Feeding Vegan Kids: Beet Smoothies (and beet ice cream!)
September 27, 2009 by Sheri
Filed under Feature, Feeding Vegan Kids, In A Vegan House, Nifty Reusable Items, Smoothies & Such
Sometimes I like to put somewhat odd ingredients in my green smoothies and serve it to my kids.
Oh, the things I blend for my kids to drink!
We had a few odd-but-tasty smoothie concoctions recently.
There was the kelpy smoothies – a wee bit fishy, I must say! Mama went a little kelp-happy with that smoothie! Kelp is a sea vegetable that packs a lot of minerals and nutrients, so that fishy-concoction was soooo good for us. Even if it did give my baby fish-breath.
There was the cabbage smoothies — couldn’t even taste the brussel sprouts and cabbage in it! LOTS of cancer-fighting goodness in that smoothie. It was a very cruciferous cup full of cabbagey goodness.
And my most recent unusual smoothie creation was…BEET SMOOTHIES!
I put beets in our smoothies!
I can be crazy like that.
Our garden is overloaded with homegrown organic beets, and we are looking for creative ways to use them up. So I thought, why not make a smoothie out of them?
(I am just full of weird ideas, no?)
First I tore up the beet greens (the tops) and crammed them in my Blendtec jug:
Then I chopped up 2 small-ish sized beets and added them to the beet greens.
Then came the fruit: I added frozen organic wild blueberries, frozen organic mango chunks, and frozen organic strawberries.
Added a few tablespoons of organic hip little hempseeds (good protein!), some cashews (ditto!), and then filled the blender jug with filtered water.
Here it is, ready to be blended:
After 40 seconds in the Blendtec, I had this beautiful beet brew:
Ingredients: beet greens, beets, frozen organic blueberries, mangos, and strawberries, hempseeds, cashews, and filtered water.
I served it up to my kiddos for a beautiful beet breakfast.
(beet smoothies make my little guy smile! my happy little beet-drinker)
My baby loved it too:
All 5 of my punks enjoyed this smoothie, and they slurped up every last drop.
Good little punks!
Here’s a close-up of the beet smoothie — it was thick and delicious, loaded with antioxidants and vitamins, and tasted like a glass full of bliss.
With all that fruit in there, the beet taste was undetectable. All we could taste was fruity sweetness.
(Glass straws are from Glass Dharma. They rock.)
I made 2 blender jugs full of beet smoothie, and I had some leftovers.
I was thinking about what to do with the leftovers, when my clever little son said:
“Mom, why don’t you make beet ice cream with it?”
(I am quite certain those words were never uttered by a child before!)
It was a splendid idea, so I poured the leftover beet smoothie into the ice cream maker.
25 minutes later, I scooped up a round of beet ice cream for everyone.
Oh, we are crazy crazy vegans!
Try this — toss a beet or two (beet greens too!) in your next smoothie and top it with lots of fruit. It tastes delicious!
What will I put next in my smoothies? Beet’s me!! (haha)
Happy Sunday, enjoy your day 
Sheri
Okay, beet smoothies has me a little frightened because I’ll admit it- I hate beets! Eeek! I am afraid of tasting it too much
But if you say they’re concealed I may very well try a little sip.
VERY well concealed — you’ll be fine
Sip away!
Hi! I absolutely love beets and smoothies. I have been thinking about doing this for a while, although my fiance was concerned about it turning our blender pink. You have convinced me, and I happen to have a huge bag full of them!
Thanks,
Jackie
munchingmadness.blogspot.com
mmmmm delicious
LOVING the beet and cabbage smoothie ideas…the kelp…notsomuch. You are so inspiring!
Sonya
yeah, the kelp…not so delish if you add too much of it! I had a fishy smoothie that day — plugged my nose and chugged it
Cabbage is tasty, try that!
xo Sheri
I guess I should have bought the ice cream maker I saw on the second hand market today! Could you believe my husband’s first smoothie was a beet smoothie? It caused our Blendtec to overheat
Not enough water I suppose. But the next one tasted delicious. Beets and lemon are a winner!
beets a lemon? that sounds interesting. I just this spring discovered my love of beets and had quite the affair for awhile. I must try a smoothie and rekindle my love…..lol
Rekindle your love! It’s so good!
On no! An overheated Blendtec! A tragedy!
Am so impressed that your hubby’s 1st smoothie ever was made of BEETS!
Am going to try beets and lemon, great idea!
I just saw a couple of used Ice Cream Makers at the 2nd hand store too, they look barely used sitting there on the shelf priced at just a few bucks. Hope you find one!
Sheri
My first “green” smoothie attempt turned into a purple smoothie because I added beets and beet greens. I love beets, but it definitely was a veggie tasting smoothie (added in some dill for some zing) and not really fruity. Yours looks amazing. Wanna trade? :p
Dill is a great addition! Yum!
Genius idea! I love beet juice, so I imagine a beet smoothie would be excellent, with beet ice cream being AMAZING!
I want/need a BlendTec sooo bad but it will have to wait. Ah, instead, I will live vicariously through all the bloggers who have one.
Yes, beet ice cream IS amazing (strangely). You really can’t taste the beets — only the fruit.
Thanks for the comment!
I love beets, but I’ve tried even a tiny bit of beet greens in smoothies before and it just doesn’t work for me. Your kids ROCK.
Mask those greens with a TON of fruit, tastes great!
I like beets, but when I read the title of your post, it had me raise an eyebrow. BUT, then I saw the pic with all the fruit added to it, and hemp seeds (I LOVE those, they go in all in my smoothies) and cashews, another of my favourite nuts! Well, now I’ll be hunting down beets and beet greens at the farmers market next week for sure! Thanks for all the (strange but great
) smoothie ideas!
Happy to supply you with strange-but -great smoothie ideas, my dear
Brilliant! If only my blender was awesome enough to do something like this… I guess I’ll just have to put up with juicing my beets for now.
Although… I guess I could juice the beet, then add to the blender with fruit??? And still have a somewhat beety smoothie!
Awesome. I’m totally going to do that.
Juicing the beets sounds awesome. Earthmother’s above comment mentioned an ABC juice (apple, beet, carrot). That sounds so good to me.
Great idea to juice the beet and add it to the blender
Sip happily!
Just saw this post, and perfect timing, as I just tried raw beets for the first time this past week.. I didn’t like them at all unless covered in Vinegar based dressing. But I did throw them in smoothies this past week to help use them up, and my kiddo didn’t mind at all. Slurp Slurp!
Wonder if there are any other good ways to use them that bring tasty goodness… I was bummed to not like them plain as they look so tasty.
Try them in the dehydrator! Slice them and then season them and pop them in there. BEET CHIPS!
Great idea! I just got some beets from my co-op box! I don’t know if my ghetto blender can handle them though!
I hope you had a nice weekend!
Chop those beets up into tiny pieces and see how your ‘ghetto blender’ does ! (That comment cracked me up!)
Or you could grate the beets into the blender to make it easier to blend.
Enjoy!
I add a beet to one of our smoothies just about every day. And I usually add some kelp or dulse too. I’ve started sprinkling some kelp powder on our pets’ food lately as well. The dog doesn’t seem to care, but the cat isn’t too impressed with me. Sorry kitty, you have a health nut mama. Better get used to it.
Ooh! I need to add some sea veggies to my beet smoothies and see what that’s like — good idea!
Very impressed with how you feed your pets!
Oh how I love seeing your lil’ punks slurping on their beet smoothies! They are too too precious, those kiddos.
I’ve got beets galore too. Been making LOTS of ABC juice: Apple, Beet, Carrot. Gonna have to try a yummy beet-berry-mango smoothie now.
I like the sound of your juice! Gonna go dig up some beets and make Earthmother’s ABC Juice for lunch
Super post, Need to mark it on Digg
Thank you
Elcoj
I want to say – thank you for this!
Beet Smoothie sounds great, especially since I just received a bunch of organic, locally grown beets. I do not like beets raw or cooked, so I usually just juice them. I will give this smoothie a try for breakfast in the morning….I need more frozen fruit, store run. Smile
Your juiced bets sound delicious — lucky you for receiving a nice organic bunch of beets! Hope you make a yummy smoothie out of them
Thanks for the comment~
Sheri
Beets in smoothies – I get it, with all that sweetness and fruit, I totally get it!
Yes, you really can’t taste the beets! The greens do impart a different, stronger, flavor than the beets themselves though, so the greens are optional…though yummy
Haha! Thank you so much! I love beets, and your humor totally made my day
Hi Kathleen,
Nice to have you here, fellow beet-lover!
Sheri
all good things
Mmmmm…. Beets in smoothies…. I haven’t tried that, but I’m going to… And I MUST get an ice-cream maker!
I love those beautiful eyelashes!
I am a sucker for those eyelashes too
Hope you’re doing well, Penny!
Sheri
I love your beautiful blog and colorful food and pictures! Your an inspiration to all mommies trying to feed their critters better. I also have 5, and we are new to the healthy lifestyle after just switching to vegan/raw/no sugar and a few other ideas. Please tell me where to get the tiny portion cups and the plates with dividers? These would be great for feeding the brood.
Hi Amanda!
Thanks for the sweet compliments! I take no credit for this beautiful blog — I have a fabulous blog designer who made it so pretty for me
Good for you for your big lifestyle and diet changes! I hope your 5 kids adjust well to the changes.
The section plates are from a little ethnic store here in my city — a tiny little store with a fabulous stainless steel section. The tiny portion cups were bought online; I have 2 sizes — small ramekins and larger sauce cups. The ramekins were from Amazon (32 cents each) and I can’t remember where the sauce cups were from. Google around for them a bit and see if they come up. If I think of it, I’ll add it here.
Thanks for your comment,
Sheri
This is making me want to make a beet smoothie! My blender broke, though, and I didn’t realize how much I’d miss my green juice until I can’t have it.
Hi Jeremy!
Your name is familiar from my old Green and Crunchy blog…hope you’re doing well!
SO sorry to hear of your broken blender…it’s no fun being blenderless
Sheri
Tried this tonight…..didnt dig it. TOO beety for me in smoothie form. my 1yr LOVED it tho. maybe i need to add more fruit…..Oh can i add apple and make leather i wonder?
Hi Kaisha,
You didn’t like it but your BABY did? Wow! What a good little smoothie-drinker you’ve got
If it’s too beety, just add more fruit! Raspberries really mask the beety taste well, I find.
I make veggie leather using a green smoothie as my base and then dehydrating it into leather. You could do that, for sure — apple would be a great addition, good idea. I posted about it here.
Wow, that is a gorgeous coloured smoothie! I don’t think my hand blender would be up to blending beets so I better start hoping Santa drops a heavy-duty blender at my place this Christmas
I’ve also been experimenting with my Blendtec. I took two granny smiths, I red barlett pear, one banana, a bunch of frozen raspberries, one beet and a cup of ionized water. Looked like the color of blood, but was delicious. Imagine being able to give your kids raw beets?
Yes, my kids love it, wow huh?
Your recipe is a winner, I’m trying it for breakfast! Thanks for sharing
Sheri
This is fabulous. I’ve just started drinking green smoothies. My question is do you peel the raw beets?
I scrub them well with a stiff brush but I leave the peels on. There are many nutrients in the peels, and they are organic, so the peels stay
Thanks so much Sheri. Now I just have to figure out if my Wolfgang Puck blender can handle a raw beet.
I’m new to green smoothies. I love them, am already keen to start experimenting.
I don’t know how strong Wolfgang Puck is
so maybe if you chop the beet up (dice it or shred it) that will make it easier on the blender? Worth a try, the beets are such a healthy addition. Good for you for experimenting in the land of green smoothies!