Carrot Cake Smoothie

All the flavors you love in a classic carrot cake are blended together to make this delicious carrot cake smoothie.  Get your calcium, protein and vitamins with this healthy smoothie all while having your cake and eating it too.

Did you know that June is National Dairy Month?  Yeah, me neither until I signed up for a cooking demonstration put on by the dietitians at my local Hyvee, love that store!  They demonstrated a few recipes highlighting dairy and chatted a little bit with us about the importance of dairy in our diets.   I went home and did a little research on my own as to how National Dairy month started.  According to the IDFA (International Dairy Foods Association), “National Dairy Month was started to promote drinking milk.”  Seems pretty simple if you think about it, but do you consume the recommended daily value, for adults, of 3 servings (3 cups) of dairy a day?  I’m ashamed to admit, I do not.  Unless you count the days where I can consume an entire bag of cheese curds by myself (the squeaker the better)  That cannot be considered healthy. opps.

Milk is one of the best ways for you to quickly and easily consume dairy.  Just one 8 ounce glass of milk has 8 grams of protein, 30% of your recommended daily calcium and 9 essential nutrients.  Calcium in our diets is so important for strong bones, teeth and can aid in maintaining a healthy blood pressure.  According to the IDFA, “From calcium to potassium, dairy products like milk contain nine essential nutrients which may help to better manage your weight, reduce your risk for high blood pressure, osteoporosis and certain cancers.”  If that isn’t enough for you to go and get yourself a glass of milk right now, I don’t know what is.

But milk isn’t the only way for us to get our calcium.  There’s yogurt, a variety of cheeses, cottage cheese and ice cream (YES!) to just name a few. I know for one, I’m not the fondest of drinking a glass of milk and neither are my children.  Although, we do make them drink their milk, they aren’t the biggest fans, so we’re usually adding a little bit of chocolate or strawberry syrup just to get them to drink it.   Insert smoothies.  Smoothies are the perfect way for you to “sneak” in milk, veggies and fruit without your children knowing about it.  Now in order for them to drink the smoothie, it has to taste good.  Insert cake.  Carrot cake smoothie to be more exact.  And what child would turn down cake?  I know mine wouldn’t.

This smoothie is SO good.  It taste just like you’re eating cake and I love carrot cake!  It’s one of my favorite desserts and something I always crave. There is nothing better than a moist carrot cake, iced with cream cheese frosting and garnished with chopped walnuts.  Mmmm…I’m thinking I need to make a cake soon, but in the meantime, this smoothie did the trick.  It was nutty, sweet and smooth with a subtle spice from the ginger.  And if those adjectives aren’t enough to entice you to make this, it contains yogurt and milk so you’ll be getting in a serving of dairy and a dose of fruits and vegetables too.  Carrot Cake smoothie FTW.  Does anyone use that acronym anymore?

This was one of the recipes that was highlighted from the demonstration I attended but I made tweaks to make the recipe my own and to suit my taste buds, but you could change-up any of the ingredients to suit your needs.  Also, use what you have on hand.  I used canned sliced carrots and frozen pineapple but if you only have whole carrots, you could boil them until they’re soft and toss them into the blender that way.  You could also use canned crushed pineapple.  Personally, I love to use frozen fruits in my smoothies as it serves as the ice without watering down what you’re blending and makes for a thicker smoothie.  I also decided to top mine with grated carrots, a pinch of nutmeg, raisins and walnuts as that’s the way I love to enjoy my carrot cake.

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Carrot Cake Smoothie

Prep 5 mins

Cook 2 mins

Total 7 mins

Author Strawberry Blondie Kitchen

Yield 3 (1 cup servings)

All the flavors you love in a classic carrot cake are blended together to make this delicious carrot cake smoothie. Get your calcium, protein and vitamins with this healthy smoothie all while having your cake and eating it too.

Ingredients

• 1 cup non-fat milk (use your preferred type)
• 1 5.3 ounce container vanilla greek yogurt
• 1 cup canned sliced carrots, drained
• 2 tablespoon of agave (or honey)
• 1/3 cup frozen pineapple chunks
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice
• Optional Toppings
• pinch of fresh grated nutmeg, grated carrots, chopped walnuts, raisins

Instructions

1. Start by placing the milk and yogurt into the blender. *It's best to put liquids in first to ensure proper blending
2. Add in the rest of your ingredients and blend on high for 1 minute.
3. Pour into serving glasses and garnish with desired toppings

Notes

*Heavily adapted from Patricia Harmon, "Ultimate" smoothie recipe contest winner

Courses Smoothie

Enjoy and if you make this recipe, please share a photo on social media and hashtag it #strawberryblondiekitchen  I love to see your versions!

What’s your favorite cake?  I’m thinking this whole cake smoothie thing can become a huge trend.  We’ll all be getting our nutrients, proteins, vitamins and calcium all while sipping on our favorite cake flavor.