The Blender Diaries: Dedicated to smoothies, juicing, Superfruits and healthy living. » cooking

Crantastic Smoothie

Chris — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:00:57 +0000

For the past couple of weeks, it seems like every time I am at the store, all I see is red – Cranberries are EVERYWHERE. And since I just can’t seem get my wife’s delicious cranberries soaked in cabernet out of my head, I decided to try a cranberry smoothie. I’m really hoping this will curb my cranberry craving until the big feast.

Here’s the recipe:

1 cup cranberries
1 cup raspberries
1/3 cup cran-apple juice
8 oz vanilla yogurt

Put all ingredients in a blender. Add ice. Blend and enjoy!

What’s in your blender today? Email me: drinkzola@gmail.com and follow me on Twitter: @drinkzola.

© Chris for The Blender Diaries: Dedicated to smoothies, juicing, Superfruits and healthy living., 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blender, cooking, cranberry sauce, health, healthy food, holiday recipes, holiday themed smoothie, Smoothies, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving feast, Zola Açaí

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Ask The Smoothie Guy: How to Thicken Your Smoothies

Chris — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:00:45 +0000

I have received a few emails in the past couple of weeks about making smoothies thicker. One of my favorite was from a mom in Englewood, Colorado – it read:

I hear you’re the smoothie guy – can you help me? I’m a busy mom of 3 located in Englewood, Colorado and I have been trying to add smoothies to my diet because they are quick, easy and relatively healthy. Problem is, I can’t seem to make my own at home because I hate and I mean, absolutely detest bananas!! What can I substitute in my smoothies to still give them that thickness they need without using those awful little yellow fruits?

There are a few different ways to add thickness to your smoothies:

If you like your smoothies really thick, you can cut up bananas into ½ inch pieces and freeze – blend those up
If you’re like our favorite mom from Englewood, and refuse to let a banana anywhere near your smoothie, try using avocado or even yogurt. You can substitute ½ banana with 2-3 oz yogurt (whatever flavor you want!).

Hope this helps!

Email me with any questions or ideas for smoothies at drinkzola@gmail.com; Twitter @drinkzola.

© Chris for The Blender Diaries: Dedicated to smoothies, juicing, Superfruits and healthy living., 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blender, cooking, food, health, healthy, natural, recipes, smoothie, Smoothies, summer drinks, Zola Açaí

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Beginner’s Guide to Making Smoothies: The Fruit

Chris — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:30:01 +0000

Choosing your fruit and flavor combinations is very important and can be surprisingly difficult if you don’t have some guidelines. Because let’s face it, some fruits play nice with others, and others do not. Bananas are generally the nice neighbor and go with just about everything.

To help avoid confusion, I always group smoothie fruits into three categories: berries, tropicals, and exotics.

FRUIT:
Berries: The berries which include everything from strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries & cherries generally go really well with orange and apple juice bases. When mixed with banana, they also go really well with milk and sorbet bases.

Tropicals: The tropicals like mangoes, bananas, pineapple & peaches go really well with pineapple juices and sorbets. They are usually a bit tangier than berry based smoothies. Bananas, as I mentioned before are great for giving all fruit and juice smoothies a smooth texture.

Exotics: The exotics which include Açaí, Goji Berries, and Mangosteen are usually great with fruit juices and sorbets and mix well with bananas and other berries
And further, when choosing between frozen or fresh fruit, always remember that frozen fruit will allow you to thicken smoothies without ice while fresh fruit inevitably makes smoothies thinner. If you do use fresh fruit, lower the juice by 1-2 oz and add approx 2-4 oz ice to taste.

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Post tags: Açaí, cooking, health, healthy, how to make smoothies, nutrition, recipe, smoothie, superfood, Superfruit, tropical fruit, Zola Açaí

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