Crimson Tide

Rating: *****

My wife likes me to leave out the grains and nuts from my smoothies, so I decided to leave those on the side today.   I also decided to experiment a little with some new flavors.  The result was a crimson concoction with a serious, yet fruity flavor.

Ingredients:

1/2   Zucchini
1/2   Red Beet
1     Stalk of celery
1/2 C Strawberries (frozen)
1/2 C Blueberries (frozen)
1/2   Orange (Frozen)
1/2   Red Bell Pepper
1 C   Greek Yogurt
2 C   Spinach
1 T   Fresh Cilantro
2-3 C Orange Juice

Start with the zucchini, beet, celery and some orange juice and blend for a few minutes for smoothness.   Add frozen vegetables and more juice and blend until smooth.  Add everthing else and blend until the spinach is blended to your liking.

At first, I was struck by the distinct vegetable flavor that comes from the pepper and cilantro,  however it didn’t take long for me to adjust and pretty soon I was loving this smoothie!  The cilantro did a wonderful job of balancing out the beet flavor, and the spinach doesn’t affect the flavor much at all, but it did change this shake from deep purple to a lovely crimson color.

Good Morning Breakfast Smoothie

Rating: ****O

Today I went for a breakfast smoothie with a little more substance.   I also wanted to correct a problem I’ve had with too much grit from flax and other grains.  

Ingredients:

1/4 C  Flax flour
1/4 C  Oat Flour
1      Orange (frozen)
1      Banana (frozen)
1 C    Misc Frozen fruit (mango, guava)
3 C    Orange juice
2 t    Lime juice
2 t    Sugar

To make the flours, I used a coffee grinder to grind the flax and the oats separately.  This was pure genius- it took care of almost all the grittiness and made a very smooth texture. 

Next, add the frozen fruit and 1/2 the juice and blend until smooth.  Add the rest of the juice to get to the texture you want.  

Overall the flavor was good.  My daughter loved it, but my wife isn’t a big fan of oats in her smoothie.  I like it and was happy to sip on it through the day. 

Spinach Orange Smoothie – Delicious Simplicity

Rating: *****

Between my wife’s complaints about too many ingredients and our dwindling end-of-the-month grocery supplies, life has conspired today for me to make a two (well, three) ingredient smoothie, with excellent results!

Ingredients:

1/4 C   Flax meal (optional)
1 1/2   Peeled oranges, frozen
2 C     Orange Juice
2-3 C   Spinach

Blend everything except the spinach until smooth (about one minute), then blend in the spinach.  That’s it!  This one tasted  almost like a pure fruit smoothie.  I also liked the color of this one – very lively!

A note about flax meal- I add this for the nutrition/fiber, but I do notice a texture change when I do.  Next time I am going to try smoothing out the flax first in a coffee grinder and see if that helps.