Do you ever go to the grocery store and find inspiration for a recipe based on ingredients you notice? Perhaps inspiration strikes when you visit a farmer’s market, which only has certain produce items available. You may think of something, but the result scares you a bit. We understand not wanting to waste food, but sometimes beautiful recipes happen when you experiment.

That is exactly how we feel about the powerful pear smoothie. It combines the sweet, earthy flavor of pear with creamy homemade almond milk and spicy cinnamon. The raw almond butter also adds a nutty element to this flavor, in addition to providing healthy fats and protein. We encourage you to add a sprinkle of sea salt, an optional ingredient, to play off the almond butter flavor. Think of this like sea salt and caramel or sea salt and chocolate. These pairings just go well together!

Don’t worry about this smoothie not being sweet, though. You have the natural sugars from the pear, banana, and maple syrup. You can always try the smoothie before adding the maple syrup to the blender to see if that extra sweetness is necessary. It’s possible that you’ll enjoy the flavor combinations of the other ingredients. Just remember to save the almond pulp after you make the almond milk because you can use it in a couple different raw vegan recipes. It works great as a binder in raw vegan desserts or energy bites!