Smoothies

We have owned a Vitamix blender for a little over two years. Dev bought it as my birthday present when I was pregnant with Asha because, well, I would not stop talking about it. My grand plans included meal replacement smoothies, hot soups, and healthy desserts everyday.  Not to say that I didn’t commit, it’s just that I realized soon after the purchase that I like my ice cream fatty and meals that involve chewing. I also had trouble with smoothie recipes which somehow always turned out very thick,  fibrous, and brown.

I am happy to say though that my Vitamix blender has been resurrected and in the recent few months I have found myself using it at least 3 to 4 times a week. As a bonus it has been a fun collaboration with Asha where we can pretend to be cooking together. She usually steps on her stool next to me and plucks the kale leaves or peels the banana or adds the vegetables and fruits I chopped in the blender. And of course she gets to turn it on and make the big “roooommmmm” noise. Lucky for me she also can hardly wait to drink the concoction.

Here are some basic things that I do differently now when making smoothies for a completely pleasing result:

• Use banana or avocado to make a creamy texture.
• Add more water than you think you need
• Juice the orange if using instead of adding the whole peeled fruit to keep the fibrous-ness down
• Use baby spinach or kale with stems removed
• Dont use frozen fruits which give it a thick icy texture
• Dont combine too many ingredients; my limit is 4

Here are some combinations of fruit and vegetables that have been a hit lately:

• Baby spinach, melon, cucumber, orange
• Kale, cucumber, grapes, lime
• Kale, pears, cucumber, lemon
• Baby spinach, pineapple, avocado
• Kale, banana, orange
• baby spinach, carrot, cucumber, avocado,
• baby spinach, papaya

Surprisingly, the moment I stopped looking at the Vitamix blender as a forced health regiment I started using it more. It has replaced our after work/school snack on most days while keeping our meal time intact because I still rather eat my food instead of drinking it. It has supplemented our nutrition intake instead of replacing meals or eating of fresh fruits and vegetables.

I would love to hear if any of you use a high-speed blender in your daily food routine and if you have any favorite blender recipes.