Don’t own a juicer and want to make healthy breakfast drinks? Great! All you need is a blender, good ingredients, and an imagination for flavor and texture. Here are a couple of my tips for making a great tasting smoothie:
- Think about making the most of natural sweetness. I recommend you stock up on bananas and freeze the ripe ones. Grab a few bags of frozen berries and keep them in the freezer for any time smoothies. I love the organic mixed berries at Trader Joes.
- Consider texture. Frozen bananas and frozen berries work great. Maybe you’d like to add soft tofu, Greek Yogurt (I’m a huge fan of Fage), a handful of nuts (cashews or almonds are the best), or even roasted sweet potato.
- Add in some protein. Look for healthy ingredients like Kefir (I love lactose free Green Valley Organics) or unsweetened yogurt. See some of my suggestions up above.
- Use a healthy liquid to tie it all together. I use coconut milk, almond milk, orange juice, and carrot juice to add flavor and/or sweetness.
Since doing a juice cleanse last week, I’ve been making a fair amount of smoothies and breakfast shakes to start my day. By skipping a big egg and toast breakfast, I’ve been able to stay away from caffeine, bread and pasta, meat, and processed sugars for over a week now. This clean way of eating has me feeling clean, healthy, and full of energy. Starting my day off right with a blended smoothie or a glass of carrot juice helps me get into my day with good clean energy.
Sometimes its fun to get adventurous in the kitchen and use already prepped ingredients for new recipes. This smoothie’s texture benefits from the sweetness and texture of sweet potato and the spiciness of fresh ginger. The best part is you don’t have to own an expensive juicer to make this smoothie. The ginger gives you the energy boost you’ll need (and may reduce your cholesterol!) and the sweet potato offers complex carbohydrates, potassium, fiber, beta-carotene, and vitamins C and B6.
Sweet Sunrise Smoothie
3/4 cup carrot juice
1/2 cup Kefir (your favorite flavor)
1/2 roasted sweet potato, without the skin
1 tablespoon unsalted cashew butter
1-2 inches of ginger, peeled and sliced (depending upon how spicy you want the drink)
6 ice cubesPut slices of sweet potato and ginger into the blender with the carrot juice. Blend until not so chunky. Add the Kefir, cashew butter, and ice cubes, blend until smooth. If you want a thicker consistency, add more Kefir. For more liquidity, add more carrot juice. Enjoy.
As much as I love sweet potatoes I never would’ve thought to add them to a smoothie, but now that you’ve spelled it out I feel like I’ve been missing something that should’ve been obvious in its awesomeness! Thank you, Brooke. 🙂
Have you traveled with this at all? if so, does it hold up for a half hour or so? I ask because being able to bring a smoothie to work would simple things up immensely, but I respect emulsifications and don’t want to do anything foolhardy.
Johanna,
I haven’t traveled with this drink. Will you tell me what happens?!
I use sweet potatoes to make a fabulous latte with warm milk and vanilla. Never thought about using them in a cold drink but why not? Thanks for the great idea.
Thanks Amy! That Latte sounds amazing!! I want to try to make that, too! Thanks for stopping by!
I’ve been playing around with so many smoothie flavors lately and I feel like kicking myself for never thinking of sweet potato! I bet it’s fantastic- thank you so much for the idea and the recipe, I’m definitely digging into this sometime during the week. Smoothies are so handy for crazy busy mornings, right?
Ruthy, Honestly, I don’t think I would have every thought of sweet potato had I not had a roasted one in the fridge and I was low on ingredients! But it just makes sense, no? I love this smoothie and love making my breakfast in a glass!
I’ve never thought of adding sweet potatoes in smoothies before — a great idea, Brooke 🙂
Hi,
I came across your website while doing some research for a juice bar we are opening in mid-August. We are considering hiring someone to assist us with the initial juice recipes. We are doing only cold-pressed, organic juices to start. May move into a few raw shakes down the road. We currently have 12 juices, 2 almond milks, 2 elixir shots and 3 kids juices. While we all juice on a regular basis we do realize the breakdown of ingredients and quantities that go into each juice could become quite a time-consuming task to perfect. Is this something you have experience with? Would love to learn more about what you do.
Thank you,
Danielle