Green Smoothie Magic - 132+ Delicious Green Smoothie Recipes That Trim And Slim (14 page)

So here are some suggestions for ‘rescuing’ a not-so-delicious-tasting smoothie.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised how often you’ll be able to bring one back from the brink of disaster! Rule of thumb? Don’t just automatically throw it away if it didn’t seem to work.

Too sweet:

• Add more greens. Try some stronger greens. Add herbs such as basil or parsley.
  
• Parsley is wonderful for reducing sweetness and rebalancing your smoothie without making it bitter.
  

Too sour or acid:

• Add something to sweeten your recipe. Maybe your apple or pineapple or other fruit was too sour. Raspberries are not very sweet and you may find you need to add something extra. You can add a banana or some mango or grapes or pear to any smoothie to sweeten it up.
  
• If your smoothie is too sour you can also add more greens – or often what really works is adding some avocado. It has a neutral taste (often) and can soften the sour effect.
  
• You can also add a sweetener. See below.
  

Sweeteners you can add:

• Bananas (as mentioned), mango, pear, stevia, agave syrup, honey, rapadura or palm sugar. Basically you want an unprocessed form of sugar.
  
• A wonderfully nutritious form of sweetener is dried fruit. Try dried peaches, apricots and figs.
  

Too thick:

• Add water or add ice. Ice can temporarily thicken a smoothie a little because if you add a fair bit it can make your drink a little granita-ish (or in other words similar to a sorbet or slushie).
  
• The consistency of a smoothie can affect your enjoyment. Add more water if you prefer a thinner smoothie. I prefer thick, Robert prefers thin. We both drink the same smoothies, he just adds more water.
  

Too gritty:

• Smoothies don’t have to be smooth. Sometimes a little something to give it texture creates a different experience for you. I like the variation and will often intentionally add ingredients for the texture.
  You’ll find ingredients such as dried figs, cacao nibs, dates (if added at the end to produce a sweet soft chewy speck) can change the mouth feel. Of course I don’t think it’s gritty then because I like those ingredients. It’s all in the mouth of the beholder.
  But perhaps you add the occasional mistake of some husk, or some super fibrousy green that your blender finds difficult to pulverize under normal conditions. It can create a less than optimal experience. Try blending again for another 30 seconds and test.
  If your smoothies are consistently gritty then it could be a matter of needing to either upgrade your blender or put up with it!
  

Too salty:

• If for some reason your smoothie is too salty, add more greens, some parsley, or more of the dominant flavor in your recipe that you would like to champion. For something neutral add an avocado or more mild greens. Be aware when adding avocado because if your smoothie was designed to be light and fresh and non-creamy it will change the consistency.
  

Too grassy-tasting:

• If your smoothie tastes a little grassy (and yes, sometimes that happens) add more of the non-green leafy ingredients. A portion of an avocado goes a long way to soothe away many smoothie rescue issues. You can also try a few drops of lemon or lime juice.
  

Add vanilla:

• When you have a sweeter smoothie that needs a pep-up, vanilla is a wonderful addition. I like to be quite generous with vanilla. You can use essence, powder, paste or even the bean itself.
  

Add spices:

• Sweet smoothies become even more indulgent with a dash of cinnamon and or nutmeg. Try cloves or cardamom (they definitely make a lovely chai-tasting smoothie). They complement vanilla beautifully. Cinnamon also adds something special to non-sweet smoothies too.
  
• Experiment with a sprinkle of cumin or a curry powder. Cayenne is one of those superfoods that has many health benefits from digestive to circulatory stimulation and more. You can add a dash of cayenne to a sweet OR a savory smoothie.
  

Add lemon:

• When your smoothie needs to cut back on sweetness try adding ½ teaspoon of lemon. Watch out because it’s easy to go too gung ho on the lemon. A few drops may be all you need.
  

Add salt:

• Remember to only use sea salt for ANY food, ever. Don’t touch that table salt. It’s really not good for you at all. Believe it or not, salt can really bring out the sweetness in your food. If you’re making a sweet smoothie grind a few grains of salt into the mix and you’ll be in for a pleasant surprise. Think of adding salt to a drink that needs a flavor boost. You could add Bragg Liquid Aminos too.
  

Add ginger:

• Ginger is great for adding a little zing. If you add a very small amount you will find it lifts your smoothie. The more you add the spicier it tastes. Ginger has great benefit to the immune system, helps with motion sickness, pain relief and inflammation amongst other things.
  

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About Blenders And Blending

The Best Blenders For Smoothies

The better your blender the better the blend! Sounds like a no-brainer really. Do a little research. I know you can find a good blender at many price points.

When I say a good blender the only thing that matters is the result you get. Generally the better blenders are more powerful (upwards of 1000 watts). They may or may not have programs for smoothies or other foods that you will make.

Most importantly you want them to give you the possibility of a smooth blend. My old blender did an OK job. My less expensive new one is brilliant. Read the reviews on Amazon as a good starting point. Look for those that have consistent 4 and 5 star reviews. If they have lots with 1 and 2 stars then see if there are any recurring issues and if you would live with them. For example, you may be fine putting up with a glass jug if that’s a reason for a low review.

The very popular brands that are most recommended for blending are
Vitamix
and
Blendtec
. These tend to be more expensive. There are very well reviewed alternative choices that sell for under $60 (US dollars). For a mid-range and probably better choice of options and power you can pay up to $120.

Other brands are Hamilton Beach, Froothie, Mixtec, Omega, Magic Bullet, Oster and Sunbeam. There are plenty more.

Generally a lower price blender will not stand the test of time. So be aware that buying a cheaper blender may mean you have to replace it or upgrade sooner. I know people who have top of the range blenders (such as Vitamix and Blendtec) that have lasted many, many years.

Can you use the blender that comes with your food processor?

Yes you can, however I have found that the best blenders are those purpose-built. If that’s what you’ve got now, then start with that and upgrade. I don’t advise buying a food processor and attached blender.

Can you use a food processor instead of a blender?

That does not work well. The blend will not be smooth and while it could work as a stop gap, you’ll find many food processors neither have the jug shape nor the power or the blade configuration to cope with the vigors of blending.

Choosing Your Blender

Here Are The Best Things To Look For In A Blender:

• Over 1000 watts of power if you can afford it
  . Your blend is likely to be less smooth if you buy blenders of lower power. More powerful blenders will easily crush ice and pulverize berries.
  
• I prefer a
  BPA-free polycarbonate (plastic) jug
  . Pay particular attention to the blender specifications to check the quality of the plastic. Check for dishwasher safety. You will have to remove the blades if you want to put the jug in the dishwasher.
  Because of the secure and stable way most plastic jugs fits over the motor you may find it easy to keep the part of the coupling that fits into the motor unit (that sits on the bench) completely dry. This may prolong the life of your unit. With my blender I can easily clean the jug with water, mild detergent and still keep the bottom of the jug out of water.
  Plastic jugs may not stay crystal clear forever. They are not entirely resistant to scratches. Small price to pay if you have everything else you need.
  
• Glass jugs
  are heavy even when empty. They can be prone to breakage. You don’t want to be stuck with a glass pitcher that shatters. Read all reviews to see what people complain about. Once you remove the blades you can easily clean a glass jug in the dishwasher.
  The thing I really disliked about my glass jar blender was having to use the sealing ring between the jar and the blade unit. The seal progressively failed over time and this created mess. I prefer the way the plastic jugs are molded and the unit fits over positioners on the base and there is no fiddling around. The seal is evident.
  
• If you look for a machine with a
  wide stable metal base
  then it will be more sturdy.
  
• A
  blender with a tamper
  that fits into the lid is ideal. A tamper will allow you to guide food onto the blades while the blender is in operation without risk of damage to the unit or the tamper. It also creates a seal that will largely stop any food from being expelled out of the top during use.
  
• Choose a blender that’s
  easy to clean
  . Touch pads are far easier to clean because of their smoother profile than their cousins; push buttons. Clean up spillages or drips as soon as you can and you will be able to keep most blenders clean.
  
• The better blenders will have
  one-touch operation
  for different programs. You will find smoothie, ice crushing, cleaning programs among others. It’s nice to have infinite speed dials in addition to preset programs.
  

Various Blenders And Price Indications

Here are just a handful of suggestions listing the inexpensive brands first. I have provided links for them so you can look at the features and of course the reviews (handy to check on the issues and the great stuff that other customers experience).

• Hamilton Beach
  has a personal single serve blender from about $20 up to low to mid-priced blenders
  
• Oster Fusion Blender
  (only 600 watts of power)
  
• Oster Beehive Blender
  (600W) from around $55
  
• Magic Bullet
  (a personal use small capacity blender with great reviews) around $50, but you do need to trim things down a lot to fit ingredients in.
  
• Kitchen Aid Blenders
  start from $99.
  
• JTC Omniblend
  has models starting at $250 (3 HP motor, the information says it is more powerful than both Vitamix and Blendtec). This looks like a great place to start.
  
• Blendtec
  : Many models ranging from about $370
  
• Vitamix
  : Many models ranging from around $450 to high end prices
  

I actually live in Australia and brands like Vitamix are much more expensive than in the US and therefore prohibitively expensive for many. I decided to test drive a lower priced blender for the purposes of reviewing a different model. I spent only $200 on a fantastic Sunbeam blender (Café Series, PB9800) with 2000W of power and a 2 liter jug. So I am very happy.

Blending Techniques

So, you have your blender and it’s time to use it. For the most part you can put your ingredients into your blender and press the go button! Some blenders have a smoothie program which you can deploy and your smoothie is done. For a smoother result you may even choose to put it through that program more than one time.

For the sake of this discussion, my blender’s smoothie program is only 23 seconds and works very well even on one press.

The more powerful or higher quality your blender the less blending steps. In my old blender I would first have had to blend the harder or more fibrous components with some water. If nuts were in the recipe I would certainly have had quite obvious yet small chunks of nuts. The blend was inconsistent.

This is why if I suggest nuts or seeds in one of the
Green Smoothie Magic
recipes, and if your blender is perhaps not as powerful or effective as you like, you should blend those nuts or seeds first with water to make a milk. Then, without straining the pulp out you add your other ingredients and blend again.