Smoothies

Firstoff, I decided to put a post about smoothies up on the blog because I wanted a reason to take photos of my most recent thrift store acquisition: the most beautiful blender the world has ever seen. But also since I've been making smoothies on and off for years and every single day for the past few months since Henry started liking them, I think I have some good knowledge on the subject to offer up to the internet community.


Back to my blender - isn't it beautiful. It's got avocado green, shiny chrome, and even faux wood grain. And it looks and works like new. And it cost just $12. I've been through 3 $150 blenders in the past 3 years. The first 2 that broke were luckily replaced under warranty. And after the third broke I did actually replace it with a cheaper new blender but I am happy to keep that one in the basement as backup so that I can have this one on my counter. I am hoping that this is one of those "they don't make them like they used to" situations and not an "Amy is way too hard on her blender" situation so that my new blender will last for years to come.

Of course this beautiful blender has created that age old problem of making my toaster and microwave look hideous but I think I can deal with it. Well, maybe I will keep just one eye out for an awesome thrift store toaster. But I don't think that microwaves are one of those "they don't make them like they used to" appliances. Besides, I don't think microwaves get much more vintage than our current one.

Onto the smoothies, I make some variation of this every morning. Assuming you are not taking pictures along the way, it takes less than 10 minutes for the whole thing.

First the veg (well 2 of these are fruits if we want to be technical). I add about 3 big collard leaves and avocado and, since zucchini are coming out of the garden right now, I've been adding those too. Add the collards to the blender first to be sure that they get well blended.

The protein: tofu, cashews, and flaxseed. I add a third of a 530 g package of soft silk tofu. I also sometimes add raw cashews, I find about 1/4 cup soaked in water overnight works well. I also always have soy protein powder in the pantry which I add if I am out of tofu or occasionally in addition to tofu.
The sweet fruit. I always add one banana and then about a handful of various frozen berries or peaches or whatever tasty fruit is in season. On this day I also added some raspberries and currants from the garden that weren't getting eaten. Mangos are also a really nice addition.
I meant to take a picture of all the ingredients stacked up in the blender, it looked quite nice but I accidentally pressed blend first so this is the picture showing the ingredients in the blender (some blended some not) along with the juice. I usually use orange juice but this is what I happened to have. It's a good idea to taste the smoothie before you take it out of the blender. If it turns out you added too much collard greens or flaxseed (too much and you can taste the bitterness) or even tofu (too much and the smoothie becomes bland) the best thing to add is raspberries as these seem to cover up those tastes the best. And if you don't like the grittiness of the flaxseed it is also a good idea to add raspberries because we are used to that gritty texture when we eat raspberry stuff.

I think that is just about all my smoothie knowledge. Of course just about any these ingredients can be substituted or omitted. The only balance that's important is the sweet versus non sweet ingredients.
So you can see these are pretty healthy. Lots of fruit and veg and protein. And calcium from the tofu and the greens. Henry has a serving of this, he sometimes drinks it all at once but it often goes in and out of the fridge while he works on it during the day. Having him get all this good stuff lets me feel a bit more relaxed about what he eats the rest of the day.

These ingredients made enough for 3 servings plus a little left over that I pour into popsicle molds. Henry and I both like to eat the popsicles that these smoothies make. And I found these great little molds at Dollarama that are nice and small for little Henry.

Here's the recipe just in case this information really is of use to anyone out there:

3 big leaves collard greens
1/2 avocado
1/2 zucchini
1/4 cup raw cashews presoaked overnight
1/3 pack soft silken tofu
1-2 TBSP flaxmeal
1 banana
~handful berries or other fruit
1/2 cup+ orange juice

Put all ingredients in blender and blend. Start with 1/2 cup juice and add more until well blended to desired consistency.