The combination of Egg Nog and Hot Chocolate no longer being acceptable to kick off the day mid-January and Valentines Day creepin’ around the corner has me super into this beet smoothie in the morning! 

First of all, that color just cannot be beet. (See what I did there? I was left with no choice.) I typically make a green smoothie every morning with kale as a base, but it’s nice to switch it up every now and then. If you’re my hero and decide to forgo chocolate chip pancakes and doughnuts for breakfast on Valentines Day on a quest for healthier things, this still feels super festive and you wont miss a thing.

Okay, that may not be completely true, but it will be three things:

1. Healthy

2. Easy

3. Delicious

(…and really Instagram worthy)

I have a Vitamix blender which I rave about all the time, even listing it one of my best purchases of 2017 (read about it here). I’ve yet to use a blender that makes my life easier than this one. Realistically, I could throw a couch in there whole and it would get the job done. I still like to chop everything somewhat because I find it makes for the smoothest smoothie possible, but it has such a high power you really could skip the chopping for most fruits and veggies altogether. The newest version which we upgraded to this year has a feature that lets you press one button and call it a day. I use the ‘smoothie’ button every single day and the consistency is perfect every time.

Lets talk about beets. Beets are jam packed with antioxidants and full of essential vitamins and minerals including magnesium, iron and vitamin C. They’re amazing for liver and heart health and also a great source of fiber. That being said…I like to give beets a buddy. If I’m making them for dinner, I always pair them with carrots to make them sweeter. I use Love Beets at least once a week in our kitchen and they’ve been such a game changer in this last year for us. I used to slave over the kitchen counter, peeling, boiling and chopping beets like there’s no tomorrow, dyeing my hands and cutting board the unmistakeable fuchsia beets tend to leave behind. I discovered Love Beets off during Whole 30 and I haven’t touched an uncooked beet since! I used the Honey + Ginger flavor for the first time last week and it was incredible. You can have them delivered to you at a Wholesale price from Thrive Market right here

The milk you choose is completely up to you. I always use Almond milk and have been super into the New Barn brand lately which I find at Whole Foods, but hemp milk, pea protein milk and coconut milk would all be delicious too. We don’t eat dairy so if you’re an ‘all-the-dairy-please’ kinda lady, feel free to go for the real stuff too.

The frozen strawberries with an unfrozen banana make my favorite texture for this smoothie, but you better believe if I have unfrozen strawberries and a frozen banana, I’m not heading to the store. It’s a fool proof smoothie! Do whatever you’d like and use whatever is easiest for you.

A note on the beets- if you can’t get your hands on Love Beets and are 2017 me, schulmped over the counter covered in pink, don’t worry! Just peel them, boil them, let them cool and chop them into sixths. The Vitamix may be strong but beets are pretty fibrous so you want to do as much of the prep as you can ahead of time.

Enjoy! Be sure to tag me if you make this so I can see all the beautiful versions of this recipe and cheer you on if this is your Valentines Day breakfast treat!