Roasted Beet Smoothie

I swear, I never thought that I would be posting a smoothie recipe.

I don't have a juicer or a Vitamix.......and I love to eat my veggies, not drink them.

But this late night food junkie (me), decided instead of making beet soup, I would try a smoothie with what I had in the fridge.

I had 2 roasted beets, an apple, kale (always have it in the garden), and some Trader Joe's frozen cherries.

Let's try it.

At first I put everything in the blender, and nothing moved.

So, I transfered the goodies to my food processor, and it made a nice pesto type of product.

Back to the blender to puree, and then added some orange juice just to thin it.

This is WOW good.

Delicious, almost like a dessert! and filling!

Most smoothie recipes use RAW beets, but I had roasted beets, and the results were fantastic, richer and darker in color.

I made this the night before, and it was perfect the next a.m. for breakfast.

Here is how I made it, adapted from this recipe (which recommends a Vita-mix to make life easier): makes about three 6 oz. smoothies

2 large red roasted beets, cut up
1 large Fuji apple (I peeled mine, because it was not organic)
handful of frozen cherries (about 8)
handful of kale
1/4 cup of fresh orange juice (or a whole orange)

Place everything in your food processor or vita-mix. Pulse, then puree in a blender or with an immersion blender.
If the smoothie is too thick, you can add some water to thin.

Serve chilled with a straw!

Slurp!