We drink some funny things in our fruit and veggie smoothies each day. Especially when you compare what is in our glass to what you might buy at smoothie or juice chain stores.

I had a friend text me a picture and a smoothie recipe and at first I thought she was joking. No way, really? Instead of composting or chucking this often discarded veggie scrap, she blends it.

Put on you big kid pants because this one isn’t normal.

Carrot tops.

Yep, the green thing that grows above the soil attached to the orange root veggie growing below.

My friend bagged and froze her carrot tops this past weekend and her smoothie recipe is as follows:

Purple Pine Green Smoothie

2-3 carrot tops
2 cups mixed frozen fruit
2 cups mixed frozen berries
chia seeds
1 cup peach yogurt

Blend until smooth. *****Tastes like a pine tree, very Christmas-like*****

Of course I had to try it. I LOVE the idea of using something commonly tossed!!! Admittedly I was struggling to wrap my head around the taste. I am not a fan of parsley and carrot tops have a similar flavor but I was hopeful.

My recipe went something like this:

Carrot Top Smoothie (makes 5-ish cups)

1 banana
1 cup zucchini
1 cup blackberries
1 peach
1 carrot
1 carrot top (not quite as brave as my friend)
1 tomato
1 cup homemade milk kefir

….aaaaand, it wasn’t nasty. It did havea strong carrot flavor and one of my kids who hates carrots wondered out loud (several times) why it tasted so much like carrots. She might have pulled a gaggy face or two as well.

I liked it.

Hubby didn’t complain – he doesn’t anyway, he quit tasting my smoothies long ago and chugs them down regardless of the brew. Occasionally, he will shudder and wince but he doesn’t verbalize his dismay.

My other two minions even swallowed them down without any regurgitation.

Here is the best part, AFTER drinking the carrot top smoothie, I googled it to see if they were poisonous. Good news they aren’t.

People actually eat carrot tops on purpose and there are recipes online that will prove this point. They haven’t died yet either.

Think green leafy veggie = phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals, fiber and using something you would normally toss.

Genius even if it is a little strange…like us.

Happy Blending!
Brooke

PS If YOU have something unusual, wacky or weird that you love to blend, TELL ME!!!! I live for this stuff and would love to hear about it!!!

PPS The FAM still doesn’t know what they drank that day, if you see them don’t tell them, it only makes them nervous when it’s smoothie time.