Smoothie Recipes

[Adam]

I went to a place here in Vancouver where they advertised that they sold smoothies.

At the register the cashier told me that, in order to get a smoothie, I had to go to the fruit bar, fill up a cup with the ingredients I want in the smoothie, and then he would blend them together.

Is it just me or is this a HORRIBLE idea? I've never made smoothies before, so there's a >50% chance that I'll mess up the proportions or make something really boring just to be safe.

This leads to a question: Does anyone have any tried and true smoothie recipes?

Adam

[The Spectacular Professor]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]I'm not really a smoothie man myself, but I do make milkshakes from time to time, which allows me for a quick piece of advice if the two things are at all similar:

[B][I][U]DO NOT USE FROZEN FRUIT.[/U][/I][/B]

The ice waters down the flavor and makes it taste like a really viscous vanilla ice cream. Always go fresh. And if you're making a milkshake, try to use the same flavor ice cream as the ingredients you're trying to add. Enhances the flavor.[/FONT]

[Ikillion]

[COLOR=#6d527f][SIZE="1"][FONT="Trebuchet MS"]The only time I ever got creative while making smoothies was the time I started out making a simple Strawberry-Banana smoothie, but because I was bored and feeling creative I added in some mangoes and orange juice. Also, since there was no more sugar left I added in some honey for sweeter.

It was the best smoothie I ever created, [I]ever[/I]. Although I can never give a true recipe for it since I do all of the measurement by estimate. [/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Rachmaninoff]

[quote name='Adam']Is it just me or is this a HORRIBLE idea? I've never made smoothies before, so there's a >50% chance that I'll mess up the proportions or make something really boring just to be safe.[/QUOTE]If you've never made one then it can be horrible, but if you have then choosing the ingredients yourself is how I prefer to do it. I like Strawberry Kiwi smoothies but most places tend to put more Kiwi in there than I like. So being able to adjust that so there's a bit less Kiwi and more Strawberries makes for a tastier smoothie.

Aceburner... frozen fruit is fine if you give it a chance to thaw a bit first or run the fruit under lukewarm water a bit and then drain. That tends to cut down on the extra water. Though I won't argue that fresh fruit is better.

[Somegirl]

I was completely about to say "God Adam you look so familar..."

Honestly I have never had to make a smoothie before but a milkshake isn't too hard to I can not imagin it being. (You're rolling your eyes saying "you have no idea" aren't you?)
My best guess-
half ice, 1/4th fruit, water, fruit juice. *BAM*

[Claire]

[quote name='Ikillion'][COLOR=#6d527f][SIZE="1"][FONT="Trebuchet MS"]The only time I ever got creative while making smoothies was the time I started out making a simple Strawberry-Banana smoothie, but because I was bored and feeling creative I added in some mangoes and orange juice. Also, since there was no more sugar left I added in some honey for sweeter.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

[FONT="Arial"]My favorite homemade smoothie is about the same thing, but without the orange juice or honey.

I used a can of that strawberry Bacardi slushy stuff, three bananas, one mango, a bunch of ice, and a crapload of French Vanilla cool whip. Maybe it's a sweet overload, but it was the best smoothie I've ever had, period. [/FONT]

[Switchback]

[COLOR="Blue"]Darn you all, got me wanting a smoothie now. I've never actually had one before. You know, with mango and strawberries and such. Something with apple and grapes perhaps would seem nice to me. I'll have to try some of the recipes you've listed, sounds real nice.[/COLOR]

[Whiteblaze]

[FONT="Arial"]Now I love both smoothies and milkshakes.

I make smoothies whenever I have the right fruit that I want or feel like spending the money to buy some.

I don't see why using frozen fruit would be a problem as I've had fresh and frozen fruit smoothies and both are great.

One of my aunts made smoothies for us once and she put some of everything in there! In fact she put so much stuff in the machine that I wasn't sure if I'd want to try it. This particular aunt is a health nut so I knew the smoothie would be good for me regardless of what she threw in it. But really I didn't think that some banana that had been lying in her freezer for who knows how long, flax seen oil, and olive oil would be good additions. The end result was a purplish, grayish, or perhaps a brownish almost oozing liquid which I hoped was edible. I tasted it though and to my surprise it was the best smoothie I'd ever had. Now I wish I had paid more attention to what she used as it wasn't a recipe, she just threw some stuff in a blender.

Anyhow, [URL="http://lifestyle.msn.com/foodandentertaining/recipes/staticslideshowbhg.aspx?cp-documentid=5038682>1=10216"]here[/URL] is a place that offers some good smoothie recipes!

[URL="http://lifestyle.msn.com/foodandentertaining/recipes/staticslideshowbhg.aspx?cp-documentid=5038682>1=10216"]Smoothies![/URL]

I personally would omit things like ice, fruit extract, and sugar as I've seen some recipes call for, but frozen fruit is fine in my book. As far as getting proportions right, I really would worry more on how you want the smoothie to taste. You might want your strawberry banana smoothie to lean more towards a strawberry flavor so then you'd just put in more of them then bananas. Experimenting is the answer.[/FONT]

[Roxie Faye]

[color=#9933ff]This one was pretty good:

1 cup milk
1/2 cup frozen yogurt or fruit sherbert
1/2 cup fresh or frozen berries (raspberry, blueberry, strawberry)

And blend.

I had a passion fruit and lemon smoothie while I was in Thailand, and it was really, really good but I don't know what the recipe is. =([/color]

[DeLarge]

[SIZE=1]I'm not picky about my blended drinks - I tend to throw in any fruit I can find when making a smoothie. This is usually banana, strawberry, maybe raspberry if we have it hanging around, mango, pineapple, and add in some natural or Greek yoghurt and blend. Tends to come out tasting bearable.

When making milkshakes, however, the gloves are off and I go all out. I have had any number of bizarre concoctions, especially as there is a milkshake bar near where I live which promises to blend together any ingredient you bring in. Kinder Bueno, Ferrero Rocher and Cadbury's Flake is maybe the oddest combination I've ever had.

Having said that they will blend anything, they do draw the line at some point - a friend of mine brought in the remains of a roast dinner and they turned her away.
[/SIZE]

[chibi-master]

I'm a really scary cook, so I don't know any good recipes for smooties.:animedepr I once tried...but I was out of ice cream, so I used yogurt. And broccoli...and leftover chicken. Also, I'm not allowed to use the blender, so I had to put everything into a small bowl and mix it with a spoon. As you can imagine, I was sick all night. But I've heard that putting strawberries with vanilla ice cream and milk is good. Adding a lot of milk is supposed to make it creamier...:confused:

[Aaryanna_Mom]

I don't have smoothie's very often but when I do I like this paticular recipe.

STRAWBERRY-BLACKBERRY SMOOTHY

6-8 strawberries (fresh or frozen)
6-8 blackberries (fresh or frozen)
8 ice cubes
2 1/2 cups lowfat or non-fat milk
1 scoop whey powder

Rinse and cut tops of strawberries, and rinse blackberries. Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth and enjoy.

Perfect for dieting, or leave out whey powder and add ice cream for a delicious smoothy drink.

Makes about 3-5 cups.

[Skye]

[size=1]It's already been said, but I agree and emphasize - if at all possible [b]avoid using frozen fruit.[/b] When the fruit thaws, it leaves a watery, tasteless mess and the fruit is usually too cold to bite into, even after it's been blended.

A cool tip: instead of using fruit juice or milk, try to use fruit sherbert instead. You get your cold, you get a new flavor, and you know that the texture is likely to be smoother than if you use ice. Although you can still use ice to create a crunchier texture, or to keep the fruit from being too overwhelming.

My favorite flavor combonation would be strawberries (fresh, chopped into pieces) and lime sherbert. I'm not sure what the proportions are to that, it's really a touch and go, depending on how much of each you like.[/size]

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]Having worked professionally as a smoothie/milkshake [i]emperor[/i], I will say the tastiest milkshake I have offered to customers involves peanut butter and either vanilla ice cream or yogurt (depending on your particular diet status).

Unfortunately, I dealt in ounces so roughly convert this to cups if you have no small scales:

3 oz. Banana
8 oz. Vanilla yogurt or ice cream
However much peanut butter you want (you can not really go wrong with this)
A proper amount of milk to your taste to make it more liquid
A squirt of chocolate syrup[/color]