Thursday, June 28, 2007
Smoothies
This summer, we are trying to make it through without turning on the air conditioning. Besides stocking up on otter pops, popsicles and ice cream and playing in the water as often as possible, I have been making lots of smoothies.In the past, smoothie-making has had disastrous results. Nothing turned out yummy at all and no one would eat it so it was all a waste. My tried and true standard was to mix lemonade (mixed sweet with less water than usual) with frozen strawberries. You can't go wrong!
But a woman in my neighborhood told me that she made smoothies all the time. I asked her if I could get her recipes, because mine never turned out quite right. She said she didn't use recipes she just threw some of this and some of that in. It was all things that I have and use around the house. So this summer I thought I'd just try throwing some stuff together. Surprisingly, so far it's working!
Here's the basic rule for the smoothie. Put your liquid ingredients in first. Then put your frozen/solid ingredients in last. for the consistency to turn out right, I need to put in equal amounts of liquid and frozen.
Here's what I've done so far:
3 cups milk
1 cup Vanilla Mealshake
Frozen Berries (enough to reach the 6 cup mark on my blender)
*Blend till smooth
3 cups apple juice
8 oz frozen sliced peaches
frozen berries (enough to reach the 7 cup mark on my blender)
*Blend till smooth
3 cups apple-raspberry juice
8 oz frozen sliced peaches
frozen berries (enough to reach the 7 cup mark on my blender)
*Blend till smooth
**The apple-raspberry juice made for a much zippier and yummier smoothie than plain apple juice alone.
3 cups limeade
8 oz frozen sliced peaches
frozen berries (enough to reach teh 7 cup mark on my blender)
*Blend till smooth
**The lime was a touch overpowering, but still very yummy!
Here's what I still have to try:
More variety of milk-based smoothies. I'd like to try putting yogurt (refrigerated or even frozen first) in a smoothie or a little ice cream or something. But with a little guy with dairy allergies, that requires two batches and I haven't worked myself up to that yet. The first smoothie I tried to make for him was a disaster.
Also, my friend said that she just tossed in whatever fresh or canned fruit she had around the house (kind of like fruit casserole!), but I'm reluctant to try something non-frozen.
Adding bananas in. I don't like bananas mixed with stuff so it's just my personal preference that I haven't tried it yet. I know my kids and husband would love it.
Something chocolatey. Like milk, cocoa mealshake, peanutbutter and banana. Maybe some ice.
I like the mealshakes because they provide vitamins, minerals and protein plus added sweetness. But we also have a bunch of soy protein that I'd like to add in, too. And powdered vitamins. I'm going to be my own Jamba Juice!
link | posted by Real at 6:23 PM
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