Gettin’ orange-y wit it, a Whole Carrot-Mango Smoothie with Mint

Hot hot heat (remember that band, by the way?)! It was feeling really good outside, autumn-like in San Diego, but I think there’s a bit of another heat wave going on here in SoCal and some storms which make things muggy. This morning, after pumping iron (I’m the type who would rather lift weights and do push-ups than run or do a spin class), I wanted to treat myself to a cool drink.  I really like the “Orange Carrot Karma” smoothie at Jamba Juice, but I wanted to see if I could make one at home. I came upon a smoothie recipe over at Camilla Saulsbury’s blog Power Hungry that had these:

(image credit:  http://english4kids-step-by-step.blogspot.com)

Whole carrots! Hey, what can I say? I like carrots in my drink!

How do you get such a smooth drink with whole carrots?

…with a little help from my grater! Use the fine grating side. After doing bicep curls and other arm exercises, I think my arms didn’t mind more work with the grater. A food processor with would be fine, I think, but I often shoot for less clean-up. Camilla said that even old blenders will make a smooth carrot liquid by shredding it with the small holes of the grater before blending.

Funny how the shredded carrots seem to give off of a fluorescence in this picture. Mango, mint (torn with your fingers), calamansi (or other citrus), and a sweetener like stevia (optional) are the other ingredients. Orange was my favorite color when I was a pre-teen and teen-ager. It’s in second place now behind green, though I do love orange-colored recipes. Blitz all the ingredients in the blender until velvety smooth. The mango can be frozen or not. I like the texture of the frozen variety.

It worked! I didn’t need to use any sweetener, but add some if needed to your tastes. Carrots and mangoes are pretty sweet on their own, so it was just the right amount for me.

Whole Carrot-Mango & Mint Smoothie

minimally adapted from PowerHungry.com

serves 1

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup frozen mango chunks (original recipe was 1 cup mango, but I like it with a bit more carrot flavor, feel free to adjust to taste)
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and finely grated
• a couple of large mint leaves, torn
• 1 cup ice water (I used a couple of larger ice cubes)
• 2 tablespoons calamansi juice (or freshly squeezed orange, lemon, or lime juice–maybe a mix of citrus, why not!)
• Sweetener to taste (optional)
• Mint leaves for garnish

Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth! Garnish with mint leaves and stay cool!

Beta-carotene bliss. I could see this being part of a good breakfast. Anytime is nice too.

I love the refreshing mint in this recipe as well, but feel free to add other flavors to the mix and let me know how it turns out! Maybe the Gargoyle of Escondido, CA-based Stone Brewing Co. (SBC) wouldn’t mind if I used an SBC beer glass for my smoothie. 😀

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