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Favorite Smoothie Combo


weinoo

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In anticipation of my new Blendtec blender's arrival, I hauled out my not-really-that-old Kitchen Aid blender this morning. Oh, I noticed a few cracks around the bottom of the jar; that's not what this post is about, but I am happy the Blendtec is on its way.

Anyway, yesterday I had previously frozen a few perfectly ripe bananas for just this purpose. And today I decided to make a smoothie, which is not something in my standard breakfast repertoire. I used one of the frozen bananas, about 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries, 1/2 of a delicious mango, and about 2/3 cup of kefir. It was really good (though I'm sure it will be better blended in that Blendtec :smile: ). And it made just the right amount - about 16 ounces. I didn't add any ice, didn't add any water, just the above.

Got any favorite smoothie "recipes?"

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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Well on page x303-382108 of modernist cuisine if you add .02 grams of xantam gum and 1gr of lechitin you will increase the viscosity of the shake so that it will remain fully blended with no separation for up to 5 hours. If you want to go further, CSV it at 40c for 18.6 minutes, then blast chill to 40 below zero then re blend to achieve maximum consistency

Can you tell I am anxiously awaiting my book. I am just making up hypothetical recipes at this point. :biggrin:

.

John Deragon

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In the spring, my thoughts often turn to hulled strawberries, a touch of sugar, some fig balsamic, vanilla yogurt and some half and half. Certainly not low calorie, but delicious tasting...and oh yes, very filling!

Blendtec just emailed me as to what color I wanted for mine. In the not distant future, this will be the first thing I try to blend. The two downsides I see are making even larger quantities which I will be compelled to consume and second now I will have the Blentec jar to wash plus my glass, instead of the plastic tumbler I had used with the stick blender and as my cup.

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Well on page x303-382108 of modernist cuisine if you add .02 grams of xantam gum and 1gr of lechitin you will increase the viscosity of the shake so that it will remain fully blended with no separation for up to 5 hours. If you want to go further, CSV it at 40c for 18.6 minutes, then blast chill to 40 below zero then re blend to achieve maximum consistency

Can you tell I am anxiously awaiting my book. I am just making up hypothetical recipes at this point. :biggrin:

.

Or add an avocado.

We made a smoothie last night that consisted of frozen strawberries, blue berries, a frozen banana, cut cantaloupe and a fresh avocado. All dumped into the Vitamix and blended until smooth. And silky smooth it was.

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I purchased a vitamix a few weeks ago and have been smoothie-ing almost daily. Also, purchased this book: 100 best smoothies and juices because it seems to have a lot of nice flavor combinations I wanted to try.

So far we have run through a few of the jamba juice clones which are essentially lemonade, sherbet, frozen fruit and soymilk (I like the 8th continent brand), mango lassis and yesterday was fresh squeezed cara cara oj, bartlett pear & candied ginger - should've added some ice but otherwise very nice. We tried a mango/kiwi/pineapple (i think) that was a little less successful - I didn't blend long enough for all the kiwi seeds.

My kitchen is beginning to look like a smoothie kiosk.

"The main thing to remember about Italian food is that when you put your groceries in the car, the quality of your dinner has already been decided." – Mario Batali
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Many of my daily smoothies start with pomegranate juice. Don't have a favorite tho...

Does anyone make smoothies with vegetables in them? I can't quite wrap my limited mind around the concept. Oh, except for avocados.

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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Not a big smoothie person, but I got this in my email a couple months ago. Scroll to the bottom of the page, there's a link to free ebook of 126 smoothie recipes. The ebook is called "Smoothies for Athletes", but there are some interesting-looking recipes in there (spiced date smoothie, anyone?). Can't tell say if there are any hits/misses, as I haven't tried anything from it yet.

Favourite smoothie (when I do have one) is peanut butter & banana, sometimes with a bit of cocoa powder thrown in. Tastes like dessert.

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Here is my PB&J smoothie....

This is all by weight

6oz frozen berry blend (I use Costco's)

4 oz milk of your choice

4 oz plain yogurt (I like Trader Joe's European Yogurt)

1 Wheatabix biscuit crumbled

2-4 tbsp peanut flour (A great smoothie thickener and protein source)

Place all in a blender and wiz.

Dan

"Salt is born of the purest of parents: the sun and the sea." --Pythagoras.

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Not a big smoothie person, but I got this in my email a couple months ago. Scroll to the bottom of the page, there's a link to free ebook of 126 smoothie recipes. The ebook is called "Smoothies for Athletes", but there are some interesting-looking recipes in there (spiced date smoothie, anyone?). Can't tell say if there are any hits/misses, as I haven't tried anything from it yet.

Favourite smoothie (when I do have one) is peanut butter & banana, sometimes with a bit of cocoa powder thrown in. Tastes like dessert.

Thanks so much for posting about the e-book. Downloaded it and now I shall try some of these goodies. Thanks again.

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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I like blending frozen bananas with lowfat milk, vanilla extract, and a touch of maple syrup. Sometimes I dust it with a little cinnamon. Makes a very thick, lowfat "blizzard" or a lowfat milk shake, depending on how thick I make it.

There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE.
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A good smoothie? I like the dairy-berry-citrus triad thing. Have not tried an avocado, nor tasty vinegar, but will for sure.

Peter Gamble aka "Peter the eater"

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Lately, I've been a big fan of banana, frozen raspberries and blueberries, soy milk, and a touch of grapefruit juice or other acidic fruit juice. I'm not really a soy milk kinda guy, but it adds creaminess without lactose problems.

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For the BlendTec I have found that the magic smoothie ratio is 1 part by volume of frozen something (juice, ice, frozen fruit, etc.) to 1 part by volume of liquid (water, soy milk, etc.). I also use 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum for 16 ozs of the above (8 each). If you have banana in there or some other emulsifier, you don't need the xanthan.

For frozen soft serve desserts change the ratio to 2 parts frozen something and 1 part liquid and 1 tsp xanthan if no banana.

You're measuring bulky frozen stuff in a cup so this is not an exacting measurement. Just get in the ballpark.

My favorite is chocolate/peanut butter/banana/coffee. I try to keep the carbs down so I make it with splenda and banana flavoring. It varies every time but try 1 cup of ice, 1 tbs peanut butter, 1 tsp instant coffee, 1 tbs cocoa powder, sugar or splenda to taste, 1/2 tsp xanthan gum and 1 cup of your choice of liquid (being lactose intolerant I will use soy or almond milk or 1/4 cup non-dairy creamer with 3/4 cup water).

There is a trick to getting the xanthan to blend well: Add the liquid first, then add in any powdered ingredients and then sprinkle the xanthan on the surface. Put on the lid and pulse a few times to blend together. Next add the frozen ingredients and hit the smoothie or ice cream button depending.

Mark

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Yogurt works well, though with a high-power blender you can get away with nothing.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
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is there something like a savory smoothie, or would that be called a cold soup? I don't have a sweet tooth, I might have had two smoothies in my life. I'm also not big on fruit, unless I bbq them or cook them in a pan with butter (yumm!).

But I could imagine there are recipes that include some vinegar, or curry powder, or hot sauce, maybe even cheese? Curious....

"And don't forget music - music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!"

- Thomas Keller

Diablo Kitchen, my food blog

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I didn't add any ice, didn't add any water...

I use some frozen fruit in my smoothies so usually there's no need for ice.

I've posted my standard smoothie before in another discussion:

One banana, kefir (this morning's was strawberry flavor), a large glug of pomegranate juice, two tablespoons of ground flax seeds, some frozen blueberries and a fistful of whatever frozen or fresh fruit I have on hand (in the winter I'll get a big bag of frozen fruit chunks from Coscto).

As it blends if it's too thick because of the frozen fruit, I'll add more pomegranate juice to thin it out.

I've noticed when I make the smoothies with mostly fresh fruit, the resulting smoothie is quite foamy. If I use more frozen than fresh fruit, it's thick like a soft serve ice cream.

 

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Tim Oliver

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Oliver - I've seen a few tomato/tomato juice based smoothie recipes (usually along the lines of a bloody mary or gazpacho with cucumber or onion & tabasco and maybe yogurt) and savoury lassis - Salt Lassi (yogurt, chives, salt, cumin, ice).

"The main thing to remember about Italian food is that when you put your groceries in the car, the quality of your dinner has already been decided." – Mario Batali
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