Thought a sister thread to the Oatmeal thread could be fun. I eat oatmeal every morning about 9 months out of the year and in late spring to mid fall I make a fruit smoothie almost every day after work for my afternoon snack. They're delicious, but the ones I make are pretty standard. Some new ideas and variety is always welcome.
about 3/4 cup plain yogurt (from a giant tub, I just eyeball my scoops anymore, but it's around a 3/4 cup)
choice of fruit - if fresh I add three ice cubes, if frozen I do not. Favorites choices are mango and strawberry and I put in slightly more than would be equal to the banana
splash of liquid - I always start conservative and if it's too thick I add more. Juice sometimes, but I don't buy juices often. I like milk in a banana/strawberry smoothie and lightly sugared sun tea in a banana/mango smoothie.
Frozen bananas, mangos and blueberries, ground flax seed, spirulina, whole milk, splash of juice and water. If we have a lot of avocados I’ll throw one in too. All organic except for the bananas, avocados and spirulina (make sure it’s US produced.) This is for 4 of us. Flax is great in smoothies as you won’t notice it and it’s loaded with fiber and great fat.
Blend until it's smooth so you've got a tasty green/healthy base to work with. Then add extra stuff depending on what's in the fridge until your blender is full:
I like it because it's pretty hard to fuck this one up. It always tastes good, despite choking down a good bunch of Kale.
Hahaha, what's controversial about vitamixes? Not that I wanna start somethin', but my interest is piqued. I have a Ninja I got open box at Fred Meyer for 60% off! That was several years ago. The thing is great.
There's some good threads out there in the past. Funny reads on all sides. But vitamix $600,000 blender is a proxy for consumer facepunches. Not everyone agrees.
Also aren't these smoothies a little over the top? Why do you need bananas and oats and strawberries and yogurt and peanut butter, etc. etc. Can't you just pick 2-3 ingredients and be done with it?
Bought my $800 Vitamix at Costco and used my SUV to haul it home to my McMansion where I blend baby seals into smoothies.
Seriously though, a refurbished Vitamix (less than $300 on Amazon) isn't anywhere near the most face punchworthy of sins. The fact that a small appliance can even be refurbished these days, and that there's a market for them, is something I'd actually like to see more of.
Is it better than a $40 blender? Yep. Basically paying for a much more powerful motor and heftier components. Is it "worth" the approximate additional $250? Depends what you use it for and how often. Would I recommend it to someone with hair-on-fire debt or still in the accumulation phase? Nope.
The cheap Hamilton Beach we got as a wedding gift lasted almost 17 years before finally dying. The smoothies weren't as smooth, with chunks of fruit and bits of ice, but somehow we survived. But DW wanted a Vitamix for a long time and refurbished price wasn't a problem for the budget. She loves it and uses it almost every day.
I posted this on the oatmeal thread too... I like these smoothies because they stay thick and I can make them days in advance (I work a rotating shift, and my day shifts are just too early for me to be able to stomach anything first thing in the morning, so the "stays thick" part is key). The texture is a little different, but I like them, and I'm one of those people with texture issues with food.
I keep a bunch of frozen fruits in my freezer. One year my parents had hundreds of small cantaloupe that ripened all at once (they tried to time it for my sister's wedding, but when it's ripe, it's ripe). So, we cubed it all up and put it in the freezer. I'm not normally a fan, but it was really good when added to the smoothies.
I started this thread a long time ago but have since neglected it: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/a-healthy-smoothie-everyday!/
My recipes vary but I usually add herbs and/or veggies to my smoothies because it's an easy way to get my daily greens in.
Oh and I use a Vitamix. Awesome blender, joy to use. Way better than my cheapie I had before. But not needed. Who cares.
1. Pre-freeze pumpkin puree by dividing 1 (15 oz.) can into an ice cube tray and freezing. (You will have enough to fill more than one tray.)
I forget what was on, but the guy said he doesn't eat chia seeds because he doesn't put anything in his body that does that:
A favorite is frozen strawberries, about 1/3 as much frozen pineapple, and apple or orange juice to cover. I thin it out a bit for the kids but I prefer it to be thicker. We use the frozen fruit in place of ice and no need to prep! :) We also have frozen blueberries, peaches, and raspberries on hand most of the time in case the kids are feeling adventurous. Sometimes we add a little honey if the berries are a little tart.
I'd like to incorporate some steamed carrots in sometime to add a little more variety into the diet of our youngest.
The frozen fruit gives a nice texture, almost like a milk shake, and the yogurt keeps it from being too sweet.
If I remember to make a pot on Sunday nights, I will also add 2-3 table spoons of pre-cooked steel cut oats. The oatmeal adds a tapioca-like texture to smoothies.
I want to follow this for ideas. We have a stick blender currently and start with a kefir base then whatever fruit we have, mostly berries fresh or that we froze. Current favorite is strawberry and currants with some flax seeds and poppy seeds and a little honey. Maybe we’re making more of a drinkable fruit kefir than an actual smoothie but we sure are enjoying them and they have satiated my partner’s ice cream cravings.
Mine are pretty standard: banana, yogurt, one or two types of fruit and bit of milk or juice. Something needs to be frozen (chunks of banana or one of the other fruits)
A different variation is to freeze chunks of zucchini and use that as your frozen "fruit". Great combo with pineapple chunks, banana, yogurt and OJ.
I have a Ninja and my bro has a Vitamix. He can make almond milk with his Vitamix for 1/10th the cost of buying almond milk by the half gallon. I can't make almond milk with my Ninja.
The real face punch should be the folks buying half gallons of almond, coconut, cashew "milk" where 90% is water.
I'm not a salad fan, so I use smoothies to up my veggie/fruit intake. Since I'm too lazy for complicated recipes, it's basically this:
Blended in my Vitamix, which is indeed a vast improvement over my previous $40 blender, which left chunks of things in smoothies. Maybe I'm overpaying for smooth smoothies, but I got it four years ago and never regretted the purchase!
I've also been trying to get more carrots in my diet, but hate eating them even with dip, so recently I've just been throwing two servings raw carrots and a cored apple into my vitamix with some water. It's not really a proper smoothie, but it's tasty and easy!
I always start with a cup of Greek yogurt and a splash of whole milk. Then I add, depending on taste:
I've also experimented with a splash of orange juice and/or a teaspoon of orange extract (either with other fruit or cocoa). This summer, I'd like to try peaches, kiwis, and maybe pineapple chunks with coconut milk to make a "pina colada" smoothie.
Step 1, go to Costco for bananas, big bags of fresh spinach, and several bags of various frozen fruit.
In ziplock Perfect Portion bags grab a handful of spinach, half a banana and a handful of mixed frozen fruit. Pack them all in a large ziplock and toss into the freezer until needed.
I make them without dairy, I toss one in the mixer which shall not be named, add some cold water, a scoop of vegan protein powder and sometimes if I am feeling fancy, a spoonful of frozen OJ concentrate.
FYI - this is more of a meal than a snack. This was my daily breakfast for years when I was a 220 lb single digit body fat beast. These days I eat far less and more solid food. Solid food fills me up a lot more and I’m not constantly forcefeeding calories like I used to.
Almond milk or Pineapple Juice (depending on preference): just enough for ingredients to blend but stay thick
Tip: Costco sells frozen avocado chunks and single-serve-size acai packets at very reasonable prices!
I've been making my daughter a smoothie every morning for breakfast, and because she is working outside for seven hours a day in the heat, I try to pack as much protein and healthy fat in as I can, and don't worry about the calories.
Also, apparently I should clarify that I make this with a fucking $20 immersion blender and no other wizardry.
I like my 1970's Osterizer for blending purposes. Any product with faux wood paneling is indicative of high quality. :P
Any fresh greens get added first, followed by any fresh fruit. Water is added before any frozen ingredients, followed by frozen greens, then frozen fruit. I like to have at least enough fresh greens to hold the frozen ingredients out of the water until blending preventing the frozen ingredients from clumping together and eliminating the need to tamp the clumps down with the tamper. Slowly increase blender speed until all ingredients are incorporated, then run on high for a few minutes to get completely smooth.
My first TV (70s CRT double-hand-me-down from grandparents to parents to me) and old car (1992 Buick Roadmaster wagon) agreed with you 100%. TV lasted around 35 years before crapping out and the Buick lasted around 25 years.
They enable a couple cheap party tricks like being able to make nut butters, but inexpensive nut butters are already available everywhere because the large scale grinding of the nuts is cheap.
Sure, you can make your own nut milks, but dear god what a waste of time. For $2 i can get half a gallon of almond milk. Factor in the energy use, the time cost, and the lifetime cost of the vitamix, and see who comes out ahead.
Ive even see people in this forum complain about how there are too many ice crystals left in their smoothies with a regular blender, while the vitamix makes them totally smooth. FOR FUCKs SAKE. Is this the MMM forum or the yuppies of the world rich person problems forum?
The vitamix hands down is non frugal. Buy it as a treat if you like, but no arguments on its frugality are tenable.
1/4 cup frozen misc other fruit (when fruit starts to go bad, I cut of the bad part and the rest goes in the freezer)
We bought our Vitamix after destroying the blade assembly of a cheap (~$20) blender in a handful of weeks making daily smoothies. Marginal utility over a decent quality blender is probably not really worth the price.
Most difficult to accomplish with lesser blenders but easy to do with a Vitamix: turn frozen food into a thick, smooth frozen treat with a constancy similar to soft serve ice cream. (I'll admit that this is what I've always wanted a Vitamix for, but couldn't justify the purchase based on this alone - green smoothie habit requiring better than a cheap $20 blender was enough to push Vitamix into the "worth it" column for me)
Trick that works but would be easier with other tools: Blended soups (immersion blender in a pot is probably at least as easy and effective).
We have the dry grinding canister and use it to make flour. A dedicated mill would be easier provide better quality, but the quality of the flour from the Vitamix is acceptable as long as you don't try to do too much at once. The dry grinding canister is also supposed to be able to make bread dough - this gimmick is not worth trying. I tried it once and it works but I decided it was easier to make the dough by hand than to clean the canister after making dough in it.