Clementine Sunshine Smoothie

I’m just not that into smoothies. It’s nothing against fruit (really fruit, it’s me, not you). I just like to eat my food. This smoothie, however, is a different story. I’ve been fighting a head cold for over a week and I’ve been getting desperate for a solution. Every evening, I feel off-balance, like my head is underwater. I’ve had enough of this vertigo!

Since I refuse to go to the doctor for antibiotics, I’ve been spending quality time with this lovely contraption, taking probiotics and trying to consume as much immunity-boosting vitamin C as possible. Which is where this clementine smoothie comes into the picture. I drank at least four of these over the weekend and I am feeling better.

This smoothie is delicious, light and refreshing—closer to fresh-squeezed orange juice than a thick banana smoothie. It tastes similar to an orange julius or a dreamsicle or those orange Flintstone push-ups from my childhood. I couldn’t decide what to call it, but the sunshine in the photos seemed to match the bright clementine flavor in the glass, so I landed on clementine sunshine smoothie. Let’s go with it.

This four-ingredient smoothie is suuuuuper simple to make. So simple that I hesitated to post it, but then I thought about all the other people out there who are fighting winter colds, or worse. When energy is running low, we need the simplest of solutions, and this is one of them.

Each little clementine offers about 60 percent of your daily value of vitamin C. That means that this modestly-sized smoothie, which is made with four clementines, puts you at around 240 percent of fresh, bioavailable vitamin C. That’s twice as much as a glass of Minute Maid and it tastes better, too. Since you just blend up the ingredients in a blender, it’s even easier to make than fresh orange juice.

I offered a few totally optional add-ins in case you want to play around with this smoothie. I honestly love it most in its purest form, with just clementines, yogurt or almond milk and ice. This has become the new orange juice in my house, so I’ll be enjoying it even after I buck this cold! I hope you love it, too.

Products used in this recipe

Blendtec blender
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Clementine Sunshine Smoothie

Author: Cookie and Kate
Prep Time: 5 mins
Total Time: 5 mins
Yield: 1 smoothie
Category: Smoothie

★★★★★

4.9 from 16 reviews

Simple, delicious smoothie made with clementines and creamy yogurt or almond milk. This healthy, immunity-boosting smoothie offers around 240 percent of your daily value of vitamin C! Recipe yields one modestly-sized, 10-ounce smoothie.

Ingredients

4 clementines, preferably chilled
½ cup ice
¼ cup yogurt or almond milk (plain or vanilla flavors work)
Tiny dash sea salt

Totally optional add-in ideas (I prefer the smoothie as listed above):

Chunks of frozen banana for extra creaminess (you can scale back on the ice if using frozen banana)
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric for exotic flavor and more immunity-boosting properties
Drizzle of honey for extra sweetness
One drop of pure vanilla extract for more of a dreamsicle flavor

Instructions

Use your fingers to peel the clementines and pull each one in half. Pull out any excess pith in the center and discard it.
Add the yogurt or almond milk to the blender, followed by the clementines, ice and a tiny dash of salt, which enhances the other flavors. Feel free to add any of the optional add-ins suggested above. Blend well, until the clementines have turned into juice and there are no chunks of ice left.
There will probably still be some bits of pith in the smoothie. If you don’t mind some texture, pour into a glass and enjoy immediately. For a perfectly smooth smoothie, pour it through a metal sieve into your glass.

Notes

Recipe inspired by Gimme Some Oven’s Orange Julius recipe.

▸ Nutrition Information

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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