Clementines are a variety of Mandarin Orange. I found a bag of them on sale today so I picked them up. Yay! It’s unfortunate how little fresh citrus fruits I get to eat because the quality and prices in the stores around where I live is terrible nearly year-round. Nope, not close enough to the equator. The good news is that clementines are usually great quality, come in a big bundle/box, and are sometimes on sale. If you have never tried them I really suggest that you do. They have much thinner peels than oranges and are really easy to peel open, typically don’t have seeds and are very sweet and juicy. Of course they are very healthy – containing a lot of Vitamin C, B Vitamins, potassium, calcium, ++ fiber, water and antioxidants – especially when you eat the peel too! I LOVE the sharp taste of the peel in smoothies. It can really hide the taste of other ingredients, such as the taste of spinach/greens or beets, if you don’t like those flavors. OR it can scare you away completely — if that is the case just omit the peel and you’ve still got a lovely smoothie. Check out what I made today:
Green Clementine Smoothie
- Handful of Spinach *or other greens
- 3 Clementines * or tangerine, orange
- +peel ~ 2in x 2in piece *experiment for your tastes
- Strawberries ~1 cup
- 1 banana
- Pineapple ~1/4 cup
- Flax Seeds ~ 1 Tbsp
- Soy Milk *until blendable ~ 1 cup
I’m going to be saving all of my peels and putting some of these ideas to use too – 5 Clementine Peel Ideas!
Photos to come! I feel bad publishing text-only posts!