Quick Beet & Ginger Veggie-only Smoothie (tastes Good!)

They say you're supposed to get at least 6 or more servings of veggies a day (but this is hugely varied based on the source). I like to aim for 10 servings of veggies, and some days I do better than others at meeting this goal. On days where this smoothie is my breakfast, I'm doing pretty well on the veggie front.

What's interesting is there really are no decent veggie-only smoothie recipes on the internet (that I've found). Probably because they often don't taste great without the sweetness of fruit. Most smoothie recipes are just fruit. So I wanted to try make a tasty smoothie without fruit by using the natural sweetness from beets.

Note: If you're not quite ready for all vegetable smoothies - you can always add in banana or apple and this will still be incredibly healthy and packed with tons of flavour and nutrients.

Step 1: Gather Your Ingredients and Tools

To make this smoothie you can always adjust ingredients to suit your tastes by leaving out items you don't like, or those which you don't readily have on hand.

To help you I've included (in brackets) the qualities of each ingredient which I find adds to the smoothie making process. This way you can easily substitute something with similar qualities. Or if you like, just incorporate more of one or less of another ingredient.

Ingredients (for one large smoothie)

• 1-2 leaves red Kale (to bulk up smoothie - can use green kale or spinach if preferred)
• 1/2 cup cabbage (to bulk up smoothie without a strong flavour)
• 1 beetroot (to add sweetness)

• 1/3 English cucumber (to add flavour and mild sweetness)

• Ginger (to add zing - use as much or little as you prefer)
• 1 TBSP chia seeds (protein without flavour)
• 1-2 TBSP Hemp hearts (protein with a mild nutty flavour)
• 2 TBSP Warm water
• 1/2 cup water

Tools

• Cutting board
• Knife
• Peeler
• Spoon
• Use of a blender (or 'Nutribullet' or 'Magic Bullet' single serving blender) - with Large cup and blending blade
• Straw (optional)

Note: If using a banana or apple, reduce or remove the cabbage and use 2 leaves of kale.

Step 2: Prepare Your Ingredients & Blend

The preparation is simple.

1. Pour 2 TBSP of warm or hot water into the chia seeds to let them soak
2. Peel your ginger
3. Peel your beet
4. Wash your veggies
5. Roughly chop veggies into 1cm pieces so they will fit in the blender / Nutribullet cup

Tips:

• You can put the chia and the hot water straight into the Nutribullet cup to save on dishes!

• Soaking your chia seeds for 5 minutes prevents your whole smoothie from congealing (since soaked chia seeds turn into a gel type texture, soaking first will help prevent the entire smoothie from turning into a gel!)

Step 3: Put the Smoothie Together & Enjoy

Putting the smoothie together is straight forward but sometimes you may struggle get it all to fit so I've found this order works very well:

1. Add veggie ingredients to blender (cucumber, beet, ginger, beet, cabbage, kale) to the large nutribullet cup
2. Pour in water to about a third of the cup
3. Screw on the blade and then blend for 20-25 seconds
4. Add remaining ingredients (chia seeds & hemp hearts) plus any remaining veggies which may not have fit the first time around.
5. Blend again for 10-20 seconds until well incorporated.
6. Unscrew blade, insert straw and enjoy!

Voila!! That is your veggie-only smoothie perfect for a sunny summer morning.

Tips:

• If not all of your veggies fit the first time, just blend and then you should have more space to put the remainder of your veggies.
• If you like your smoothies cold, use a couple cubes of ice with less water