burgundy beetroot smoothie

>JUMP STRAIGHT TO RECIPE<

I've never been a huge fan of the color pink, but I can certainly appreciate it more when it's a deeper shade, as if mixed with deep reds, like for instance the burgundy hue. I find looking at it really to have a kind of a pacifying effect, grounding almost.

I've been meaning to share some of my favorite smoothie recipes for quite some time now. I wanted to start from my favorites- the green ones- but I've been postponing it, waiting until I make one "perfect" one to share it. In the meantime they all have turned out absolutely delicious, every time, no matter what I change, so in the process I've developed dozens of recipes and there's only so much time in the day. I hope I'll get to posting them soon. But today I thought I'd share this one, a non-green one, simply because I just made it, earlier today.

This one is one version (of many different variations) of a quick burgundy color beetroot smoothie I just had this morning.

When preparing any smoothie, I usually just try to make sure I've got the proportions right- depending on what flavor or colors I'm going for- but when it comes to the precise measurements I never actually weigh them and I usually just wing it. This is what I used today and I did weigh it in case anyone needed a more precise guide, but don't get too focused one them. Play a little.

Since this is a beetroot smoothie and not everyone adores the strong beetroot taste, I recommend adjusting the sweetness of the smoothie with the amount of banana (and pineapple if you have a very sweet one) that goes into it. Today I started with 1/2 a banana, but I found that the beetroot taste was still a bit to strong for me so I ended up adding bit more at the very end. I also added a teeny bit more of pineapple just because I had a small cube left and wanted to just use it all up. And since it only helped make it sweeter I was okay with it. If it had been the beetroot that I only had a bit left of, I think I would have saved it for another smoothie or for something else, because in this particular case it would have destroyed this deliciousness for me.

I also could have added more kale, I usually go nuts with the greens in smoothies, but when I work with reds and pinks and purples (beetroots, berries, etc) I try to be very careful about not overdoing it with the greens if I care about the final color of the smoothie. If I don't, I just throw in whatever I have. Now, just in case you've never painted or played with colors, it's very likely that if you do that and start mixing reds and greens you'll get a color that many would prefer to not look at.. That happens to me a lot, but the taste of the smoothie is almost always amazing nevertheless. However, I do appreciate that some people (especially the kiddos) just cannot drink it if it looks like poop, no matter how delicious it is. So if I make it for someone else, I generally leave the green indulgence for the green smoothies and stick to the reds and pinks in the red/purple/pink smoothie category.

Burgundy Beetroot Smoothie

yields: about 1 large cup/glass, about 300-330ml or 2 smaller glasses

Ingredients:

• BEETROOT* - about 60g (about 1/4 of a big one or 1/2 of a smaller one)

• KALE - a handful, about 20g (can be substituted for baby spinach)

• PINEAPPLE - 60-80g, adjust to taste

• BANANA, frozen** - 55g-95g, start with the 55g (about 1/2) and add more if at the end you decide you need more sweetness

• ZUCCHINI - 50g (about 1.5in/4cm piece)

• APPLE - 40g (about 1/4-1/3)

• WATER*** - 60ml (1/4 cup)

• optional: FLAX SEEDS, ground - 2 teaspoons

• optional: GINGER, fresh - a small piece, if you like ginger and if it's not boiling hot outside

* I used a store-bought cooked beetroot, but you can use a raw one or cook it and let it cool before you blend it

** Make sure you freeze your bananas when they are very ripe, or just use a fresh, ripe banana

*** You could add some plant-based milk instead, but keep in mind that that will make the smoothie look a bit more creamy/milkshake'y in color... it will still taste fantastic, but it won't be burgundy red anymore.

Method:

• Make sure you wash all the ingredients that need to be washed: kale, zucchini, apple.

• If your blender isn't very powerful perhaps break/cut the ingredients into smaller chunks to help your blender out a bit.

• Add all the ingredients (but water) into your blender.

• Add 1/8 cup / 30ml of water at first.

• Blend everything until it's all nice and smooth.

• If your blender needs a bit more water to get going add the remaining 30ml / 1/8 cup of water. If you're not a fan of thick smoothies, you can add even more water, but I usually don't like them too runny, so I use as little water as possible, only enough for my blender to start. If you're lucky enough to have a blender tamper you might not need to add much water at all.

• Taste your smoothie. If you find you need a bit more sweetness and/or the beetroot taste is a still a bit too strong, add more banana (and pineapple, if you want).

• If you used frozen bananas your smoothie may be perfectly cool to drink right away, but if you used fresh bananas you may want to put it in the fridge for a while before you drink it.

• Enjoy!

  
  

You can drink it as a smoothie or, if you make it a bit thicker (use less water) you could also make it into a smoothie bowl with some granola perhaps?

Alternatively, if you have a powerful blender with a tamper, you could freeze all the ingredients (but water and flax seeds) first and blend them all to get the almost-ice-cream consistency. But it will only work if you have a blender tamper... Otherwise you can definitely enjoy it as a smoothie.