Smoothies

[dontlikewinter]

Hiya. I'm really wanting to make smoothies as part of my breakfast. I'm not a morning person so won't be making them in the morning.

What do you recommend as I've never made them before?
Do you have any recipes?

Can I make them the night before and store them in the fridge overnight?

[Blondie1984]

I tend to buy the frozen fruit mixes from the supermarket and put them in the blender with natural yoghurt, and a little milk to losen it. If I want a more filling one then I also add handful of oats and I might put some nuts or nut butter in too. Favourite combos include
Strawberry and Banana
Blueberry and Banana
Banana, oat & peanut butter

[Bluesheep8]

Following with interest as I've just bought one too (£29.99 from Aldi) and in bed of healthy recipes to try. Can I just use fat free plain yoghurt and skimmed milk? Really interested in doing some vegetable ones if anyone has recipes. Also, does ice have to be crushed already or does the machine do that?

[Ricekrispie22]

Bananas are the magical smoothie fruit. BUT, don’t use an over ripe banana… they’re potent. Unless your intention is for your smoothie to taste like banana bread, use a just-ripe banana. These will add a creamy thickness.
Oddly enough, frozen fruit generally blends better than fresh fruit. This is especially true if you don’t have a powerful blender. With fresh fruit, the skins tend to get ripped off instead of blended, and you end up with a chunk of fruit skin.
If the recipe uses honey, mix it with the wet ingredients first. If I don’t mix honey into the yogurt or other liquidy ingredient first I find that it often ends up sticking to the side.
This is one of my favourite breakfast smoothies realfood.tesco.com/recipes/pear-banana-oat-and-honey-breakfast-smoothie.html

[Charron]

I add three almonds, half a large glass of water, a frozen ripe banana, one heaped desertspoon of whole grain oats, desertsspoon of pumpkin and or sunflower seeds, handful of frozen blueberries and raspberries, desertspoon of raw honey.

[Charron]

Peel the banana before you freeze it.

[KeiTeNgeNge]

Does anyone have any tasty veg recipes?

[MissyBB]

I love to add a handful of kale, apple, frozen banana, frozen blueberries, tinned pineapple -then freeze the remaining, thumb sized chunk of ginger and chai seeds, just add ice cubes and some water then blend.

[Bluesheep8]

Loved reading all these suggestions. Going to make my first one tomorrow-banana, frozen forest fruits, fat free yoghurt and skimmed milk. Just a bit confused re quantities though if anyone can advise?

[TheRhythmlessMan]

I just kind of make it up as I go along. Particularly with quantities. I agree with pp that banana is the magic ingredient. I always put oats to make it more substantial.

Try adding a pinch of ground ginger and cinnamon. Or even some turmeric (which I find I can't really taste but it's so so good for you).

You've inspired me to make a smoothie for tomorrow.

[ppeatfruit]

I make a smoothie every other day for breakfast or whenever (I make enough for two days, though dh is starting to have them now so I'm making more, and store in the fridge) with seasonal organic fresh fruit and ground almonds. Today I used 2 apples, I pear and 2 small pieces of ginger., oh and a lemon for vitamin C, I grated the skin\pith and juiced it. The liquid is organic pear juice and filtered water and a powerful stick blender.

I don't like bananas so the almonds give me the creaminess, oh and some ground linseeds , they are great for creaminess and health too.

[TeddyIsaHe]

I usually do 1/2 banana, spinach, oats, chia, green nutrient powder, bit of raw honey and coconut water. I try not to use too much fruit because sugar is evil now apparently. But it tastes good, although slightly off-putting being bright green.

[ppeatfruit]

There's nothing wrong at all with fruit IMO and E.!!!! Good, fresh organic, seasonal fruit is full of fibre, minerals and vitamins. I lost 3 stone eating the above smoothies .On an empty stomach though, that's important.

My dentist and doctor love me!

[TheRhythmlessMan]

Oh yeah spinach is a good way to get some veg in- the flavour doesn't dominate as much as something like kale.

Chia seeds- forgot about that one. I suppose that's a good way to thicken it up instead of banana.
Almond milk for creaminess too- hadn't thought of that one.

Anyone tried putting ground almonds in (I haven't, but thought it might work? My first thought is that it might sink to the bottom but oats are ok so why not nuts?)

[TheRhythmlessMan]

I'm wondering even if softened/cooked carrot would work too.

[ppeatfruit]

Or grated raw carrot it would blend in nicely.

[ppeatfruit]

TheRymthless Ermm my first post mentioned that I use ground almonds to give lovely creaminess, I hate bananas.

[TheRhythmlessMan]

I'm so sorry @ppeatfruit I misread and thought you just said almond milk.

[ppeatfruit]

It's not a problem TheRythm Actually ground almonds and almond milk and dates would make a really indulgent smoothie!! If anyone wanted to put on weight or a meal replacer if ill.

The chia seeds, don't smooth up as well as the linseeds (or you can get ready ground linseeds). We love the gelatinous texture!

[TheRhythmlessMan]

Just shows how much I know about this sort of stuff- to me, almonds and dates are healthy therefore would use them to 'lose' weight!

Will look into ground linseeds

[ppeatfruit]

They are but not with a meal. I do Food Combining so I always have fruit on an empty stomach it's good for digestion and weight loss. My smoothie is my breakfast !

There's good book by Liz Earle called New Vital Oils it explains a lot about seeds etc.

[BrokenWing]

We had one last year (now at the back of the cupboard as novelty wore off).

We bought and froze spinach and kale and tried to add as much grren leafy veg into each smoothie as possible, using banana for texture and as few frozen berries to sweeten as possible and pumpkin/chia seeds too.

I would start with fruit/banana and try to increase veg and reduce sugary fruit over time as your palette adjusts to the flavours.