Tess Masters, otherwise known as The Blender Girl, created this smoothie for her latest blender book – and we’re loving it for a myriad of reasons. For one, it’s designed to help detox your liver (hello, summer rosé!), so it’s everything our bodies need in order to get back on track after a weekend of indulgence. But it also contains what we consider a surprising green smoothie ingredient: mint!
You may use mint for just about everything else – tea, ice cream, cocktails – but if you’ve never tried it in a smoothie, try this recipe and thank us, later! We can’t stop adding mint to everything that goes in the blender this summer.
This vegetable-packed blend is surprisingly delicious (definitely add the mint!). The betaine in beets flushes the liver, purifies the blood and enhances circulation; carrots boost the liver’s antioxidant capacity; and lemons improve liver function. Chard provides syringic acid, a flavonoid that prevents liver degeneration, and mango and ginger have liver-protecting properties, too.
The Blender Girl’s Beet Mint Smoothie
Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 1⁄2 cups unfiltered apple juice
1 medium raw beet, chopped (steamed or baked, if using a conventional blender)
1 medium carrot, chopped (steamed or grated, if using a conventional blender)
2 medium lemons, peeled and seeded
1 cup loosely packed chard leaves
1 cup frozen mango
Optional boosters:
1 tsp minced ginger
1⁄4 cup firmly packed mint
1⁄4 cup frozen raw broccoli florets
1⁄8 tsp ground turmeric
Directions:
Throw all of the ingredients (except the frozen mango) into your blender and blast on high for about 1 minute, until well combined. Add the frozen mango and blast for 10 to 20 seconds more, until smooth and creamy.
Reprinted with permission from The Blender Girl Smoothies, by Tess Masters, copyright © 2014, 2015, published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
