Smoothies

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XFSmiles
XFSmiles Posts: 3 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I recently got a Blendtec blender to make smoothies. I have a lot of frozen fruit and have been using kale and spinach a lot but I'm using a lot of water as my liquid. What other liquids do you suggest? Also, what are your favorite recipes? So far mine is 1 cup of water, 1 cup of kale and 1 cup of frozen cherries!

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  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    I pretty much always use water. I don't want to spend the calories on other liquids. I like your recipe - I'd add some banana and a scoop of vanilla or white chocolate protein powder.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    XFSmiles wrote: »
    I recently got a Blendtec blender to make smoothies. I have a lot of frozen fruit and have been using kale and spinach a lot but I'm using a lot of water as my liquid. What other liquids do you suggest? Also, what are your favorite recipes? So far mine is 1 cup of water, 1 cup of kale and 1 cup of frozen cherries!

    Other liquids -- any kind of milk (dairy or not). I use a lot of homemade cashew milk since it includes the nuts and has more fat and my smoothies are otherwise lower fat than I like for a meal. (Also because it is delicious.) Coconut water could work if you like it. Also yogurt works--mix with water to get a thicker more creamy texture.

    I LOVE playing around with fruit and veg combinations (I usually don't use that much fruit, but in the summer I used a lot more). I also add herbs. Haven't experimented with spices much, but there are good recipes with them.

    I often add protein powder, again for the macros and to make it more filling as a meal. Usually I use a plain/neutral flavored one, but if you like flavored ones play with those. (I sometimes use vanilla.)

    Made a delicious one recently with frozen blackberries (half a cup), kale, fennel (I love fennel and think it's great in a smoothie), a zucchini, cashew milk, and protein powder.

    I have done a lot with frozen strawberries, always add greens and at least one other vegetable, and have found that roasted and chilled winter squash tastes good in them and so does avocado. (With avocado I usually use low fat milk or just 0% Fage, as I don't need more fat.)

    Also have used melon, watermelon, mangoes, peaches, pears, cherries, raspberries, and of course bananas as my main fruit, and strawberries+watermelon is delightful. Take the opportunity to experiment!
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
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    Flavoured teas work well.
  • DarrelBirkett
    DarrelBirkett Posts: 221 Member
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    Vanilla Protein Powder, water, ginger, frozen blueberries.
  • CafeRacer808
    CafeRacer808 Posts: 2,396 Member
    edited January 2017
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    Green Smoothies are my jam! This is my go-to recipe, which contains the recommended 5 "cups"/day of veg and fruit. It yields about 1.25L, which I typically break up into two servings on any given day. When it was originally written, I was using a 2:3 ratio of veg:fruit (I hated vegetables back then), but I've recently changed the ratio to about 3:2, veg:fruit. The leafy greens I use change from week to week (usually kale, spinach or romaine, which is sometimes supplemented with microgreens, baby bok choi, swiss chard or collard greens), but the rest of the ingredients generally remain the same.

    14oz Water or Coconut water
    6oz Orange Juice
    150g Leafy Greens (50g of which is usually arugula because I love the peppery flavor)
    125g Celery
    100g Cucumber
    65g Pineapple
    5g Ginger
    50g Frozen Berries (Blackberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Strawberry, or a combination)
    40g Frozen Cherries
    120g Frozen Mango or Banana
    1-2 TBSP Chia Seeds (optional)
    Protein Powder (optional)
  • H_Ock12
    H_Ock12 Posts: 1,152 Member
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    Chocolate milk
    Isopure whey isolate
    Banana
    Peanut butter
    Spinach

    Vanilla almond milk
    Berries of choice
    Spinach
    Isopure whey isolate
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    I typically start with spinach and add a fruit of some type, or combination. Sometimes add carrots, cucumbers, celery, tomatoes, peas, bell peppers,cocoa powder, honey, protein powder, and/or flax/chia seeds, depending on what my needs are for the day. I tried broccoli once, I do not recommend that at all. I have also tried garlic and gingerroot, they add a bite to it. For liquid, I have used water, black tea, green tea, coconut water, V8, and/or orange juice, depending in what else I've added. Coconut water and orange juice go nicely with pineapple and some melons. V8, if you are doing vegetables. Tea, when I need the caffeine (early morning shifts). Nothing wrong with sticking to plain water either. I use that when I'm making it later in the day and don't need the caffeine and need to keep calories lower.
  • lythia77
    lythia77 Posts: 4 Member
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    My sons favorite smoothie is spinach, orange and banana. My daughters fav is almond milk, cocoa powder and banana (can use sweetener/honey/sugar if you think it needs it. And then there is mango, banana, strawberry is always good.
    As far as liquids go we use milk, juice, yogurt sometimes, almond milk, water, etc depends on the flavor you want.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    edited January 2017
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    One of my favorite things to throw in a smoothie for a really bright flavor is something unexpected -- parsley. Just clean a whole bunch and throw the whole thing in there. It's really good with pineapple, pear, and protein powder. I prefer Italian flat leaf, but curly parsley is fine. I just use water when I make this and throw a few walnut halves in for fat.
  • showerbeer182
    showerbeer182 Posts: 798 Member
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    Mmmmm I love kale :)
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    edited January 2017
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    showerbeer182 wrote: »
    Mmmmm I love kale :)

    Trying to put kale in smoothies is how I found out that I really need a better blender. I love kale too. Just not in floating chunk form.
  • CafeRacer808
    CafeRacer808 Posts: 2,396 Member
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    GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »
    One of my favorite things to throw in a smoothie for a really bright flavor is something unexpected -- parsley. Just clean a whole bunch and throw the whole thing in there. It's really good with pineapple, pear, and protein powder. I prefer Italian flat leaf, but curly parsley is fine. I just use water when I make this and throw a few walnut halves in for fat.

    I do parsley sometimes as well. Ditto dandelion leaves and carrot tops.
  • hazzaram
    hazzaram Posts: 77 Member
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    My favourite has strawberries, a banana, some pineapple juice and an avocado. The avocado makes it so creamy and delicious.
  • kandisn7
    kandisn7 Posts: 66 Member
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    Every morning I do milk/water, unsweetened cocoa, banana, spinach, and strawberry yogurt. I love it.
  • Caper1972
    Caper1972 Posts: 25 Member
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    I prefer pineapple juice as my liquid and use whatever fruit is on hand. I haven't made one though since watching my calories as I have been trying to cut out juice as I was drinking to many of my calories.

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