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A winter warmer stew that's creamy, without the cream

If there's a walking, talking advertisement for the power of food to provide energy, it's got to be Tess Masters. Anyone who has met her, seen her or read her work knows that the actor, cook and author behind the popular Blender Girl blog (and cookbook of the same name) is a whirlwind of positivity, words and ideas.

Her second book, “The Perfect Blend: 100 Blender Recipes to Energize and Revitalize” (Ten Speed Press), came across my desk just as I needed a post-holidays jolt. And the recipe I tried from it, for something Masters calls Sustenance Stew, provided it. (She has a way with recipe names, by the way; two others in the book are Omega Mama and Avocado Avenger.)

It's a soothing bowl packed with some of my go-to ingredients: sweet potatoes, broccoli, Swiss chard, tomatoes and — here's the brilliant addition — almond butter. The latter gives the broth a creamy touch without weighing it down. If you're wondering where the blender comes in, well, it honestly doesn't even need to in this case. Masters suggests that you start with canned whole tomatoes and use a blender to roughly chop them, but it's just as easy to start with canned diced tomatoes, so that's what I did.

She calls for the stew to be topped with the crowning touches of avocado and almonds, and I would never skimp on those. But I didn't take her up on the optional boosters of hemp seeds, chia seeds and pea greens, nor did I even need to eat it with the suggested side of cauliflower rice, as hearty as it was without that.

A few bites in, I was more than sustained. I was satisfied — and energized.

Sustenance Stew

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