Blue Moon Over Brooklyn

A blueberry, pineapple, and kale smoothie inspired by the show Heated Rivalry. This blueberry kale smoothie has two serving options – yogurt or banana for a vegan option.

Bright blueberries and pineapple bring plenty of flavour to balance out kale and protein powder in a quick smoothie that’s even good for attracting professional athletes (maybe). As Kip says, “You can barely taste the kale.”

Reading more romance books and embracing the silly fun of many romcoms in the last few years, I’ve noticed how much food plays a roll in all these narratives, so when Heated Rivalry blew up it felt like a great time to embrace the foods that feed that narrative.

There are two versions of the Blue Moon Over Brooklyn smoothie – the book version from Game Changer by Rachel Reid which describes the inclusion of kale and pineapple, and the show version, with its incredibly unsubtle (delightfully so) suggestive banana. Since the banana was a Kip (and Scott) only addition, I thought that the base of the smoothie should be from the book, and added the banana as a swap out option.

Food In Romance: The Significance of the Banana

There’s a lot to say in the show meta of the addition of the banana as storytelling vehicle. Without an inner monologue for the characters, it lets them flirt more obviously to the audience, creating an opening for them to socially clock each other as queer. In the books, cucumber is used in a similarly suggestive manner, but between Kip and Maria; a scene that is funny but not critical for storytelling when run time is short.

The banana addition creates a more immediate connection between Kip and Scott, an inside joke. It also creates a more unique narrative flow around the smoothie choice than just making the base smoothie. It lets the blueberry and banana socks be more obvious – and something that needs to be hidden.

Is it honestly a smoothie choice that a professional athlete might make? Even with an extra scoop of protein powder, maybe not (there’s a lot of sugars and not a lot of fiber), but it sure is fun to play with and is tasty for us mere mortals who don’t need to count every macro.

Aside on hockey romance books: I read the Game Changers series a couple years ago and enjoyed it. Not may favourite, but I was still delighted to hear when the adaptation was announced because we need more queer romance and joy in our lives. I’ve loved watching the reaction to show.

(My favourite queer hockey romance books so far are the Hockey Ever After series by Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James. Maybe I should do some of the foods from them, though I’ve never worked with whole lobster.)

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Blue Moon Over Brooklyn

A blueberry and kale smoothie based on the Blue Moon Over Brooklyn smoothie from Heated Rivalry/Game Changers book series.

Course Breakfast, Drinks

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Ingredients

• 1 cup/150g fresh or frozen blueberries
• ½ cup/70g fresh or frozen pineapple chunks
• 2 cups/50g loosely packed kale
• ½ cup/120g plain yogurt Or 1 medium/115g banana (see notes)
• ½ cup/120ml orange juice
• 1/3 cup/35g vanilla protein powder 1 scoop

Instructions

• In a blender, combine all ingredients. For easiest mixing, add kale and berries first.
• Pulse several times to chop kale so the rest of the ingredients can come in contact with the blades. Blend on high speed until smooth and thick and there are no obvious pieces of kale.
• Scrap the sides down and add a small amount of orange juice as needed to thin. The smoothie made with banana and frozen blueberries and pineapple may require up to 2/3 cup/155ml orange juice.

Notes

Banana: For a vegan version or to do the show version of the smoothie with all relevant innuendo, use a banana in place of the yogurt. Just or slightly under-ripe banana will create a creamy base with a mild banana flavour. Riper banana will create a more intense banana flavour.

Protein powder: As well as protein, protein powder boosts the sweetness and creaminess of this smoothie. A professional athlete would definitely be adding as much protein as possible but 1 scoop of your preferred vanilla protein will balance the rest of the flavours without being too intense.