Carrot and Orchard Fruit Smoothie

I almost feel like I'm cheating by posting a smoothie recipe! However, I figured there must be a time and space for posting about smoothies as there is always time to drink them! Smoothies are a huge part of my diet, I tend to have at least one a day, they keep me going making a perfect light breakfast. Although some research has been done with people claiming that the sugar rush caused by the fact that we drink them too fast makes them less healthy than we think, nothing really conclusive has surfaced. With this in mind though, I tried to keep this recipe low in sugar by not adding a sweetener, something I attempt with most smoothies. By incorporating carrots, which although sweet, aren't quite as bad as most fruits, sugar levels are controlled all the while incorporating beta-carotene into breakfast with the goodness of cranberry juice with green tea. With all this said, it's important to note that if you're working mostly with room temperature fruit your smoothie will of course be, warm, so I recommend either cooling the fruit before making the smoothie or simply cooling the smoothie a bit before consumption if you're someone who prefers cold drinks.

Serves: 1-2
Ingredients (pictured above)
-1 heaping cup of pear, peel washed and cored (about two bartlett pears)
-2/3 c. carrots, peeled
-1/2 an apple (cored and peeled, the core is just in the picture because it's purty)
-1c. water
-1 bag of green tea (don't waste the good stuff on this, use a bag!)
-2/3 c. cranberry juice (commercial brand such as Oceanspray), I've never tried it with the straight stuff as I don't tend to have any around, a lesser amount could work as a flavoring agent and cut down on sugar if anyone tries it out, do share!
-Small handful of yellow frozen fruit such as peaches, mangoes OR ice cubes, it's more for chilling than flavour, frozen canned pears are what I used here to add texture and cold (optional).

1) Heat carrots, 1 cup of water, green tea bag and carrots in a pot until water is infused with tea and carrots are cooked thoroughly.
2) Prepare fruits, carrots and juice
3) Remove tea bag, combine everything in blender and blend for at least 30 seconds until smooth, the longer the better!
4) Serve slightly chilled and enjoy!