A delicious and refreshing healthy breakfast (or anytime!) smoothie full of fruits and vegetables. We enjoy this every morning to start the day right!
First of all, let me say that even though this smoothie is really healthy, I promise it actually tastes good.
I’ve come across way too many smoothie recipes in my short life that are beautiful and vibrant and perfectly green…but I can’t even choke them down (there was this epic fail once when I made a popular green smoothie recipe loaded with kale and spinach and lime and all I could taste was grass – like I’d just mowed the lawn and inhaled all the clippings).
So this smoothie is brown. I know it’s not the most appealing smoothie in the world, but I don’t care what color it is as long as it’s full of food that’s good for me and you and delicious to look forward to. eat it (meaning: it doesn’t taste like grass).
Often with our breakfast smoothies we just throw things in the blender and hope for the best, but for the past few months this smoothie has been doing the best we can (like, this is the breakfast I chose 6 out of 7 in the morning) , and eventually wrote down the ingredients and quantities to make it an “official recipe”.
I love that it’s sugar-free but sweet from the natural sugars in the fruit and has lots of good vitamins from the veggies (carrots and spinach).
We call this our super food smoothie and it’s the main reason I buy bananas at a time and intentionally let them ripen (for extra flavor) on the counter and then peel them and put them in a ziploc freezer bag.
My kids love this smoothie too. And I love that they love it. And we are all one big happy family singing Kumbaya while sipping on our healthy smoothies.
Unfortunately, the effects of the smoothie don’t last long enough throughout the day to prevent sibling squabbles and mom’s impatience. If anyone has a recipe for them, let me know immediately.
My favorite breakfast smoothie
Yield: 4 servings
Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup 100% carrot juice (see note)
- 1-2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
- 1 orange peeled
- ½ lime stripped
- 1 soft ripe pear, cored and four
- 1 to 2 handfuls of fresh spinach
- 1 frozen banana
- 1 cup frozen blueberries or strawberries
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth (if you have a Blendtec, it’s best to blend in the order listed – liquid on bottom, frozen on top).
Note
Adaptable: this recipe can be adapted (like most smoothie recipes), but I tend to make it as close as possible to what is written. Sometimes I buy carrot juice for the mango mix (I like the Bolthouse brand because they are organic and 100% juice, and since I don’t have a juicer, I stock up at Sam’s Club where they are a little more cost effective). And sometimes I’ll use an apple instead of a pear, but otherwise it looks the same.
Lime: The lime is my favorite part – it adds a wonderful refreshing flavor to the smoothie!
Ice: also, if you want a more icy/thick smoothie, you can add a few ice cubes to the mix.
