Summertime Starburst Turmeric Smoothie (vegan+gf)

Quick and easy, that’s kind of my mood today and I’m guessing there’s a good chance it’s yours too so I’m going to, for reals, keep this one short-winded.  

In case you were curious, no, I didn’t actually put candy in this smoothie. Like I said, it’s ultra, super healthy. I made a smoothie about two weeks ago that was really good, but what I couldn’t get over was that it tasted exactly like a starburst candy and I had no idea how I achieved said flavor. You see, I typically use my smoothies as a way to finish off extra ingredients and over-ripe produce from all the different recipes I’ve been testing so they vary a lot. The one I’m talking bout had so many different fruits by the time it was done that it was ridiculous.

Anyway, I tried over and over to recreate it but I still haven’t figured out what the flavor combo was. This smoothie was the closest I’ve gotten to repeating it and even if it isn’t quite as close as the first it’s still a great smoothie. I layered the colors with the simple trick of pouring some out then adding one or two more things to change the color.

Here’s the easy part I’m talking about, step one, you make a yellow base which is where the turmeric comes in. How do you feel about turmeric by the way? It’s been gaining popularity for it’s health benefits and this is the first time I’ve added it to a smoothie (which I partially did only for its vibrant color, but I found I kind of liked the hint of flavor in the smoothie too.). You can go really light if you don’t like the taste, or just skip it all together.

Then step two, you pour some of your bright yellow smoothie into your glasses, pour some out to save for your other colors, and add the orange stuff to blend.

Step three, just add the pink stuff to your reserved base and mix it up and if you want you can stop there or, for the red, add a little bit of beet to make your smoothie really stand out.

Obviously, you can skip this whole little process and make it a one-toned smoothie (even though layers are more fun). Also, any of the ingredients you can pretty much substitute with something similar and then be sure to adjust the amount of sweetener to your own taste since different fruits and ripeness will affect the final smoothie.

Okay that’s it, smoothie time! Cheers guys!

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Summertime Starburst Turmeric Smoothie (vegan+gf)

Instead of basic strawberry banana, try this healthy party of a smoothie that tastes like a piece of candy in a cup!

Prep Time 20 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

Yellow:

• 1 medium banana
• 1 medium apple peeled and cored
• 1 cup almond milk can sub dairy, rice, or lite coconut, plus more as needed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons agave maple syrup, or honey
• juice and zest from 1 lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric more or less to taste

Orange:

• 1 medium orange juice and pulp
• 1 small carrot
• 2 tablespoons agave maple syrup, or honey

Pink

• 1 cup frozen watermelon cubes
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
• 1/2 cup 100% raspberry or strawberry juice
• 2 tablespoons agave maple syrup, or honey

Red

• 1/5 of a cooked or raw beet for red color optional

Instructions

1. Combine all the ingredients for the yellow base of the smoothie in a blender and blend until smooth. You should have about 2 1/2 cups; pour about 1 cup into a spouted measuring cup and set aside. Now pour about 1/4 cup of the yellow smoothie into each of 4 glasses.
2. Add the orange ingredients to blender, and a bit more milk if needed to blend, and pulse until smooth. Divide orange layer between the glasses.
3. Now add the 1 cup of yellow back to the blender along with the pink layer ingredients and blend. Divide half of the pink between the glasses then, if desired for red layer, add beets to the other half of pink mixture and blend very well until smooth and finish off glasses and serve.