Sunrise Smoothies

Whenever I go on vacation, I tend to eat things I wouldn’t normally eat.  I like to try new things.  I also like to eat locally, eat the traditional foods of the region.  Sometimes the foods I would normally eat just aren’t available.  And, I admit, I like to treat myself.  This vacation was no exception.  Cape Cod is all about fried seafood and Sundae School Ice cream, foods that I normally don’t eat every day.

Now that I’m home, I feel the need to get back to my normal routine.  Cleanse.  The breakfast smoothie is one of the best ways to start your day.  This is really three smoothies in one.  You can make any one of these, they don’t have to be layered.  I do like to add greens to my smoothies, specifically spinach, because it’s the sweetest of the greens, but it will turn your smoothie green.  If you’re making this for friends or family that don’t usually drink green drinks, or if you’re trying to get children to eat more greens, it’s better to hide the spinach in a blueberry or blackberry smoothie.  They won’t know it’s there.

You want to start with frozen fruit to get a thick, milkshake consistency drink.  See my previous post to view tips on freezing fruit.

Sunrise smoothie

Make 2-4 servings depending on the glass size - Use organic ingredients whenever possible

Yellow Layer

3/4 cup filtered water

3/4 cup frozen banana (chopped)

3/4 cup frozen pineapple chunks (apricots or peaches will work as well)

Red Layer

3/4 cup filtered water

3/4 cup frozen banana chunks

3/4 cup frozen raspberries (or use strawberries) 

Blue Layer

3/4 cup filtered water

3/4 cup frozen banana chunks

3/4 cup frozen blackberries (or use blueberries)

1 cup (packed) fresh spinach 

Put yellow layer ingredients in your blender and blend (on smoothie cycle if there is one) until smooth.  Pour this into two or three glasses depending on the size of your glasses.

Rinse out your blender and add the red layer ingredients.  Blend until smooth.  To get the layers to remain separate, you need to pour the red smoothie slowly over the back of a soup spoon on top of the yellow smoothie. 

Repeat the same steps with the blue smoothie.