WinglessAngel
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Fresh Fruit and Veggie Smoothie Recipes

I came up with this recipe last night on the fly as I have throat injuries that cause me life threatening swelling on occasion and retired doctor hubby had me set down with ice chips to get my swelling down once again and I was having a hard time with the ice chips.

We have fresh strawberries in the fridge at the moment so I asked him what if I tried a smoothie with a straw to better get it down and he said try it and see if it works. I did and needless to say I am thrilled with this recipe I came up with last night, very hearty, filling and satisfying. End result after drinking the entire smoothie my swelling went down and I was happy and full of delish smoothie lol. (ER visit avoided thankfully too.)

Best Smoothie Ever:

8 Ounces of Fresh Fruit
3 TableSpoons Sour Cream
1/4 Cup Sugar (or to taste)
2 Coffee Mugs of Crushed Ice

Blend in blender until ice and fruit are fully blended. Makes about one 16 Ounce giant size deliciously thick smoothie!

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rainbowgardener
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My typical breakfast is a smoothie:

One banana
Half a cup or so of whatever berries are on hand
2 scoops of chocolate flavored protein powder
One cup or so of soy milk (or you could use regular milk)

Puree and blend

The banana and protein powder thicken it up quite nicely.

Obviously you can mess around with the recipe however you like.
If I don't have berries on hand, I may put 1-2 Tbsp of peanut butter in.

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applestar
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Hope your injuries heal quickly, but it sounds like now you can enjoy your food and sooth your throat at the same time. 8)

Smoothies are great. At my house, any fruit including bananas that's not getting eaten quickly enough goes in the freezer.

I take frozen fruits at random and make smoothies with honey, fruit juices, rice milk, yogurt, etc. I always add flax seed oil. Lemon or lime juice can brighten flavor and color. Cinnamon and/or nutmeg also add a twist. Some smoothies can take mint -- I like spearmint for this -- or lavender flowers.

I sometimes add nuts but that leaves a grainy texture that you need to chew. OK and good sometimes when you are hungry, but sometimes you just want smooth smoothie that you can drink. Peanut butter works in some recipes too. (oops riainbowgardener already mentioned that)

WinglessAngel
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Thanks everyone, this was just a recipe I came up with on the fly that night due to the fact that if we didn't get the swelling down I was going to end up with my hubby carting me off to the er. The injuries that caused the swelling were from nearly 2 decades ago, but I won't go into the depressing details. Needless to say I have trouble with it from time to time.

I don't keep PB in the house normally because hubby is allergic to it and I can't stand soy milk and am allergic to liquid milk lol. So I made the smoothie with what I had on hand, I like things simple anyway. Bananas are a no no too as I can't eat them either. lol I have weird food allergies. :P

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applestar
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So, having been reading gary350 and lakngulf's exchange about juicing tomatoes whole in a blender, I decided to give it a try with a variation to make it a frosty smoothie.

I only have a hand blender and it couldn't crush/liquefy the seeds and left bits of the skin so I strained it. Then put it back in the blender container, added sea salt, local wildflower honey, organic cane sugar, and some rice milk, plus 1/2 as much ice cubes as the liquid to make it into a smoothie... But my hand blender stopped working. :x

So I had to muddler it.

I used mixed red ripe mild and assertively flavored tomatoes, but I felt there was something missing, so I poured a layer of commercial orange juice in the glass, which promptly sank and made a lovely bi-color pink and yellow drink.

Oh, yum and double yum! I can't stop drinking it. :()
I bet it would make an interesting mixed drink too, though I'm not trying that ths time.

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rainbowgardener
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Never tried a tomato smoothie, but it sounds like I should! :)

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applestar
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Today's smoothie was so balanced in flavors that none stood out -- not sweet, not tart/sour, not salty, not bitter.... But strangely so delicious that my DD stood up and poured herself a 2nd glass as soon as she finished her 1st, then spooned out the clinging remains... DH stopped by while out for lunch so I gave him a small portion in a yellow and blue glass to hide its color, and he downed it saying it was delicious (very unusual)... I nearly finished my own 2nd serving before remembering to pause and take a picture. :D
image.jpg
Big pile of torn Lacinato kale leaves, ribs removed, enough rice milk to cover, blended smooth with freshly squeezed lemon juice and some sea salt, then added maple syrup and a frozen overripe banana, whole milk greek yogurt, 1/2 perfectly ripe avocado. When blended smooth, it turned out very thick (like custard) so added some bottled spring water and blended to a pourable consistency.


BTW, I gave a kale rib to one of the cats as a joke and she munched it up :roll: , so I put a few more in their food dish. The 2nd kitty came along and two of them chewed and crunched and ate them all up. Funny cats...I think 2nd DD has been forgetting to give them their vitamins. :P

imafan26
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They probably liked it because it was coo, crunchy,l and watery and it gave them something to do.

imafan26
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I like to add peanut butter or strawberries to the the banana smoothie.

We put frozen grapes, cantauloupe, watermelon, papaya and celery in with the kale smoothie along with the protein powder and almond milk.

j3707
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All I know is our smoothies are green and sometimes they smell like socks. 8)

Gotta drink 'em cold.

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applestar
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I made another smoothie today --

Large bunch of Lacinato/Toscana kale fresh picked from the garden, no bottom stems.
About a cup of roasted unsalted almonds in almost 2 cups of hot water,
Blend smooth into green milk.

Add 1 frozen overripe banana, and fair slosh of unfiltered apple juice, blend.

Maple syrup goodly amount, and about 1/4-1/2 c frozen red raspberries from our garden,

Sea Salt and pink Himalayan sea salt. Finally, about a cup of ice cubes and blend smooth. (I have to do a lot of blending in stages because I have an underpowered blender)

I gave DH his in a small 6 oz glass since its was only his 2nd time drinking one of my green kale smoothies -- my girls and I got ours in 8 oz and 12 oz glasses twice and 1/2 serving more -- DH actually asked for 2nd serving, then when I asked who wants to finish it, he was the first one to raise his empty glass for a third serving. :wink:

imafan26
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I usually make a simple one, banana, peanut butter, a little honey. Berries sound good. I gotta get me some while they are still in season. Would dried blueberries and cranberries work? I have those in my refrigerator

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applestar
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Dried berries could be reconstituted in water or juice I think? Maybe coconut water.... Hm. Are they completely dehydrated or somewhat soft? I think Another way might be to put them in the blender first and pulverize them to powder if completely dry.

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applestar
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Banana-Kale-Blueberry smoothie

2 nearly overripe fresh organic bananas
2 cups organic Rice Dream Original Enriched (my fave kind)
About 1 cup frozen kale, no stems -- mostly Red Russian, maybe some broccoli leaves, too
About 1 cup fresh frozen blueberries

-- blend as smooth as possible or as you have patience for --

Added 8 gravy ladles of freshly made elderflower syrup

Added enough ice cubes to just over 4 cup mark on the blender pitcher

Blend.

Pour in glasses, then pour/drizzle Wegmsn's organic plain kefir to taste -- we each added quite a lot.

DH -- remember this is a man who doesn't like eating leafy green vegetables -- "Mmmm... SO GOOD!" ...he drank about 16 oz all by himself.

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applestar
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KaleBananaKiwi PiñaColada Smoothie
Image

Made 4 cups according to blender pitcher --
Frozen:
Kale and broccoli leaves (about 2 cups)
Pineapple (about 1 cup)
Overripe banana (1)

Overripe kiwi (2)

TJ's organic coconut milk (almost entire can -- I had to taste it first :wink: )
TJ's plain lowfat kefir

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Gary350
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I use to make a smoothie every morning with 1 banana, 1/2 cups strawberries, 1 cup yogurt, 1 cup ice. Add strawberries to the kitchen blender first they turn to liquid then add the banana. Alternate adding ice and yogurt if it gets too thick add a tiny amount of water so it will go round and round in the blender, Ice melts a little bit and helps to add liquid to the smoothie. You end up with an ground up icy type smoothie that is very good. Ice is very destructive to the kitchen blender I use to buy all the cheap blenders I could find at yard sales. Sometimes a blender will last 1 week and sometimes 2 months. What a person really needs is a $200 heavy duty blender. Once the ice is ground up then you can add other things like Kale, carrots, fruit, etc if you want.

Bananas are very high on the glycemic scale top of the list it can shoot your blood sugar sky high and so can other fruits and carbohydrates. Now days this type smoothie will shoot my blood sugar to 150 then 2 hours later my blood sugar crashes to 40 and I pass out from low blood sugar.

I am looking for a new smoothie recipe. I have been experimenting with 1/4 of a small banana, 3 strawberries, 1 cup yogurt, peanut butter, plus enough water to mix in the blender. I miss the crushed ice that is what makes it good. I want to add kale my garden kale is starting to get big I wonder if frozen kale will work in place of ice. I need a protein to add to my smoothie. Many of the protein powders are ground up soy bean tofu with water squeezed out then dried so I plan to experiment by soaking soy beans in water until they become soft then grind them up in the smoothie.

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applestar
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Today’s Mango Smoothie —

Frozen sweetened mango cubes, spiced apple cider, mango kefir, blueberry kefir, brown rice porridge, filtered water, sunflower oil, sea salt, home made roasted hazelnut/sugar extract. Yum! :D

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digitS'
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When others were commenting here several years ago, I hadn't developed an interest in drinking smoothies. Okay, I'm still not there :wink: .

I do make soup. The last couple of years, I realized that my enjoyment of tomato soup didn't have to be at the end of the season and from a collection of tomatoes usually brought in green to the kitchen counter and ripening, sometimes in great numbers! No, I could enjoy tomato soup during the growing season. That means other vegetables are being harvested fresh at the same time.

I won't be growing and harvesting bananas and a gardener commented earlier said that smoothies have to be cold. Well ... there is gazpacho, cold vegetable soup, but I am someone who even likes his V8 juice served in a cup and hot.

Without the bananas (and probably without the cucumbers :wink: ), does anyone have a recipe for a smoothie that would be good hot?

Steve

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applestar
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Ha! You are venturing into blended soup territory, but I’m game —

Let’s see, how about creamed broccoli (and/or cauliflower) with gooey cheese?

Original recipe calls for cream — choose heavy, light, or half and half. I substitute with rice milk, potatoes, and sometimes cauliflower. I can still use butter and aged cheese.

— using butter and favorite oil (I tend to use EVOO), sweat onions, garlic if desired, broccoli stems (outer hard rind removed) and celery (you might use celeriac here, digitS. I cook the potatoes and cauliflower here). Add chicken stock/broth and simmer for 20-30 minutes with bay leaf or other herbs like thyme, parsley stems, etc. Remove herbs. Add broccoli florets. Use immersion blender or put in blender until desired consistency. Return to pot and add cream and bring up to heat. Serve by ladling hot soup over a clump of shredded cheese in the bowl (I use aged cheddar or gruyere) and float a pat of butter (or drizzle of EVOO), then garnish with chopped parsley or green onions or dried parsley. (Nutmeg could be good here). Croutons or crumbled crackers if desired. Corn chips are good too (but probably not so much if you used nutmeg, so take your pick).


...Here’s another one of my faves if peanut allergy is not a concern. I had the authentic version at King’s Arms Tavern and bought the cookbook.

Cream of Peanut Soup : The Colonial Williamsburg Official History & Citizenship Site
https://www.history.org/almanack/life/food/fdpnutsp.cfm

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applestar
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Immersions blender is useful, but sometimes, I feel like I’m just chasing bits and pieces around in the too big pot.

I did recently catch probably a re-run of Good Eats when Alton Brown got hold of a commercial/restaurant stick blender. Yeah that looked awesome.

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digitS'
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applestar wrote:Ha! You are venturing into blended soup territory, but I’m game ...
I know!! But, hot vegetable juices ... You know, smoothies sometimes have yogurt. Greek yogurt has worked okay in some of my soups :wink: .

Those recipes look good and tasty!
applestar wrote:... if peanut allergy is not a concern. I had the authentic version at King’s Arms Tavern and bought the cookbook.

Cream of Peanut Soup : The Colonial Williamsburg Official History & Citizenship Site
https://www.history.org/almanack/life/food/fdpnutsp.cfm
Peanuts!?!

Steve :D

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digitS'
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Oh NO!
January 20, 2019 33815 AM PST.jpg
Avocado in Coffee!?

HoneyBerry
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That avocado-coffee smoothie looks gross to me.
Myself, I don't make smoothies very often. But I do I love fresh squeezed O.J. I made some fresh squeezed O.J. the other day from Heirloom Navel Oranges. Wow, these are the best tasting oranges: what navel oranges tasted like before they were modified to increase yields. The Heirloom Navel Oranges show up at my local health food store once a year and they don't last very long. Try them sometime, if you haven't already, and see what navel oranges are supposed to taste like.

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applestar
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After making the squash purée today, I salvaged the purée that was hard to get out from the bottom of the blender pitcher by adding frozen peaches, rice milk, blueberries, and vanilla sugar and making a smoothie. Yum!



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