My New Smoothie Recipe Courtesy of the JICA Volunteer

I think that I have written about Minako, the volunteer from Japan. She lives in the same house that I do and also works in the schools. JICA (Japanese International Cooperation Agency) is basically the Japanese version of Peace Corps. Minako is awesome and is a nutritionist. I have enjoyed collaborating with her. She worked on creating a recipe book to pass out to the local health centers and schools. As I was looking through the book I found a recipe that intrigued me: a banana beet smoothie.

Ingredients:
Bananas
Beets
Milk

Directions:
Cook the beets in a little water until they are soft (I like to do this the day before or make extra)
When the beets are cool, combine in equal quantity with bananas
Add milk until it is the desired consistency
Blend well

Voila!

I like the color. If you aren't the biggest beet-lover you might want to add more banana than beets because the beet flavor is strong. The recipe calls for sugar as well, but I think that the bananas give it enough sweetness.

 Peace Corps is all about goals 1, 2, and 3.
Goal 1: To help the people of interested countries meet their needs for trained men and woman.
Goal 2: To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of peoples served.
Goal 3: To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

While Minako isn't Guatemalan, I feel that teaching her what a "selfie" is counts as good goal 2 work :)

Minako and I with our smoothies