What I’ve Learned About Smoothies

By Julie

A few months ago, I got a Ninja blender, and since then, we’ve been making smoothies like they’re going out of style. Well, some of those have been adult smoothies – OK, they’re margaritas – but I digress. And I’ve discovered a few things along that way that I’d like to pass on.

Greens actually do blend up to an almost undetectable level, texture-wise, if you blend long enough. Kale adds a distinctive grassy note to the flavor, which doesn’t bother me, especially considering the nutritional punch it provides. Spinach is much more low-key, and I really can’t taste it much, if at all.

If you use frozen fruit, you may not need as much ice to get the right thickness. If you use fresh fruit, you may not need as much liquid.

I find that a little dollop (maybe a teaspoon or two) of fruit preserves (not straight up jelly, since we’re trying to be somewhat healthy here) is a huge flavor boost. It’s not exactly a traditional ingredient, but go with me on this one.

You probably know all of this, but I didn’t going into this smoothie business, and I wish I had. It might have saved me some truly awful beverages.

Lastly, I saw on a talk show recently a smoothie recipe that included grapes and apples. I had never thought of using either fruit, and now I’m intrigued. I usually go the blueberry / strawberry / pineapple route (but stay away from blackberries – the seeds are murder).  Have you tried this? I’ll have to give it a whirl (pun intended) and report back.

{Photo Credit: myrecipes.com}

Comments

[Christy M]

I pretty much use smoothies as a fruit garbage disposal. Anything I've got that looks iffy gets thrown in the freezer for smoothie making. I've used grapes and apples, oranges, bananas, spinach, every berry known to man, peaches, etc. For liquids, it's usually yogurt and/or milk. I just throw what I've got in, so I have no recipes and no two smoothies are the same. Never had a bad one!

[Ginger]

We've put just about every fruit known to a suburban supermarket in. Grapes & apples can sometimes take a little longer to get the skins fully blended, oranges & other citrus the same to deal with whatever you call the skins that keep the sections together?

We've also done some different veggies: spinach & kale, yes, but also carrots, broccoli, cauliflower (that one's more dicey), cucumber. (our kid gets a big portion of his veggies from smoothies, in case you can't tell).