Mikans are a seedless variety of tangerine. After zesting six mikans for another recipe, I knew that I had to act fast before they dried out. I wasn’t going to eat them over the course of a day, so I did what anyone with a high-powered blender would do. . . I drank them.

To be clear, this is a dessert, and probably the best fruit smoothie that I’ve ever had. It’s bright, warming, and comforting. The tiny specs of vanilla bean warm my heart and I’m pretty sure that I’m in love.  

The recipe:

• 5-6 tangerines, clementines, or mikans
• ½ of a banana (or frozen banana if you want this to be chilled)
• ½ cup coconut milk
• 1 inch nub fresh ginger
• 1 inch nub fresh turmeric (or 1 tsp powdered turmeric)
• 4 dates
• ½ vanilla bean

Remove the peel from the tangerines, banana, ginger, and turmeric. If you’re using regular tangerines, remove and discard the seeds. Scrape the vanilla beans from the pod and toss the pod into your DIY Homemade Vanilla Extract. Toss everything (sans pod) into the blender and blend to a smooth consistency. This makes 2 servings, share!

Ayurveda notes: Many smoothies are difficult for digestion due to the combination of raw fruit with milk. This can create gas, bloating, and heaviness in the stomach. Smoothies are often prepared from frozen fruit, which causes digestion to slow down and creates toxins in the digestive tract. For this smoothie, I kept things simple and added warming spices to increase the digestive fire.

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