Smoothie Madness!

Is it just me, or are smoothies very "in" these days? At any rate, while it may be a little too cold this winter to be thinking about smoothies, a month of breakfast just would not be complete without them.

Now I know I spend a lot of time here mentioning ways to add more vegetables to your meals, but I will be the first to admit that I fall quite behind on my fruit promotions. That's why MY New Year's resolution was to eat more fruit...and have a bowl of seaweed every day (but more on that later.) So aside from having a banana every morning and an orange with my lunch, I've been smoothie-loading every weekend this year ("year"- hah).

Another thing I know I say a lot is "you can put almost anything in this...blah blah blah". Well, here I go: you can put anything, ANYTHING in a smoothie. Even your iPhone, as one of the most popular internet videos of all time has demonstrated here. Ok, but seriously, depending on what kind of mood you're in, you can put a lot of crazy *stuff in a smoothie. Fruits, of course, are the most popular, but you can also get kinky and creative. My boyfriend's even been trying to sneak oatmeal into one of our weekend concoctions all month...which can be done, I just don't like oatmeal.

So however you feel like experimenting, just keep in mind that a smoothie usually needs a few key parts: something creamy, something frozen, something liquid and all the crazy *stuff you want to flavor it with. "Creamy" can be yogurt, ice cream or even milk; though this is the part that's the most optional.  2nd most optional is the "frozen". LOTS of recipes call for ice cubes. I don't like ice cubes (they don't "add" anything and can water it down) so instead I freeze pieces of fruit. You can buy frozen fruit, of course-- and even smoothie-ready packs nowadays --I just find both needlessly expensive. And you can go completely un-frozen...just a different texture. Liquid you can't skip out on, however, 'less your smoothie won't blend. Try to go for fruit juices that complement your selected flavors, and when in doubt, use apple juice.

Finally, there are two key questions that everyone always asks about smoothies: 1- How do you know how much *stuff to put in? and 2- Can you make them ahead of time and store them? Well...

1. At some point you'll get a natural feel for it, but when I need help, I take the glass I'm going to use and fill it about 1/2-2/3 full with stuff (ie: fruit). Your "creamy" and liquid portions can then be added directly to the blender as necessary to blend. You may be surprised how much this adds to the size of your smoothie.
2. Not really, but yes. Refrigerating gets you nothing-- depending on how long it's in there, it will gradually melt and separate. Freezing will give you a solid mess which can then only be salvaged by very quick 10sec microwaving and then eating with a spoon. Not ideal. One fun idea may be to stick a popsicle stick in your glass before freezing and then eat it like a popsicle. Yes, embrace your inner child. 

Given the vast array of smoothie concoctions imaginable, the following are a cross-sectioning of different smoothie types that I've been working on that can hopefully be used as inspiration.  Note that based on the two points above, the "recipes" below stray from my usual method and made for ONE. Multiply as necessary.

Very Berry
The Classic Smoothie

The most popular and probably the prettiest, everyone wants to take Very Berry to the prom. Lots of recipes call for mixing multiple berries in this one, but since only blueberries seem to be in season for me, here's my adaptation. Also, beware of frozen blueberries- some blenders can't handle 'em.

- 1/2 an apple
- 1/2 an orange
- ~1/4 cup of blueberries (frozen/fresh)
- 1/2 cup of cranberry juice
- 2 heaping Tbs of yogurt (plain or vanilla)

Peanut Butter Cup
The Body-Builder Smoothie

The recipe I based this one on called for yogurt, but I wasn't a big fan of that flavor. I used milk as the liquid base and that turned out well, so next time I'm looking forward to no yogurt or substituting ice cream instead (hey, this is meant to be eaten after you work out, right...) And if you're not into protein powder, drizzle chocolate sauce or honey instead.

- 1/2 a banana (frozen/fresh)
- 2 heaping Tbs of smooth peanut butter
- 1 Tbs chocolate-flavored protein powder
- 1/2 cup milk/soy milk
- 1-2 Tbs yogurt (plain or vanilla)

Orange Creamsicle
The Dessert Smoothie

One of my all-time favorite flavors...just had to develop it. You can take this a few directions: Substituting yogurt for the ice cream will give you more health, less dessert, and while with the family this Christmas, I discovered that substituting a Boost drink for the ice cream or yogurt was quite good. I also used to make these in my cafe with orange soda instead of orange juice...total dessert mode there, but oh so yummy. And finally, I used apple juice the other day 'cause I didn't have any orange around, and it gave the drink a nice "fizzy" flavor.



- 1 orange (preferably frozen)
- 1/2 a mango
- 1/2 cup orange juice (or orange soda or milk or wtv...)
- a couple scoops of ice cream

[okay, may end up being more than one serving...]

Green Meanie
The Bizzaro Health-Food Smoothie

OK, this may sound and look and smell funny, but if you like seaweed (which I do...) this is actually an interesting & decent drink. Also, seaweed is supposed to be incredibly good for keeping your skin youthful and rumor has it Posh Spice used to drink something similar before concerts. There are lots of other green smoothies out there (I'm not entirely crazy) that use spinach, kale, avocado and, of course, wheatgrass... so don't be afraid to throw in some veggies and get your green on...

- 1/4 cup re-hydrated wakame seaweed (it comes dried and needs to be soaked-- use only a tiny bit 'cause it plumps up A LOT)
- 1/4 cup cubed cucumber (frozen)
- 1/2 an apple
- 1/2 cup apple juice
- 1 Tbs yogurt (plain or vanilla)

Ice Capades

photo credit: Mike Bowler

No Halloween party is complete without some freaky ice tricks!

Eyeball Ice Cubes

These were the single biggest hit of the party.  I made a ton of eyeball-shaped ice cubes with blueberry pupils that floated blueberry-side up in everyone’s drinks and stared at them.  Here’s how to do it:

-     Find a round-shaped ice tray or egg carton.  I used a plastic egg carton, which worked perfectly.  If you don’t have plastic egg cartons at home, the styrofoam ones might work or look around for some of those silicon ice trays that come in different shapes. 

-     Place one blueberry in the center of each pit in your egg carton/ice tray.  Pour a small amount of water into each that covers the blueberry halfway or a bit more.  Pop in the freezer for a couple hours.  *You must fill the trays in steps because otherwise the blueberry will float to the top of the water and you won’t have a very convincing looking eyeball.

-     Once the blueberry is frozen in place, fill the pits all the way and freeze. 

-     Voila!  You have some freaky looking ice cubes!

Variation:

o    If you have access to an Asian grocery store, I recommend buying some tapioca pearls instead of blueberries.  They may take some more preparation because you’ll probably want to boil them and soak them in syrup before you use them.  However, I noticed nobody actually ATE the blueberries last year after their ice melted.  The pearls, on the other hand, are made to go in drinks and will probably turn out to be a yummy alternative.   

The Frozen Hand in the Punch Bowl

This is a popular one that can be found many places online.  (My favorite is here)  However, I noticed none of these sites ever explain how to get the hand to stand UP in the punch bowl, so I will :)

-     Take two plastic gloves, rinse/wash them and turn them inside out.  (make at least TWO because it’s no fun when the first hand melts too fast)

-     Fill them with water as far as you can and tie shut with a rubber band or a good snack clip. 

-     Pop in the freezer overnight so that it freezes solid.  I positioned mine on a bag of frozen veggies in the freezer so that it had a bit more “believable” shape.

-     Now, I made a big base so that my hands would stand up in the punch.  I took some simple take-out tupperware (so any medium-sized bowl or deep dish will do) and filled it about ¾ of the way with water.  Freeze that overnight too.

-     The next day, carefully remove the glove.  You may want to set it out for a minute or run it under cold water so that the glove is easier to remove.

-     Now the tricky part: place the hand on top of the block of ice and fill the remaining ¼ with water.  It does not stand on it’s own, but I was able to prop the hand against the shelf in the freezer while it finished freezing.  

-     Pop the base of its tray and place it in the punch when you’re ready to go!

Note:

o   I’ve read a few places that stress using a plastic glove (like the big ugly yellow ones) instead of latex for easier removal.  Truth be told, I made about four of these suckers last year and no matter how careful I was, I lost a finger every time.  In the end, I took the broken finger and propped it on the base so that it looked like it had fallen off.  Ew.

Variations:

o   An easier way to make the base may be to find a can/jar (like a coffee can) that the hand will not fit into entirely.  Set the hand on the jar and fill it with water until the base of the hand is submerged.   I’ve also read that you can prop the hand in a glass (without a frozen base entirely), put the glass in the middle of the punch bowl and fill the bowl with punch around it.

o   You can add all sorts of things to the water in the glove to make it more interesting.  The favorites are jello or red food coloring, but since I’m terribly allergic to all things artificially red, I went with orange juice.

o   Another fantastic alternative is to fill the glove with TONIC water.  Under a black light, the frozen tonic water will glow.