Ivy says:
I may never be a decent cook, but I can make one heck of a good smoothie. Smoothies are ridiculously easy to make, and they’re a good way to have something sweet without totally breaking your calorie budget. Plus, when it’s hot like it has been, it’s a refreshing way to begin, middle, or end your day.
Here are the basics of smoothie making:
First, you’ll need a blender. Any old blender will do- when our blender that was born sometime in the 1970s finally died, I bought a mid-range blender that suits our needs perfectly. You don’t need a “smoothie blender” or anything of the sort. Just a plain old blender will be fine.
Then, you’ll need a liquid of some sort. You can use fruit juice, soy milk, regular milk, even ice cream, although the ice cream will help to blow your calories up. Me, I like to use plain or vanilla yogurt. And yes, I know that yogurt and ice cream are not exactly liquids, but they’re not exactly solids, either, are they? I use about a cup to two cups of yogurt in mine, normally.
Then you’ll need some fruit. I use fresh fruit in the summer when it abundant and inexpensive. Offseason I head to the freezer section. Use your imagination as to what will taste good. What I like to do is go to Publix and look at what they’ve got in their super expensive, already cut up “smoothie mixes” and just buy the uncut fruits from their example. Lately I’ve been digging mango, banana, and papaya. I’ve also been loving strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry. And sometimes I just add a single fruit. You’ll need about 2 cups of the fruit.
Then, you may need some ice, depending on whether or not your fruit fresh or frozen. Generally, if you use frozen fruit, you don’t really need ice, unless you just dig ice. When I’m using fresh fruit, I generally toss a handful of ice into the blender.
Then you can add a scoop of something healthy like wheatgerm or wheatgrass powder. Or, not. You don’t have to, these things just add healthy goodness.
Finally, blend. At first you’ll want to pulse your blender a bit to get everything going without clogging up the works. Once it looks somewhat blended, go all out with your bad blending self. Pour into glasses and enjoy. The amounts I recommend here usually serve about 3-4 glasses of smoothie goodness.
The cool thing about smoothies is, you can make them as healthy or unhealthy as your little heart desires. Now, go and be one with your blender, Home Eccers!
What’s your favorite fruit combination for smoothies?
Angela - thanks for the recipe! I used to make Orange Julius so often, I memorized the recipe. So of course it wasn't written down & I forgot it :)
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