Recently it’s come to my attention that, for some reason, there are very few sardine smoothie recipes out there. For that matter, there aren’t enough good fish smoothie recipes of any kind. So, this must be the right time to share one of my favorite sardine smoothie creations with you.
Why sardines? For one thing, they are small. Smaller fish are lower on the food chain and have much less contaminants (mercury, PCB etc.) stored in their fat than larger fish. When it comes to fish, smaller is always better. (This is most likely why you will be hard pressed to find even one whale smoothie recipe.)
Sardines might be small, but when it comes to nutrition they are huge. Did you know that one sardine smoothie contains about 25% of your daily requirement of calcium? In addition to that they are loaded with vitamin D, B12, niacin, phosphorus, selenium and of course protein. As an added bonus sardines are also highly anti-inflammatory.
Personally, I believe that most people don’t give enough thought as to the inflammatory aspects of the food they eat. Chronic or low grade, long lasting inflammation, is believed to be the root cause of many age related diseases, (almost everything from arthritis to alzheimers, according to some sources). Some foods are inflammatory and some are anti-inflammatory. It’s always a good idea to balance the two as much as you can.
Now that we are all excited about sardines, how do we incorporate them into a delicious smoothie? It’s a two step process and I’ll walk you through it.
Step one, making the basic juice.
Here is what you need:
One Juicer
Several stalks of celery
1/4 yellow onion
2 or 3 jalapeno peppers
One raw beet
Here is what you do:
Put all of the above ingredients into the juicer and make the juice.
Step two, making the smoothie.
Here is what you need:
One food processor
One tin of sardines
The juice from above
2 or 3 shots of tequila (optional)
Here is what you do:
Combine the first two ingredients and place into the food processor. Blend until smooth.
Because this seems to be an acquired taste for some people, you might want to take the optional shots of tequila before drinking the smoothie.
Another way you can enjoy the health benefits of sardines is to just put them on your salad. That’s usually what I do.