My instagram feed the last few months has been happily hijacked by a never ending scroll of smoothies. Green, purple and ruby red jars of goodness topped with exotic looking edible flowers and bee pollen make me excited about cranking up the blender again and again (and wish I had invented the Vitamix – seriously $1000?). So much blender envy. Blenvy? Sorry.

One of the smoothies ‘of the moment’ is the red velvet smoothie. A decadently thick, smooth and bright red (well pinkish) blend I’ve been meaning to try for yonks. The main ingredient? Beetroot!

Beets deserve a better wrap in my books. Super sweet and full of fiber you can eat them raw, juiced, cooked or pickled. The deep red/purple colour comes from a powerful plant antioxidant (cancer fighters!) and some even claim beetroot juice can increase stamina and reduce blood pressure. And then there’s this. 

I also get a kick out of ‘hiding’ vegetables in things that taste super rich and dessert-like. My future kids better watch out there’s going to be secret spinach in goddam everything. Boom – surprise veggies.

My version of the red velvet smoothie rich and chocolatey – putting a little something special into your mornings! The banana gives it extra creaminess. It also works as a healthy desert eaten from a bowl and spoon.

Enjoy!
Ebony x

What you’ll need:

• 1 cup almond milk
• ½ cup chopped raw beetroot
• 2-3 medjool dates
• ½ banana or 1 small banana
• 2 tablespoons cacao powder
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup ice and/or water as needed

How to go about it:
Whack all ingredients into the blender and hit go! Keep whizzing until really smooth and no chunks of beetroot are hiding in there.  Top with goji berries, and perhaps a dust of cacao powder.

* Vegan
* Dairy Free
* Refined sugar free
* Gluten free