Citrus Immune Boosting Smoothie

At first, I had my doubts about creating this smoothie and I will tell you why…

First off, I do not like drinking smoothies in the winter. They are just cold, they have ice that I have to get from my freezer and they usually make me colder once I drink them. Brrr…

Second off, as much as I hate to admit it I downright suck at drinking smoothies. I love making them but takes forever to get them down. I just cannot seem to “drink them”, I want to “eat them.” I get distracted really easily, and before I know it hours have gone by and I am at half a glass.

The only thing that makes it easy for me to slurp down a smoothie is lots of citrus! I don’t know why it is but NOBODY puts enough lemon in the smoothies at stores, especially the green smoothies which let us be honest are the ones that need it the most! I once had to go buy lemon juice for a lady at a health food store and ask her to put some in for me.

Am I alone here?

I decided to experiment with a smoothie recipe though because there are so many varieties of citrus available right now, I couldn’t help myself! Plus, this is the time when everyone is catching “what’s going around” so I wanted to pack the smoothie full of immune-boosting goodness to help combat those winter colds if at all possible!

The fun thing about smoothies is that they are so versatile, easy to add whatever you desire or take out what you don’t want, and usually end up tasting pretty good either way. I decided to be extra fun and make one of those swirled smoothies. Two different colors of smoothies that you can swirl together. I see them all the time on Pinterest and always think… I want to try that!

It’s also interesting to see how the different flavors of the smoothie come together in the end.

There is so much citrus in this smoothie. I used mandarins and cara cara oranges plus, citrus essential oils (which we will get to later) but you can add blood oranges, minneolas, grapefruit, or whatever floats your citrus boat!

I also tried to add in many other immune-boosting ingredients which I will get to below.

Yellow side!

Such a beautiful color. Carrots, oranges, mandarin, turmeric, and honey.

Besides citrus which contains a great amount of vitamin C, carrots are also brimming with antioxidants and vitamin C as well. Turmeric has the yellow-orange spice called curcumin, another natural immune booster! I added honey for extra sweetness but honey is also known to have antioxidant and antibacterial properties that boost the immune system.

When adding the oranges and mandarins I just peeled them and tried to leave some of the white pithy coatings because it actually contains a lot of nutrients and vitamins!

Red side!

So deep in color. Beets, pomegranate juice, orange juice, blueberries, and honey.

Finding a way to consume more beets is always going to be beneficial. Surprisingly beets are packed with vitamin C as well as folate, potassium, manganese, and iron; all minerals that you need to support a healthy immune system.

Pomegranates and blueberries are definitely known for their health benefits. Vitamin C and antioxidants galore!

I would use frozen blueberries if possible because they are most likely to contain more of the vitamins. Blueberries are not in season in the winter by any means! Luckily I had some blueberries from my grandparent’s blueberry bushes in my freezer.

The brand that I use for my essential oils is doTERRA and they have so many citrus oils to choose from. I went with yellow mandarin and tangerine. I felt the yellow mandarin would compliment the mandarins that I had put in the smoothie and the tangerine would just be a fun addition.

An added bonus is that most citrus essential oils are pressed from the rinds, which can be too bitter to eat but has lots of nutrients. Essential oils are a great way to add in those extra benefits without the bitter effect. All of them have great benefits so play around with what you like. Red mandarin, green mandarin, clementine, lemon, wild orange, grapefruit; the list goes on!

This smoothie ended up being really delicious and was just bursting with a citrus flavor that I ended up quickly drinking a whole glass! It is packed with vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants that will help keep you feeling healthy and energized throughout the day. So get your blender out and blend the winter colds away!