Design a Girl Scout Cookie-Inspired Smoothie Contest

It’s one of the most wonderful times of the year! No, we’re not talking about twinkling lights, adorned trees, and chestnuts on an open fire. It’s finally Girl Scout cookie season: the one time in the entire year when we can get our hands on the delicious and satisfying sugary goodness that comes in those little rectangular boxes, sold by our favorite Girl Scout cookie ambassadors. 

With this, Juice & Berry will be partnering with local Girl Scout troops to design a special smoothie, based on our Scouts’ favorite cookie flavors. 

The rules are simple! We’ve created a coloring sheet for each Girl Scout to use to design their special, cookie-inspired smoothie. With their artistic abilities, each Scout has free reign to color in their smoothie concept on the Juice & Berry smoothie cup, name their smoothie design, which cookie they took inspiration from, and the flavors or ingredients they may need to create their smoothie. Simply print out the coloring sheet, design away, and email it to meagan@juiceandberry.com or submit it via direct message to our Instagram or Facebook accounts. Any Girl Scout in the Chicagoland area will be eligible to submit their design. 

All of the submitted designs will be collected, and our wonderful local community will then vote on their favorite smoothie concept on Juice & Berry’s social media accounts and website based on creativity, novelty, tastiness, and ability to be recreated!

This next part is where Juice & Berry comes in. Our master Juiceristas will then take the winning smoothie design and bring it to life by creating it in our kitchen! This special, winning Girl Scout cookie smoothie will be featured on our menu for one weekend only, and the winning Girl Scout’s troop will receive 10% of the sales of that smoothie dedicated back to their troop so that the girls may continue to learn, grow, explore, and further develop their leadership skills.

As a small, partially woman-owned business, we feel it important to give back to organizations not only in our area but also to those that value woman advancement as well. We’re very excited to offer this opportunity to our local young girls, and we can’t wait to see what their young, creative minds conjure up!

Contest Eligibility: Any Girl Scout in the Chicagoland area may submit their design. All designs must be submitted and received by March 5, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. CST to be considered. No purchase is necessary to enter. Making a purchase will not increase your chances of winning.

Winner Selection & Notification: The odds of winning will vary based on amount of entries received and amount of voters. Votes will be tallied via Instagram, Facebook, and Email, and the winning designer will be notified via original submission method and as a social media post. Final prize amount will be dependent on total sales of said smoothie design during the promotional period. Entry in this contest and acceptance of a prize constitutes the entrant’s consent to Juice & Berry’s use of his/her name, likeness, voice, opinions, hometown, and state of residence and other indicia of persona for a contest, trade, or advertising purposes in any media without geographic or time limitation, and without additional payment or consideration. By entering this contest, the entrant grants Juice & Berry the right to use the entrant’s design in the formation of a smoothie drink.

Disclaimer: Juice and Berry does not own or claim to own the rights to the Girl Scout brand or likeliness.

Wellness Wednesday: February 24

PITAYA

With the introduction of our newest superfood smoothie, the Magic Dragon, it’s only fitting we feature the vibrant and equally delicious pitaya as our Wellness Wednesday ingredient!

Pitaya, sometimes referred to as dragon fruit or strawberry pear, is a sweet tasting, brightly colored tropical fruit that grows on cactus plants. Some pitaya fruit has a white colored fleshy interior, but the variety that we use in purée form comes from the red flesh variety. Although native to Central and South America, pitaya is now grown all over the world and loved my many across the globe. 

One of the most impressive benefits of the pitaya fruit is its high nutritional content. Pitaya is loaded with magnesium, which helps to regulate sodium, potassium, and calcium in the blood, aid in the breakdown of food for energy, promote the formation of your bones and DNA, and foster overall wellness through decreased anxiety, muscle relaxation, and healthy sleep. 

Additionally, the flesh of pitaya is incredibly high in fiber. One cup of pitaya packs in 7 grams of fiber, which is almost 30% of the RDI for women and nearly 20% of the RDI for men. Fiber plays an essential role in keeping our digestive system healthy, and studies have also suggested that ample fiber intake can help to prevent heart disease, manage diabetes, and promote a healthy body weight. 

One of the most important and unique aspects of pitaya is that is encourages healthy gut health by balancing good bacteria in your gut through its natural prebiotic content. These probiotics encourage growth of good biome in your gut, including lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria. 

Pitaya truly is a superfood fruit, and consuming it in all its glory can offer an impressive amount of health benefits to keep you feeling your best and living a fulfilling life! 

Make sure to try pitaya in the new, specially crafted Magic Dragon smoothie or our blended pitaya bowl—both equally delicious as they are good for your body!  

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New Smoothie: Magic Dragon

MAGIC DRAGON

A blend of coconut water, pitaya puree, elderberry, blackberries, raspberries, banana, and honey

As we start to incorporate more superfoods into our menu items, we’ve developed a brand new delicious, healing, and powerful smoothie for you all: the Magic Dragon. Packed to the brim with antioxidants like anthocyanin and flavonoids, this smoothie will give you an extra immunity boost, promote gut health with natural prebiotics, and help your body fight against chronic diseases.

What makes this smoothie particularly special is the brand new ingredients we use in the recipe: elderberry, pitaya and blackberries.

Elderberry is a powerhouse berry, and when used in a syrup, offers significant immune support while also combatting stress and inflammation in the body. 

Blackberries give this smoothie a tart, satisfying flavor while also supplying a considerable amount of antioxidants and vitamins. 

And finally, we’ve included pure, unsweetened pitaya purée, also known as dragon fruit, that we use in our pitaya bowls for that additional superfood addition.

This is definitely a concoction you have to try for yourself. The Magic Dragon is hand crafted using only the best, most nutritious and high quality ingredients, so it truly is a magical drink.

Wellness Wednesday: February 17

MATCHA

You may have indulged in a matcha latte recently as a part of the latest craze, but have you ever wondered where matcha comes from and what makes it a powerhouse plant? That’s why this Wellness Wednesday feature is matcha.

Matcha is very similar to green tea — it’s derived from Camellia sinensis plant, but it’s grown in a different manner. During a special growing process, the green tea plant is covered to increase chlorophyll production and amino acid content. After harvest, the plant is dried and ground up into a fine powder. This powder contains the entire tea leaf, which when prepared, offers a greater a mount of nutrients than simply brewing green tea leaves.

Matcha powder packs an impressive nutritional punch. It’s incredibly rich in antioxidants (even higher than pomegranates and blueberries!) and a diet high in antioxidants helps to fight against cell damage, aging, and free radicals, which are types of molecules that your body releases when breaking down food or after being exposed to harmful substances (like radiation or smoking). In simpler terms, the more antioxidants you consume, the better equipped your body is to fight against these harmful substances and cell aging. Reducing the amount of free radicals in the body plays a part in reducing the risk of various diseases, like heart disease and cancer. 

Keeping with the theme of ridding the body of toxins, matcha powder is also believed to improve liver function, preventing damage to both the liver and kidneys. 

Further, matcha is also considered to help promote healthy weight loss by enhancing metabolic function. One particular study found that consuming matcha, paired with moderate exercise, helped to increase fat burning by almost 20%. 

Or maybe you’re a chronic coffee drinker in need of a change. Matcha can help to improve your energy levels without the afternoon caffeine crash a morning coffee can bring on. The caffeine in matcha chemically combines with its natural properties (like the amino acid L-theanine) to not only give you that extra kick, but it won’t give you the jitters and actually promote a state of relaxation, wellness, concentration, and improved brain activity.

Although matcha might have a strong taste, you can easily add it into your protein shake, smoothie, or açaí bowl to cover the bitterness of the tea. We offer matcha in our Strawberry Banana protein shake to give you that extra boost throughout your day, and it’s completely masked by the other delicious flavors. You can also opt to add in matcha to your favorite menu item for an additional charge, just be sure to ask your friendly Juicerista! 

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Wellness Wednesday: February 10

GINGER ROOT

Every Wednesday, we’ll be highlighting a superfood ingredient that’s featured on our menu and explain the uses, origins, and benefits of said ingredient to help you understand just how amazing food can be.

This Wednesday, our feature ingredient is Ginger.

Ginger root—what we use in our fresh, cold-pressed juices—is derived from the flowering ginger plant, originating in Southeast Asia. It can be purchased and used in multiple forms: fresh, dried, powdered, or even in an oil.

While ginger is commonly used as an aromatic spice in the American home, it has been utilized in homeopathic medicine for thousands of years and is believed to have powerful healing properties that stem across a wide range of health issues.

When you first cut into a piece of ginger, you’ll notice it’s strong aroma. That aroma comes from gingerol—a bioactive compound that gives ginger its health properties. This compound is said to help reduce inflammation in the body, aid in the process of digestion, reduce nausea (even morning sickness!) and promote immune health, which is especially important during this winter seasoning when fighting the common cold and flu.

Studies have also suggested that ginger can help improve the symptoms of osteoarthritis, a condition that involves degeneration of the joints, leading to joint pain and stiffness. In one particular study, participants that consumed ginger everyday for a period between 3 to 12 weeks, reported a significant reduction in pain.

Further, ginger can help to treat indigestion as well. Indigestion, especially chronic indigestion, is known to be caused by a delay in the emptying of the stomach, which creates pain and discomfort in the digestive track. With its anti-inflammatory and anti-nausea properties, helps to decrease the amount of time it takes for the stomach to empty, helping your digestive system work quickly and efficiently.

We feature ginger in our Sunrise, MS Highway, and Ginzing juices, our Immunity Boost shot, as well as our Orange Splat protein shake. You can also add it to any juice, shake, or smoothie when you come visit!

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