is the Purple Punch Antioxidant Elixir.  (Although, admittedly, it is very smoothie-like in its consistency and flavor) 

As mentioned, I figured why go for just the Acai and Maqui Berry, so I tried adding in a few other fruits that seemed like they would all go well together, like Blueberries, Mulberries and Pomegranate.  Here's the ingredient line-up:

• 1 frozen Banana
• 1 cup frozen Blueberries
• 1 cup Chia Gel
• ¼ cup Mulberries (½ cup is even better!)
• 2 tbsp Acai Powder
• 1 tbsp Maqui Powder
• 1 tbsp Pomegranate Powder
• 2 cup Coconut Water
• 1 tsp Coconut Palm Sugar (optional)
• 2 Dr. Mercola Purple Defense Capsules (Just pry apart capsules and add in powder)

To make the Chia gel, just had ¼ cup Chia Seed to 1 cup of Coconut Water.  Let it sit for 20 mins, stirring occasionally, while the Chia Seeds absorb the liquid.  It looks a little gross when it's done, but it gives the drink a nice consistency and a refreshing zeal to it, in my opinion.  That, and Chia Seed is good for you!

The Dr. Mercola Purple Defense is a Resveratrol supplement.  Each capsule contains as much Resveratrol as 39 glasses of wine.  Resveratrol seems to get the anti-aging reputation more so than most other antioxidants, which might be because it seems to have the most scientific research backing up that claim.

Mulberries, on top of being delicious, are also pretty high in Resveratrol.

Also, an exciting piece of news for the Thomas household - we have a new blender!  Yep, doesn't take much to get us excited around here, I guess.  We got a new Professional Series Vitamix and it's pretty nice.  Self-cleaning and could probably blend granite, if we put some in there.

Our Fancy New Vitamix Blender

Throw all the ingredients above into your blender and go!  You should end up with a purply looking concoction that amounts to about 2 servings.

I haven't tried yet, but this might also go well with a full tablespoon of the Pomegranate powder, without getting too tangy.  Also, 2 tablespoons of Maqui would probably taste awfully good, but I stuck with 1 tablespoon because the Maqui Berry powder is pretty expensive.

Rebecca helped me with these pictures again.  You can probably guess which one I took, right?  Yes, it was the blender one.  Although, I think I'm on to her secrets now and can probably learn something and start taking my own. 

Purple Punch Antioxidant Elixir

Purple Punch Antioxidant Elixir