Smoothie Sunday!

This may be a stretch for Smoothie Sunday... but today's "smoothie" is actually a latte.

I love beets. It took me a while to get used to them when I first started eating these root vegetables, but now I think I could find myself quite at home on Dwight's beet farm :) They go quite well with cacao and carob. Thus, the following Beet Lattes were born. This recipe works best in a Vitamix or Blendtec, but you can experiment with your own in the food processor.

These recipes are what we have; however, we aren't using sweeteners right now. Which brings me to a whole new genre of food category. There's "sugar-free" which means free of refined sugars, but not necessarily artificial sweeteners and usually natural sweeteners like agave, honey, coconut sugar, etc. I feel as if right now not only are we eating "sugar-free" but beyond that..... perhaps "sweetener-free" is the best way to describe it. I digress...

Feel free to play around with the sweeteners that are found in nature- Stevia, Maple Syrup (grade B), Date Sugar, Agave, or Raw Honey...or Coconut Nectar , which can now be found at Whole Foods. Or, if you are in a particularly healthy mood, try it the way we are having it these days- sweetened only with bananas :)

Beets are loaded with antioxidants and a lot of natural fiber, and when combined with the health benefits of cacao they make a healthy little drink.

Beet Lattes: makes 2 servings

Ingredients

- 1 small beet

- 1 banana

- 2-3 Tbsp carob powder or cocoa powder, depending on your “chocolaty” preference (these both come in raw or the regular kind you find for baking- raw carob powder is harder to come by, though)

- 1 cup coconut milk (not light)

- 1 cup water

- Sweetener to taste, I recommend this coconut nectar, and it’s raw too!

Method

- Blend all ingredients on high in Vitamix or other high powered blender until heavy steam comes out the vent (about 5 minutes)

- If using a food processor, try blending the beet, banana, cocoa/ carob powder, and a little liquid together and then heating them mixed with the rest of the liquid in a pot over the stove.

You may also want to try these cold beet smoothies:

- Cherry Detox Beet Smoothie from the Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen

- Whole Beet Smoothie with fruit from the Year of Green Smoothies