Gingery Beet Smoothie

Each Thursday, Emily Vikre (a.k.a fiveandspice) will be sharing a new way to love breakfast -- because breakfast isn't just the most important meal of the day. It's also the most awesome.

Today: Emily throws a beet in a blender, and something wonderful comes out.  

I have always been vehemently opposed, on principle, to smoothies and juices with vegetables in them. I don’t have any good reason for being so vehement. I have just had a vague sentiment of preferring to eat my food and drink my drinks and not confuse the two (except in milkshakes, which are perfect, but happen to be a combination food-drink) -- but it wasn’t a strong enough sentiment to justify why I was so opposed. So it’s not very inconsistent of me to have suddenly decided a couple of days ago that I might like smoothies and juices with vegetables in them, is it?    

What can I say? I woke up one morning feeling like having juice that had celery in it. So I did. And it wasn’t bad. Then the other day, I was at a work planning meeting, and one of our new employees was drinking such a pretty pink smoothie that I am proud to say I derailed the whole meeting for 15 minutes in order to discuss smoothies and get her recipe. She said it was a beet smoothie, and that when she gets fresh beets, she grates them and keeps them in the refrigerator to put in smoothies to which she also adds berries and a mild flavored liquid like apple juice or coconut water.

I was inspired to throw a beet in my own blender. I added some frozen strawberries as well as a good chunk of ginger and a squeeze of lemon juice. The funny thing about drinking a beet smoothie, it turns out, is that it looks so vibrantly pink, it convinces you that it’s going to taste sweet and fruity, something like raspberry sorbet. So when you go in for a sip, even though you know it’s a beet smoothie, it is slightly shocking that it tastes earthy and only mildly sweet with a gentle tingle from the ginger. But then you have another sip, and another, and your brain wraps itself around the whole beet-in-a-smoothie thing, and it becomes quite enjoyable. Yup, I think I kind of like drinking vegetables.  

Gingery Beet Smoothie

Serves 1 to 2

1 small or 1/2 medium red beet, scrubbed and shredded, or chopped into small pieces
1 cup (heaping) frozen strawberries
1/2 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup apple juice, plus more as necessary
Honey, if desired

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Photos by Emily Vikre