GNOWFGLINS™

Have you ever read a smoothie recipe — greatly desiring a sweet, cool, icy treat — only to realize that you have few of the ingredients listed? You need a smoothie formula. Use this method to craft smoothies from the ingredients you have in your kitchen. Tweak the smoothie by adjusting the components to suit your preferences.

Blender Appliance

Since my only experiences making smoothies have been with a KitchenAid blender and now a Vita-Mix, I can only speak to these appliances. The KA simply could not handle the ice or flax seeds, not to mention frozen fruits. I don’t know what blender you have. I don’t think one needs to have a Vita-Mix to make smoothies. However, a Vita-Mix is a quality appliance that is very nice to own and can be used for many beneficial kitchen tasks. Okay, plug over. Back to the topic at hand: You know your blender and what it can handle, so customize your ingredients based on its capabilities. If you’re worried about it being able to chop such ingredients as flax seeds or nuts, consider adding them to the smoothie already chopped.

The Main Components

1. Fruit — ripe & fresh, and/or frozen; some of the fruits should be sweeter fruits, such as blueberries, banana, pear, or pineapple; if using greens, fruit should be 60% or more of the total produce content
2. Greens — optional, use up to 40% of total produce content
3. Liquid — pure water, juice, nut/seed/grain milk, coconut milk
4. Ice — the more frozen fruit, the less ice needed
5. Sweeteners — optional, use natural sweeteners such as honey, agave, molasses, maple syrup (Grade B), dates, etc.
6. Add-ins — flax seeds, other seeds & nuts, protein powder, unsweetened shredded coconut, vanilla, cocoa powder, mint, etc.

Making The Smoothie

1. Put seeds and/or nuts in the bottom of the Vita-Mix wet container or other blender container. In order for the little ingredients to be chopped or ground finely, they need to go in the bottom.
2. Add all non-frozen (and therefore softer) fruits and greens. If using greens in addition to fruits, pay attention to ending up with about 60% fruit and 40% greens.
3. Add all frozen fruits and greens.
4. Add sweeteners and add-ins (if using).
5. Add ice. Usually, I add about 12 ice cubes to a Vita-Mix container full of non-frozen fruits and greens. If frozen fruits are being used, I lessen the ice accordingly. It will take some trial and error to discover how icy and thick you prefer your smoothies to be.
6. Add liquids to 3/4 the level of all the other ingredients. Use a combination of liquids, if you prefer.
7. Blend until smooth. With the Vita-Mix, turn the machine on to LOW and variable speed #1, increase speed to #10, then flip to HIGH.

As I mentioned, it will take some trial and error to discover the thickness, iciness, sweetness and flavor you prefer. But take heart that it is really hard to go wrong with a smoothie!

Local Fruit Sources

We’re nearing the summer season and soon will have berries, melons, apples, pears, plums, and more to enjoy! We have a few regular local sources of quality fruit. We pick blackberries on a friend’s property and I am able to put many gallons of berries in the freezer to enjoy year-round in smoothies and ice cream toppings. From a local organic farm, I am able to buy apples, pears and plums in the late summer for 50 cents per pound. I put those in the freezer, too. I put the plums in the freezer after I’ve cut them in half and pitted them. The pears and apples I core and chop up in the Vita-mix, freezing the sauce raw. These local sources are helping me to be independent of imported bananas and pineapples.

Find local CSAs, farms, U-Picks, etc. at localharvest.org. Also, find out what’s in season in your area.

Please share with me your successes and your questions. I would love to help you create delicious and healthy summer treats from God’s bounty.

© Copyright 2008 by Wardeh Harmon.