Preparation Cut the banana into 1-inch-thick slices and place them in a blender. Add the dates, yogurt, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, ice cubes, and 3/4 cup water and blend until smooth. Add an additional 1/4 cup water if the shake is too thick. Pour into glasses, top with rows of coconut flakes, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, and sesame seeds, and serve. Reprinted with permission from The New Persian Kitchen by Louisa Shafia. Copyright © 2013 by Louisa Shafia; photographs copyright © 2013 by Sara Remington. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher Louisa Shafia's first cookbook, Lucid Food: Cooking for an Eco-Conscious Life, was nominated for an IACP award. She has cooked at notable restaurants in New York and San Francisco, including Aquavit, Pure Food and Wine, and Millennium. Her recipes have appeared in New York magazine, Yoga Journal, Food Network Magazine, and Every Day with Rachael Ray. Look for Louisa on the Cooking Channel's Taste in Translation series, and visit her at www.lucidfood.com.