Fruit & Vegetable Smoothies

Smoothies are my solution to not liking fruit as much as I should. Blending together a couple of kinds of fruits evens out any unripe or bitter fruit flavors. Adding vegetables, herbs and other seasonings makes them even more delicious, and a good dose of ice turns it from a thick juice into a slushy. Mmmm.

I whiz mine in a heavy-duty blender. If your blender can crush ice, it’ll be fine. Start with the fruit ingredients and any liquids, blend until smooth, then add the vegetables and extras. Blend until it’s not chunky anymore. Then add about 2 cups of ice, if desired, and blend until the ice is crushed fine. The method is the same for all of these, so I’ll just list the ingredients below. They all make enough for 2 large drinks.

Green

Pine-Spin-Gin
2 cups of pineapple chunks
1 bunch spinach, rinsed and stems trimmed
5 cm fresh ginger root, peeled and cut into chunks
2 cups ice (optional)

Peach and Pepper
1 ruby grapefruit, peeled and halved
1 peach, stone removed
1 green bell pepper, halved and deseeded
2 cups ice (optional)

Sp-each
2 peaches, stone removed
1 bunch spinach
2 cups ice (optional)

Fruit

Tropical
1 mango, peeled and sliced
1 passionfruit, just the pulp and seeds
1 banana, peeled
2 cups ice (optional)

Berry Bliss
1 cup blueberries
1 cup raspberries (frozen ones work well)
1 apple, stem and seeds removed
2 cups ice (optional)

Tomatoes R Fruit
1 large tomato
1 mango, peeled and sliced
1 apple, stemmed and cored
2 cups ice (optional)

Soy Milk

Monkey Breakfast
2 bananas, peeled
1 cup soy milk
1 T cocoa powder
2 dashes cinnamon
2 cups ice (optional)

Elephant Breakfast
2 bananas, peeled
1 cup soy milk
2 T peanut powder
2 cups ice (optional)

Choco-Raspberry
1 cup frozen raspberries
1 mango, peeled and sliced
1 cup soy milk
3 T cocoa powder
2 cups ice (not optional this time)

Notes and Tips
Wash the blender before you drink your smoothie. The blender will be very easy to rinse clean immediately after you use it and becomes increasing difficult as bits of fruit pulp and soy milk dry to it.

Smoothies freeze well. If you make too much freeze it for later and thaw it when you want to drink it. Or put your smoothie in the freezer to freeze it semi-solid like ice cream or sorbet.

It is best to use fresh, fully ripe, organic ingredients when you can. They have the best flavor.

Posted by kuri at July 16, 2009 12:12 PM