Quick Take
Gabriel Constans has spent decades concocting and sharing recipes for healthy, tasty, kid-focused smoothies, and he has compiled his greatest hits into “Papa’s Favorite Smoothies.”
This story was originally featured in this week’s Lily Belli on Food newsletter. Be first the first to hear about food and drink news in Santa Cruz County — sign up for Lily’s email newsletter here and text alerts here.
Like many parents, Gabriel Constans struggled to get his children to eat vegetables and other healthy foods when they were young. That inspired him to try smoothies — creating concoctions of fruits, veggies, nuts and more that would deliver a healthful meal or snack his kids were happy to consume. Thinking other parents could benefit from his recipes, he wrote his first smoothie cookbook 30 years ago. The new book is a greatest-hits collection of his favorite recipes.
“Papa’s Favorite Smoothies,” published this spring, can be ordered through Bookshop Santa Cruz or Amazon. The book contains 32 recipes, with illustrations by Jane Cornwell.
It’s Constans’ third cookbook. The Santa Cruzan said the inspiration for this one came from a desire to share his smoothie recipes with a new generation.
“A good tip is that you can put all kinds of healthy ingredients in a smoothie and then add fruit and/or chocolate to disguise the other ingredients and make it taste delicious,” said Constans. “My favorite ingredient is always dark chocolate.”
