A Cuppa for my thoughts: Carrot cake in a jar!?

Carrot Cake smoothie

My first attempt at baking a carrot cake was for my father-in-law who turned 70. Not to brag but it was tasty. Even the cream cheese frosting stayed on the cake!

I probably made this cake twice because it involved too much work and had a long (too long for my cooking standards) list of ingredients.

So when I discovered carrot cake smoothie, I just had to try it. And it only required 4 ingredients! You cannot beat that.

The recipe

1/4 cup soaked nuts (overnight)

1 cup carrots

2 very ripe bananas

1 cup of cold soya milk (can be replaced with milk or any other nut milk)

Blend nuts with milk until it turns into a smooth consistency. Be patient as this may take some time if you are using a simple blender. Then add carrots and blitz again. Put the bananas in the end. Add more milk or any other liquid to thin it out.

Serve immediately or store it in your fridge, in an air tight container.

It was very easy to prepare this carrot cake as you can see my little chef did most of the work (supervised, of course).

We know carrots can be quite fibrous and blending these in an ordinary blender may not give you a smooth smoothie. So I roasted the carrots, in hopes that it would break much easier in my ordinary blender (you can steam it too). But if you own a high powered blender like Vitamix, you can blend it raw.

The results

Carrots blended well but the hazelnuts didn't. I did not mind having some texture in my smoothie. As for the rest of the family, 3 out of 4 drank it happily but my fussiest critic did not like the nutty taste in her drink. "It's getting stuck to my teeth!" she complained, but I will definitely make this smoothie again. It's packed with wholesome goodness and can keep you going the whole morning without feeling hungry.

The benefits

All vegetables are fibrous carbohydrates which will keep you feeling full longer than refined carbs that you find in processed food. It is "nature's Brillo pad, scrubbing your intestines clean as it works its way through your body" (Kimberly Lord Stewart)

If you don't like your smoothie thick, add more (cold) liquid to water it down and enjoy sipping it while watching your favourite show. The amount of liquid (milk or water) varies depending on personal preference.

Try it and let me know what you think of this smoothie.