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This nourishing Red Velvet Green Smoothie with beets is love in a glass–it tastes like cake, but is chockfull of vitamins + minerals. Vegan (dairy-free) + gluten-free, too!
Greetings from Martha's Vineyard! My mom and I arrived yesterday to celebrate my cousin's wedding this weekend, and with all the love we've been feeling since we got here, I thought it only apropos to share a beautiful, amorous recipe: a Red Velvet Green Smoothie.
This smoothie is most definitely love in a glass–I mean just look at that color!
This red velvet green smoothie doesn't just look like love personified, its nourishing, nurturing qualities take it a step further.
It's affectionate, rich, sweet and satisfying–everything you could need in a partner, er….smoothie.
That beautiful crimson color comes from beets (high in immune-boosting vitamin C, fiber, potassium, manganese and B vitamin folate), and thanks to the superfood cacao powder, I swear it tastes exactly like a red velvet cake.
For all the readers out there who want to swap cocoa powder for cacao powder, let me stop you right there. Repeat after me: cocoa and cacao are very different.
For starters, cacao is the raw form of chocolate–it's minimally processed (cold-pressed), slightly bitter because it's unsweetened (as opposed to actual chocolate) and it's chockfull of nutrients, particularly calcium, zinc, iron, antioxidants, vitamins B, C and E, protein, fiber and heart-healthy oleic acid (an essentially fatty acid).
In fact, raw cacao powder contains nearly four times the antioxidant power of your average dark chocolate (and more than 20 times that of blueberries).
What does all this mean? It means that eating raw cacao powder can lower insulin resistance, reduce blood pressure, and protect your body from free radicals and other ills like heart disease and stroke.
Now compare that to cocoa powder, which is a much more processed ingredient that's been roasted at extremely high temperatures, changing the molecular structure of the cacao bean and thereby reducing its nutritional value.
Goodbye Hershey's, hello Navitas Naturals.
So here we are with a smoothie that tastes like cake, so scarlet red your heart immediately starts pumping faster upon just seeing it, and so mind-body-soul-nourishing you will feel happier and healthier with every sip.
If that's not love, I don't know what is.
If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and tag a picture #rootandrevel or @rootandrevel on Instagram so I can see.
Red Velvet Green Smoothie with Beets
Ingredients
- 1 large beet , quartered (can use raw or roasted for a slightly sweeter flavor profile)
- 1 frozen banana (room temp is fine if you don't have one pre-frozen)
- 3 tablespoons raw cacao powder
- 1 cup vanilla almond milk (I recommend New Barn)
- 2 cups organic spinach
- Optional: Add 1-3 dates depending on your preferred level of sweetness.
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients into a large, high-powered blender (I recommend Vitamix) and blend until smooth and creamy.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe adapted from Julie Morris’ Superfood Smoothies.
*This nutrition panel does not include any dates.
Photo Credit: Heidi Geldhauser
I’ve been on a real smoothie kick lately. So, it was great to find some healthy ones! This smoothie was delicious by the way.
This was my first adventure with beets in a smoothie and I love the rich flavor. I’m thinking of whipping this up the next time I babysit. I hope it will be a great way to sneak some veggies in for the kiddos.
Do i have to cook the spinach leaves or raw?
Hi, Alma! Thanks for writing in. No, the spinach goes into the smoothie raw, not cooked. Let me know if you make it! I’d love to hear what you think!
I love the idea of a red velvet smoothie, made with beets! Such a balance between delicious and healthy!! 😀
Thanks, Sarah! Yeah this is one of the most decadent tasting smoothies, but there’s only good-for-you ingredients in it. My fave! 🙂