smoothie operator

so, raise your hand if you now have that old sade song goin' through your head! hahaha

a few weeks ago, we replaced our old blender. it had been given to us 27 years ago for a wedding present. yeah, ya get an appliance, and you expect it to last, but after just 27 years, it breaks down! what is this world coming to??!

anyhoo, we went to wal-mart (of course!) and bought a new one. it's an oster, i think it was the second cheapest one wally world had (under $40)... and it came with a food processor attachment!

now, i have been concerned with adding more fruits and veggies to our diets, so i decided to experiment with smoothies. the very first one i made was a bit dull, not sweet enough for me and a bit thin. the second one i made was delicious. i had added about two teaspoons of honey and i used some frozen mixed fruit. it was thick and so good!
so then i started reading up on smoothies on the ole internet. i have read about a hundred recipes and have gained many tips and insights. such as:

1. the difference between a smoothie and a shake is that a shake is made with ice cream, a smoothie-not
2. use 1 part liquid to about 3 parts fruit
3. the more frozen fruit you use, the thicker the smoothie
4. buy fresh fruit, cut it up and freeze it in ziplock bags.
5. add veggies as well as fruit for healthier smoothies

so, i have been utilizing these tips and it has made a big difference in the quality of the drink. when i added a handful of baby spinach leaves to a strawberry smoothie, i was wondering if my blender would be powerful enough to pulverize the spinach but it did a great job! no visible green and more importantly, no spinach taste! (i love spinach but just didn't think i would love to taste it in my fruit smoothie!) i gave some to t.willie and he devoured it.

the spinach success got me thinking about other veggies i could add. i was doubting that my blender could do as good a job with, say, carrots or beets, etc. but then i thought about pureed baby food. it's already liquid and has no added bad stuff- what a genius idea! in all the many recipes i had read, no one mentioned baby food. so i bought some and decided to try it.


i put about 3/4 a cup of skim milk into the blender, added a 6 oz. container of low fat peach yogurt, a jar of chilled baby food carrots, a frozen cut-up banana, a VERY ripe mango and its juice and a tablespoon of wheat germ. it made the most beautiful yellow-orange smoothie! i wish i had taken a picture but it looked so good, i couldn't wait to try it! i poured it into two glasses and shared it with bilbo. we both moaned as we sipped the BEST smoothie i have made yet! it was amazing! now i know that adding the pureed baby food veggies works and the sky's the limit, as they say!! i can't wait to try other weird and wonderful combinations, i'll keep ya posted...

grateful:
a. that it will soon be fresh fruit and veggie season
b. that so much enjoyment can be had for under $40.00!
c. that t.w is napping today!!