Smoothie, Yum

When I drink a smoothie, I actually feel my health improving with each sip, as silly as it sounds.  And smoothies have endless possiblities, so they never grow boring.  But they do have their downfalls, fresh fruit & veggies can be expensive, it takes effort & clean up, and they don't store well.  So basically you have to buy the fruit as you go and not make portions larger than a glass, unless you have people you can share it with.  The sharing in our house gets complicated... see my husband rarely drinks a smoothie.  And half the ingredients my tot likes in hers, I can't have.  I end up making mutiple single serving smoothies (like I said, lots of effort & clean up).  I've always liked smoothies, but I originally started making smoothies for my tot so that we could freeze the blend and make healthy popsicles (turns out she also likes drinking them).  Since she has no fruit allergies, I toss in everything, this way the popsicles and smoothies are always surprising.  Some blends she prefers more than others, she'll tolerate some seeds & bits, but I know not to push it.  Now for myself, smoothies are tricky.  During my pregnancy years ago, I developed allergies, and this includes a lot of raw fruits.  Most all of the general ingredients for a yummy healthy smoothie I just can't drink.  So I have to get creative.  I have a couple smoothie recipe books and I keep meaning to gather the ingredients but inevitably I just use what's on sale or already in the house.  I can still manage to make a tasty smoothie despite the fact apple, pear, and strawberries are on my "avoid like the plague" list.  Due to ingredients around the house this past week, I came up with a tasty fruit & veggie smoothie I thought I'd share.  

1 mandarin
2 kiwis
2 cherry tomatoes
5 baby carrots

This mix of ingredients means the smoothie turns a strange orangish color, but who really cares what color it is as long as it tastes nice.  The first time I made one I was overwhelmed with the carrot chunks (luckily I like carrots), so the next time I was sure to blend longer.  And these fruits & veggies are high in vitamin A, C, & K.  A is good for your eyes, C is good for the immune system, & K is good for bone health.  Can't complain!

Hope you give the smoothie a chance, and if not, I'm sure I'll come up with another one you can try out!!!