If you like smoothies, you’ll have to check out a new book, What Color is Your Smoothie? It’s filled with 300 recipes that can help you get the recommended daily five servings of fruits and vegetables in your diet, in addition to important vitamins and minerals your body needs. As I was reviewing the book, I learned that each color group of fruits and veggies offer different health benefits, so it’s important to include a variety of different colored fruits and veggies in your diet.

The first chapter,  Nature’s Formula for Better Health, includes information on vitamins and minerals that are important for good health and the different foods you’ll find them in. The second chapter, Blending for a Better Life, gives you helpful tips on how to prepare fruits, veggies, and herbs for blending. The other seven chapters are filled with smoothie recipes organized by color: White (Vanilla Chiller, Crazy for Coconuts), Red (Red Berry Roundup, Creamy, Dreamy Watermelon), Orange (Sweet Potato Surprise, Papaya Powerhouse), Yellow (Pumped Up Pineapple, Luscious Lemon Mango Melon), Green (Cucumber Zing, Green Ginger Apple), Blue (Amazing Blueberry Almond, Blueberry Oatmeal Delight), and Purple (Sweet Spiced Blackberries, Purple Plum Thunder). As you can see, there’s quite a variety!

I decided to try the Sweet and Smooth Citrus Smoothie…I’m a citrus-lover, and this smoothie is packed with lots of Vitamin C from the oranges, lemon, and lime that are in it!  Bananas and coconut milk are also in the recipe, giving the smoothie a thick, creamy consistency. And it’s really good for you…as the book points out, “Vitamin C, limonin, and potassium combine for an all-out attack against sickness and disease.” Here’s the recipe if you want to try it out!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SWEET AND SMOOTH CITRUS SMOOTHIE from What Color is Your Smoothie?

 Makes 3 cups, 360 calories per cup

• 3 oranges, peeled and deseeded
• 1/2 lemon, peeled and deseeded
• 1/2 lime, peeled and deseeded
• 2 bananas, peeled
• 1 1/2 cups coconut milk
• 1 cup ice

In a blender, combine the oranges, lemon, lime, bananas, and 1 cup coconut milk with 1/2 cup ice, and blend until thoroughly combined. While blending, add remaining coconut milk and ice until desired consistency is achieved (I actually just used the 1 cup of coconut milk and 1/2 cup ice, because I like my smoothies thicker).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I really want to try to get more fruits and veggies in my diet and smoothies are a great way to do it! How about you?