Colorful, sugar free smoothies made with berries, an orange, carrots, beet puree and Greek-style yogurt.
Let me be completely honest with you: the original idea behind this smoothie was to make a brightly-colored Halloween breakfast.
And then I realized how ridiculously non-scary a pink smoothie is.
This could still be a spooky ‘blood’ smoothie if you added some red food coloring. Or you could just tell everyone that it contains vegetables, which is enough to scare some people.
Alternatively, let’s just forget the whole Halloween thing and enjoy a colorful smoothie. (I’m not about to turn my nose up at something pink).
If I may digress from smoothie-talk for a moment, I simply must tell you about something. Something that made my week. No, my year.
As I hope you know, last Wednesday was Back to the Future Day! If you haven’t seen the sci-fi trilogy, then: (a) what are you doing!? Go watch them, now; and (b) in case you ignored my advice in (a), just know that Marty McFly traveled forwards in time in the second movie to October 21, 2015. And they had dehydrated pizza.
Anyway, on Wednesday I was fortunate enough to see a real DeLorean in the street. This was the first time I’d ever seen one in real life, and the gull-wing doors were open, and it was just amazing. I don’t normally get enthused about cars, but I do get excited about 80s movies. So this was too thrilling for me.
Ok, back to smoothies.
As you’ve undoubtedly guessed from the title of this post, these smoothies are made with (frozen) raspberries, an orange and beets. But that’s not it – there’s some grated carrot, frozen cherries and yogurt in there too.
And guess what? No banana (say what!?). I know I’ve included bananas in nearly all of my smoothie recipes. Can you blame me? Bananas add a creamy texture and tons of sweetness of smoothies. But, I know there are plenty of banana-dislikers out there.
Even those of us who love bananas have days when we look at our fruit bowls, and see no bananas. Or, more frustratingly, only see underripe bananas. And after making tons of banana ice cream, my freezer’s plum out of bananas too.
After some unsuccessful banana-free smoothie attempts, I found that Greek-style yogurt is the key. It doesn’t have to be authentic Greek yogurt, but if it’s not thick and creamy, then that yogurt shouldn’t make it into your (banana-free) smoothie.
Actually, if you ask me, any yogurt that isn’t thick and creamy isn’t good enough to be in your fridge. But I take yogurt a bit too seriously.
If you happen to be a yogurt-disliker, then I suppose the best replacement would be a banana. Mango might also work – although I’d leave the beet puree out of the recipe if using mango (I can’t imagine mangoes and beets going well together, but I could be wrong about that). If you do try this recipe sans yogurt, have some dairy or almond milk handy just in case the smoothies are too thick.
Last of all, I know beets aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. Feel free to leave out the beet puree if you’re not a fan of that root vegetable (or, at least, don’t want it in your morning smoothie). Obviously, it won’t be a Raspberry Orange Beet Smoothie, but it’ll still taste good.
If you are a fan of beets, then pureeing roasted beets is well worth the effort. It’s even better (and easier) if you can buy pre-roasted beets.
Oh, and if you’re after a smoothie that seems more appropriate for Halloween than these bright pink beverages, then I made some green smoothie ‘cauldrons’ last year (and green is probably scarier than pink).
- 1 orange, peeled and chopped
- 1 cup grated carrots
- ½ cup frozen raspberries
- ½ cup frozen cherries
- ½ cup Greek-style yogurt
- ¼ cup beet puree (optional)
- Blend the orange, carrots, raspberries, cherries, yogurt and beet puree until smooth.
- For a thinner smoothie, add some milk. For a thicker smoothie, add more frozen raspberries or cherries.
- Divide the smoothie between two glasses, and enjoy!
The beet puree will make a big impact on the taste (and color). If you’re not a fan of beets, leave it out. You can make beet puree by blending/pureeing some cooked beets (otherwise known as beetroots).
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