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How do you create a smoothy?

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If you ever go to Jamba Juice and look at what brand their blenders are... They're VitaMix. That should tell you something.

Watch QVC for them to come on there or go to your local Home & Garden show type thing as they have them at ours all the time. Or Costco sells them and does demos too.
 
Is vitamix really that good of a blender? I do notice that on Iron Chef that is what they use. I gotta check out that wiki thanks.

Tomorrow morning I might try just adding all of my ingredients at one time from the beginning and pulse for a minute to see if it whips in less air bubbles. Freezing some bananas right now though.
 
yhelothar said:
Figs are also good for adding creaminess.

Also it may take some trial and error to get the fruit ratios to taste really good. If you taste the smoothie when you're done, you can get a sense of what it needs more of. After a few iterations, it shouldn't be difficult to get something really delicious.
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Hmm that's interesting. I'd imagine you're talking about fresh figs? Do you use like Turkish or Black Mission figs? We rarely get them in my area, but I always buy a bin when we do. Never thought about using them in smoothies!

I'd assume you blend the whole thing with the skin too, right? I bet that'd have a pretty good flavor...
 
Linux23 said:
Is vitamix really that good of a blender? I do notice that on Iron Chef that is what they use. I gotta check out that wiki thanks.

Tomorrow morning I might try just adding all of my ingredients at one time from the beginning and pulse for a minute to see if it whips in less air bubbles. Freezing some bananas right now though.
Click to expand...

imo, the Vitamix is the best smoothie blender. I own a Blendtec and it is amazing for smoothies as well, but the Vitamix tends not to quite over-pulverize smoothies, which makes it a bit thicker & creamier since it's really easy to completely liquify stuff in the Blendtec. But I also use my Blendtec for making sauces & other stuff, so I like the extra power & the jar design (square for pouring & easy cleaning, and no plunger). My friend won our state's best smoothie award a few years in a row at her shop & uses Vitamixes exclusively. You can't go wrong with either one!

I have a hard time recommending anything else. Everyone I know IRL who got a Ninja has returned it. Great marketing, not so great results when you're using various ingredients to make a complete pureed smoothie. The problem is that the Blendtec & Vitamix are like $400, which is crazy money if you're not into kitchen stuff. I use mine just about daily, so it's been a worthy investment for me. I think I'm going on something like 7 years with it now. I make whole juice, smoothies, puddings, and ice cream mixes in it, all kinds of stuff. But again, it's a huge amount of money for something so simple (and so noisy!), so you have to decide if it's worth it for your budget & usage.
 
Linux23 said:
Is vitamix really that good of a blender? I do notice that on Iron Chef that is what they use. I gotta check out that wiki thanks.

Tomorrow morning I might try just adding all of my ingredients at one time from the beginning and pulse for a minute to see if it whips in less air bubbles. Freezing some bananas right now though.
Click to expand...

Also, the key is really just having a high-powered blender. There are plenty of good blenders on the market, but if you want 100% consistent, foolproof results, you'll have to invest in either a Vitamix or a Blendtec due to the high power & design. We use my Blendtec in the summer to turn ice into snowcone material...all of my previous blenders did a crap job at that. Here's one of my current favorite smoothies:

* 2 frozen bananas (peel & break in half before freezing overnight)
* Carob powder
* Natural peanut butter
* Honey
* Water

Carob is kind of like chocolate, only it tastes nasty in everything except for smoothies (I actually like it better than chocolate in smoothies). So I throw a couple frozen bananas in, a giant scoop of peanut butter, a couple big spoonfuls of carob, a big squirt or two of honey for the sugary flavor, and add enough water to let it blend into something I can sip from a straw. Sometimes I add protein powder if I want to make it more of a meal than a snack. You can adjust the ratios of the ingredients to suite your palette. One other awesome thing I make in my Blendtec is homemade Jello pudding:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=36496855&postcount=68

Once you dial in the different amounts of ingredients you like, it's awesome (you learn to change it up based on the amount & ripeness of the avocado...I also use just a little bit of maple syrup & more sugar). If you're into healthy ingredients at all, it's also a lot better than the commercial variety of Jello pudding cups:

SKIM MILK, WATER, SUGAR, MODIFIED CORNSTARCH, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, CONTAINS LESS THAN 1.5% OF HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (COCONUT AND PALM KERNEL OILS), CORNSTARCH, SALT, SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE (FOR SMOOTH TEXTURE), SODIUM ALGINATE, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, ARTIFICIAL COLOR, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, VITAMIN D.
Click to expand...

So it's kind of a lesser-of-two evils type of deal if you want to eat healthier but still want a treat 😛
 
Linux23 said:
Is vitamix really that good of a blender? I do notice that on Iron Chef that is what they use. I gotta check out that wiki thanks.

Tomorrow morning I might try just adding all of my ingredients at one time from the beginning and pulse for a minute to see if it whips in less air bubbles. Freezing some bananas right now though.
Click to expand...

Yes and CostCo B&M usually sells both models Vitamix and Blendtec with 7-8 year warranties. Are they worth it? Yes they are but it will cost you $$$. A few weeks ago they had a fairly loaded Blendtec on sale for $269 which is rare, they usually go for $329-ish.

After months of research and waiting for the right deal to come along, I bought one and love it. It's awesome being able to make your own smoothies where you control the ingredients, grind your own flour, make your own almond milk, etc.
 
jlee said:
Bookmarked. Thanks!
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Enjoy! I have a really weird shelf of ingredients for my smoothies :biggrin: Most of the time, they don't come out tasting too great, but it's nice to have a smoothie that has say bananas, coconut milk, hemp protein, fish oil, baby spinach, pineapple, and honey and drink it all in one shot. Beats Lunchables for nutritional content, at any rate :awe:

One other little tip - I store most everything in those little glass mason jars. I get the wide-mouth ones and buy the plastic screw-on lids...I have a couple cabinets full of different ingredients so I can just spoon out different ingredients on different days, just to mix up the flavors & nutritional profile a bit. Personally I think that smoothies are kind of a load of BS, but at the same time, it's nice to get a big injection of various ingredients in a few gulps, and they're awfully convenient to make, so I tend to make them pretty often (usually for breakfast). Plus it's nice to know that I at least ate something healthy in the course of a day 😀
 
Kaido said:
Enjoy! I have a really weird shelf of ingredients for my smoothies :biggrin: Most of the time, they don't come out tasting too great, but it's nice to have a smoothie that has say bananas, coconut milk, hemp protein, fish oil, baby spinach, pineapple, and honey and drink it all in one shot. Beats Lunchables for nutritional content, at any rate :awe:

One other little tip - I store most everything in those little glass mason jars. I get the wide-mouth ones and buy the plastic screw-on lids...I have a couple cabinets full of different ingredients so I can just spoon out different ingredients on different days, just to mix up the flavors & nutritional profile a bit. Personally I think that smoothies are kind of a load of BS, but at the same time, it's nice to get a big injection of various ingredients in a few gulps, and they're awfully convenient to make, so I tend to make them pretty often (usually for breakfast). Plus it's nice to know that I at least ate something healthy in the course of a day 😀
Click to expand...

I'm definitely looking forward to perusing 😀 I bought a BlendTec a few months ago and used it a lot for the first couple of weeks, but I haven't lately. Gotta get back to it.
 
Linux23 said:
Is vitamix really that good of a blender? I do notice that on Iron Chef that is what they use. I gotta check out that wiki thanks.

Tomorrow morning I might try just adding all of my ingredients at one time from the beginning and pulse for a minute to see if it whips in less air bubbles. Freezing some bananas right now though.
Click to expand...

Yep, they are. We've had one for a couple years and my wife makes smoothies all the time.

We had a problem with the container leaking some grease out of the bottom where the gear is. I took a picture of it and sent it to them and they shipped me a whole new container and didn't even want the old one back.

Top Notch Customer Service. I highly recommend them.
 
RossMAN said:
Yes and CostCo B&M usually sells both models Vitamix and Blendtec with 7-8 year warranties. Are they worth it? Yes they are but it will cost you $$$. A few weeks ago they had a fairly loaded Blendtec on sale for $269 which is rare, they usually go for $329-ish.

After months of research and waiting for the right deal to come along, I bought one and love it. It's awesome being able to make your own smoothies where you control the ingredients, grind your own flour, make your own almond milk, etc.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, speaking of DIY milks, I recently got into that as well (dairy allergy & all). This is an awesome milk bag, kind of like a super-fine cheesecloth:

http://www.amazon.com/Nut-Milk-Bag-R...dp/B00KI2RQHU/

I use these glass jars, which have screw-on lids with some kind of rubbery ring to keep them sealed, which is great for homemade milks:

http://www.amazon.com/Bormioli-Rocco...dp/B001JA5CSK/

Some recipes:

Coconut milk (using dried coconut flakes)
Rice milk (using cooked rice)
Almond milk (soak the almonds overnight to soften them up)

One I want to try sometime is homemade strawberry almond milk, looks pretty tasty:

http://thesearchforyum.blogspot.com/2014/08/strawberry-almond-milk-recipe-vita-nut.html
 
jlee said:
I'm definitely looking forward to perusing 😀 I bought a BlendTec a few months ago and used it a lot for the first couple of weeks, but I haven't lately. Gotta get back to it.
Click to expand...

I'll give you one tip, you have to make your ingredients accessible if you really want to use your blender every day. For me, that means mason jars with easy screw-on lids for the dry ingredients, and ziploc bags of frozen ingredients for the rest. That way I can just grab whatever's in my fridge (water, whatever kind of non-dairy milk I have on-hand, or something like OJ), toss in some frozen bananas & frozen other fruits, throw in some different powders & seeds, and blend it all up. Oh, and I have frozen greens with good results (baby spinach, kale, etc.) so you can make ziploc mixes of your favorite smoothies or store greens long-term pretty easily (which was surprising to me).

If you're into protein powders, it's worth trying a few to get different flavors. I have a few neutral ones (like hemp), but the flavored ones can be really good depending on what you get (warning: there are a lot of NASTY flavors out there, so a chocolate protein powder from company #1 may be disgusting, but from #2 may be amazing). If you're into veggie-based stuff, PlantFusion makes an excellent vanilla flavor and a cookies & cream flavor that works awesome in smoothies: ($$$ tho)

http://www.plantfusion.net/products/plantfusion

You can get really creative with sugary flavors to make them more appetizing (without actually using refined sugar) by using stuff like coconut sugar, honey, maple syrup, flavored protein powders, high-sugar juices like OJ or pineapple juice, etc. It's still sugar, but at least it's a little bit better on the health-o-meter for ya :awe:
 
RossMAN said:
Thanks, I've been looking for a good nut bag.
Click to expand...

As the reviewers note, the seams can look a little weak, so when you squeeze the pulp, do it on a flat side rather than a seam side. Part of mine got unraveled a little bit the first time I used it (not falling apart, just a fray), so I switched that method & it's been fine so far.

Also, the pullstring at the top is stiff enough that you can turn the bag inside-out, rinse it off for a minute, then just prop it up on the counter to air-dry. Or put it on like a 2-liter bottle or something for additional support.

Wow, I overthink this stuff so much :biggrin:
 
My daily breakfast smoothie is:

-1.5 cup water
-handful of kale
-6 frozen organic strawberries
-handful of organic frozen blueberries (costco)
-half a frozen banana

And one tablespoon of:
-organic hemp seeds
-hemp protein
-ground flaxseed
-chia seeds
-hemp or flax seed oil

All in a Vitamix

Edit: maybe spoonful of avocado if I want it more creamy
 
8 oz lactose-free milk
2 handfuls frozen fruit (peaches, watermelon, mixed berries)
1 handful spinach
1 avocado
1 scoop unflavored protein powder

blend and taste, adding more fruit as needed and possibly a packet or two of splenda.
 
First thing you gotta do OP is go buy a $500 blender. The cheap ones "destroy the nutrients". Then make sure you only buy triple organic hippie friendly market veg, sure it's 10X the price of normal veg but you gotta pay for the good stuff.

The next part is the most important so I am going to bold it....

Wherever you go no matter if it is a funeral or a random bar where you don't know anyone you must always tell the nearest person to you the health benefits of the above method. If the person moves away from you then you have a new nearest person to tell, continue until there are no more people or you hear someone pick up a chair and then become unconcious.
 
Puppies04 said:
First thing you gotta do OP is go buy a $500 blender. The cheap ones "destroy the nutrients". Then make sure you only buy triple organic hippie friendly market veg, sure it's 10X the price of normal veg but you gotta pay for the good stuff.

The next part is the most important so I am going to bold it....

Wherever you go no matter if it is a funeral or a random bar where you don't know anyone you must always tell the nearest person to you the health benefits of the above method. If the person moves away from you then you have a new nearest person to tell, continue until there are no more people or you hear someone pick up a chair and then become unconcious.
Click to expand...

What we need to do is stick 4 people in a room to see what happens, like a Reality TV show:

1. Someone who does blending & juicing for health
2. Someone who is (willingly) on a gluten-free diet
3. Someone who does the Crossfit workout
4. Someone who does the Paleo diet

It'd be like conversational American Gladiators 😀
 
RossMAN said:
After owning a Vitamix and seeing it in action, I would never buy a Ninja but this is a good deal:

Ninja Ultima Blender with 72oz Pitcher for $120 with free shipping.
Click to expand...

My friend literally just bought a Ninja after we tried to talk her out of it, totally fell for the hype. She used it for 3 days and burned through probably $50 of ingredients before returning it & buying a Vitamix 😀

I'm sure the Ninja is a good blender for some applications, but it all depends on what you want it to do. Like if you really want it to disintegrate greens, you're going to need something that is really, actually high-power with a good design. There's a reason the Vitamix & Blendtec units are so expensive...they give consistent results!
 
smoothies are ok once in a while.

if you want it thicker use more ice. less thick use less ice and more liquid. if you freeze your bananas ahead of time you don't need ice.
 
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