I’m sorry if anyone is tired of my juice and smoothie recipe shares, I do have something to mix things up in a day or so! But I found this smoothie to be fruity, sweet, green and oh so easy to make 😀 I was just geeking to share!

I wanted to make good use of my beet tops so I grabbed 5 beet tops (the greens), soaked and washed them well (very dirty typically). The night before I had went overboard on organic local cherries at the Farmer’s Market once I heard that this was the last batch around plus, they were extremely juicy and magically delicious last time 😉 ❤ So I froze half a cups worth of pitted cherries to use for a smoothie in the morning if I felt like it, it's always great to have frozen fruit around the house. For some people this might help them feel inspired or motivated to make smoothies, homemade sorbet and so on.

It’s honest to goodness not a big deal at all if you do not have maca in the house, I used MacaForce by HealthForce SuperFoods which happens to have vanilla and ginger in it. If you are more of a chocolate person please feel free to use chocolate instead, either way tastes excellent! You can even use a scoop of your favorite protein powder, and if it unflavored (sometimes called natural, which seems silly to me) and half of a vanilla bean or a teaspoon or more of cacao.

I personally could use a little more maca in take for my body. I’ve been biking/burning more calories than normal and I already mentally and physically lack a lot of things that maca supports. So please follow your body’s call on this one ❤

I would love for this recipe to be easy for anyone to make at home, and hopefully for it to not be a huge expense either. I think this is why I tend to lean towards making juices, smoothies and salads on my site. I will be posted some salad recipes in a few days.

If anyone is interested in more nut-free, sugar-free, oil-free recipes and etc. please let me know! I do try to use very little oil, salt, nuts and sugars in my foods so it would be great to hear if this is something others see as being high in demand as well.

Vanilla Maca Cherry Smoothie Recipe

1/2 cup frozen cherries (you can use fresh cherries instead just up the amount of ice you need for your desired smoothie consistency)

5 beet tops (the greens), washed & cut

1 teaspoon coconut oil

1 teaspoon lime juice (lemon would be fine too!)

1 teaspoon MacaForce (read above for several other options)

1 cup ice

1 cup or more filtered water (according to your preference)

Blend until the consistency is just right for you and enjoy!

One cup of raw cherries has just a little over 80 calories, you can get your sweet fix and not feel guilty 🙂 Cherries have been linked to; anti-inflammatory benefits, reduction in pain from gout and arthritis, as well as an extensive list of heart health benefits. Some researchers believe that cherries can help reduce post-exercise muscle & joint pain.

So now to convince those out there that beet tops are tasty 🙂 You all have probably had them in a salad before but I am going to talk a guess that not too many people have juiced them or blended them in a smoothie. The beet tops do taste “green and earthy” however, the flavor is nowhere as strong as kale or spinach. Fruit especially makes them difficult to taste. So if you are feeling a bit uneasy about trying this recipe out, please give beet greens a chance!

They are food, it is wasteful to put beet tops in the trash, it breaks my heart when people throw them away. At grocery stores I have even asked cashiers & people in produce to please keep the beet greens for me if a customer asks for them to be removed. I recommend you doing the same, it will save you some serious cash and the health benefits of beet greens are beetiful 😉

Beet greens are high in vitamin a, which stimulate white blood cells so you are heavily protected from infections. This also means that vitamin A can play a role in cancer prevention. Super awesome fact to remember, especially if you are a veghead and want a little “take that” phrase; if you regularly consume vitamin A-rich plants like beet greens, you are at a much lower risk of developing cancer than if you get your vitamin from animal products.

Vitamin A is also crucial to vision health, especially preventing night blindness (something my mother shows symptoms of having that I am petrified of getting myself).

More beets and or cherry related posts:

If you are interested in learning more about beet tops please check out my previous blog post dedicated to them 🙂

I have previously shared my Dark Sweet Cherry Coconut Chocolate Protein Shake Recipe, if that sounds more like your thang!

I’ve also done a Red Velvet Juice Recipe using cherries & beets.

AND I have made my own Cherry Chocolate Fruit Peels

So may be I have a thing for cherries…or for having some heart 😉

Thank you for taking the time to stop by my website. I hope you all enjoy this recipe, or may be even one of my previous recipes. Please feel free to ask any questions or drop a line with a request. Have a delicious day, much love & raw power ❤

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