Red Drink!

Red Drink!, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

You've heard all the buzz about green drinks, right? Well, green schmeen. Sure green is great (and here's my go-to green drink recipe), but you can make a delicious, healthy, refreshing drink of just about any color you desire. Here's one of my favorites: Red Drink! Actually it might be more of a hot pink drink, now that I look at it. Doesn't it look gorgeous? You might even be able to get your kids to suck it down; I know mine do. That beautiful scarlet hue is mainly due to beets. That's right, you heard me: beets! Raw beets are a good source of vitamin C, folate, and iron, and have a natural sweetness that make them a good base for a vegetable juice. Did you know that? I'll give you my recipe, but really you can alter the amounts and kinds of fruit however you choose. That's what I do. The intense red color comes from the raw red beet and red cabbage. And maybe from the berries too.

Sheri's Red Hot Pink Drink

1C almond milk
handful of red cabbage

[blend these ingredients first, to get better liquification]

1 small raw beet (or 1/2 medium beet), peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks (I chop it because I'm using a regular Oster blender. If you have a superblender then feel free to toss it in whole)
1 celery stalk
1 apple, peeled
1 small orange, peeled
1 banana
1C strawberries (or raspberries, or cherries, or other red fruit)
sunflower seeds

I blend the remaining ingredients in batches, since (as I said), I don't want to blow my blender's motor out.
This smoothie tastes fresh, sweet, yet vegetal. Trust me; it's good. Oh, and just a tip: don't wear white while you're making this one. Bottoms up!

Green Drink!

Green Drink, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I've been asked about my green drinks a few times, so I decided to write a bit about them. I just started making and drinking them for about 2 weeks, as one of my new year's challenges. So far, I LOVE them.
Seriously.
If you're not familiar with green drinks, do a google search. You'll find tons of recipes, articles and news tidbits, with lots of celebrity chefs and TV personalities touting them. I'll admit that I first heard of them from my mom, who started drinking them because she saw it on Dr. Oz. Once it registered, I found that many of my own friends are drinking these things too. The nice thing is that you don't need a special juicer or high-powered blender to make them. I only use an ordinary old blender with 2 speeds, and it works fine on the foods I've used so far. Also, you don't have to feel limited to an actual recipe -- use whatever you like! And experiment with flavor combinations. It's a lot of fun! I have a standard true-green drink that I like to make. I happen to like the pure green color, which is why I don't add other colors to this one. I also have a favorite red drink too (I will share this one later). If you mix all kinds of fruit and vegetables, you may end up with a brown drink -- which isn't bad, but it won't have the beautiful vibrant color that you see here. This is my recipe:

Sheri's Green Drink

1C almond milk
handful of spinach (maybe 1/2C packed)
handful of dandelion greens (or any other greens that you prefer, like chard, kale, lettuce, choy)

[blend these ingredients first, to get better liquification]

1 celery stalk
1/2 cucumber, peeled
1 apple, peeled
1 small orange, peeled
1/2 lime, peeled
1/2 avocado
1 inch ginger, grated
1T wheat germ (or flaxmeal)

Blend the remaining ingredients, in batches, so your blender won't blow its motor. If you have a high-powered blender, then just throw everything in at once.
This recipe makes about 4 cups. I drink about 2 and a half cups at midday, and save the rest in the fridge to share with my kids later. It tastes.. well, green, but with a sharp, tangy, fresh bite. If you prefer it sweeter, you can add fruit. Even a couple of strawberries will sweeten it up quite a bit, but then the color will change. I really like it to stay greeeeeen. And it might be too soon to tell, but my usual winter allergies seem to be less pronounced. This drink will give you energy, fortify you for the day ahead, fill you up, and make you invincible! Okay, I made up that last part. Maybe.