Article: Eating Right - Smoothies Anyone? Great Recipes!

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Article: Eating Right - Smoothies Anyone? Great Recipes!
I found some great recipes today for smoothies. Recipes follow. I made the Almost-A-Split Smoothie tonight, and it was delicious. I have others if anyone would like me to post them.

Almost-a-Split Smoothie

Start to Finish: 10 minutes

2 medium bananas, cut up
1 8 ounce can crushed pineapple (juice pack)
1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
2 cups vanilla or strawberry frozen yogurt

Several drops red food coloring (optional)

In a blender container, combine bananas, undrained pineapple, thawed concentrate, and, if desired, red food coloring. Cover and blend until smooth. Add frozen yogurt, half at a time, blending until smooth after each addition. If desired, garnish with orange wedges and strawberries. Makes 3 or 4 servings.

Nutrition facts per serving: 383 cal., 6 g total fat (4 g sat. fat), 20 mg. chol., 98 mg. sodium, 81 g carbo., 3 g dietary fiber, 7 g pro. Daily Values: 144% Vit. C, 24% folate, 20% thiamine, 23% riboflavin, 32% Vit. B-6, 18% calcium, 27% potassium.

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Cheesecake Smoothie

Start to Finish: 5 minutes

1 8 ounce package fat-free cream cheese, cut up
3/4 Cup orange juice concentrate, thawed
1/2 Cup fat-free milk
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tsp. vanilla
2 Cups ice cubes

In a blender container, combine cream cheese, thawed concentrate, milk, sugar, and vanilla. Cover and blend until smooth. Add ice cubes, 1 cup at a time, blending until smooth after each addition. Makes 3 or 4 servings.

Nutrition Facts per Serving: 229 cal., 0 g total fat, 13 mg chol., 24 mg sodium, 43 g carbo, 1 g dietary fiber, 14 g pro. Daily Values: 164% Vit. C, 31% Vit. A, 28% folate, 14% thiamine, 33% calcium, 16% potassium.

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This one is adapted from one in an older Prevention magazine:

1 scoop soy isolate powder*
2 heaping tablespoons ground flaxseed (if you have a good gutsy blender you can use whole flaxseeds, which keep better)
1/2 to 1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 to 1 cup frozen other berries (strawberries, raspberries, cherries, etc.)
1 orange or a blob of oj concentrate
enough water to make it blendable. The shake with the water combited usually totals 4 1/2 cups for me.

Blend forever until smooth.

* Prevention is now coming down in favor of whole soy instead of the powder, so you're welcome to try some tofu in the shake instead. Let me know how it comes out.

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3-Fruit Smoothie

Start to Finish: 10 minutes

1 8 ounce can crushed pineapple (juice pack)
1 8 ounce carton vanilla low-fat yogurt
1 medium banana, cut up and frozen
1 cup orange juice

In a blender container, combine undrained pineapple, yogurt, frozen banana, and orange juice. Cover and blend until smooth. If desired, garnish each serving with an orange wedge. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Facts per Serving: 142 cal., 1 g total fat (1 g sat. fat), 4 mg chol., 41 mg sodium, 31 g carbo., 1 g dietary fiber, 3 g pro. Daily Values: 66% Vit. C, 12% Vit. B-6, 12% Calcium, 12% Potassium

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Orange-Mango Smoothie

Start to Finish: 15 minutes

2 Cups cubed peeled cantaloupe
1 Mango, peeled, seeded, and cubed
1/2 Cup orange juice concentrate, thawed
2 cups ice cubes

In a blender container, combine cantaloupe, mango and thawed concentrate. Cover and blend until smooth. Add ice cubes, 1 cup at a time, blending until smooth after each addition. If desired, garnish with orange peel curls. Makes 3 or 4 servings.

Nutrition Facts per Serving: 156 cal. 1g total fat (0 g sat. fat), 0 mg. chol., 14 mg sodium, 38 g carbo, 2 g dietary fiber, 2 g pro. Daily Values: 225% Vit. C, 62% Vit. A, 25% folate, 14% thiamin, 14% Vit. B-6, 21% postassium.

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Fruit Smoothie

No real recipe here, just non-fat plain yogart, frozen or fresh fruit, depending on the season(berries or mango.... peaches etc), a few ice cubes, a couple tbls of frozen OJ concentrate, tsp vanilla and equal or honey to taste. Blend until smooth : )

It's actually very tasty. My kids love it for a snack or quick breakfast. When they were a lot younger they thought they were getting a milk shake. Gawd they were easy!

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Here's my favorite kind of smoothie, because it's easy to keep the stuff on hand to make it, very simple, and delicious.

1 C non-fat milk
1 C frozen fruit of choice (strawberries, peaches, blueberries...)

Blend and drink.

Couldn't be easier, and very yummy and good for you.

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"Frozen" smoothie

Hi
Yesterday I decided to try making a smoothie - figured I had the right ingredients on hand. But couldn't get on this site and hadn't printed recipes out (have done so now!). So I improvised, using strawberries, non-fat yogurt, some frozen OJ concentrate, crushed pineapple, and a little vanilla (I thought that's what I remembered from one of the recipes). Well, it was good, but I didn't crush any ice in it because I thought that it would dilute it, so it was sort of warm. I made "bunches" since I kept adding stuff - so I took the rest and put it into 2 plastic containers and froze them. This morning (AM snack) I took one out - frozen solid -and put it into the microwave for about 15 seconds. "Smooshed" it around and ate it. DEEEElicious!
And I guess using frozen yogurt would be similar, so I will try that too.

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Milk/yogurt/lactose substitutes in smoothies

These smoothies sound great! I am lactose intolorant...but this summer I took a cooking vegetarian class.

We made a "mousse" (sp?) with blueberries and tofu...which reminded me of yogurt.

I have it in my mind to make a smoothie with berries, tofu, and ice...basically just substituting the yogurt with tofu AND adding just a touch of honey or maple syrup. The tofu is also nice, because it is an excellent source of protein... which counter acts (so to speak) all the sugars in the fruit.

If anyone has other non-dairy smoothies, let us know!

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Yummy, vegan, no-fat, high-nutrition

OK, here's one I just discovered this morning (because I had the stuff handy). It's really yummy, and excellent for you health-wise.

It needs a name... I had a rotten day yesterday (just "one of those days", ending in completely forgetting about a pool party I had been looking forward to), and today has got to be better, especially starting off with a yummy smoothie. How about:

Horsewoman's Carrot Good Morning Smoothie

1 Cup Fresh Orange Juice
1/2 Cup Fresh Carrot Juice
2/3 Cup Frozen Strawberries

Blend and start a great day.

Here's the nutritional breakdown, just going by the labels on the ingredients:

200 Calories
No Fat
224% of daily Vitamin C*
345% of daily Vitamin A*
6% of daily Calcium
3% (70 mg) of Sodium
23% (790 mg) of Potassium

*Percent values are based on FDA recommendations for a "standard" 2,000 calorie/day diet. Actual amounts (in mg) of most nutrients are not given on the label, just percentages. Just part of our government's Dumbing-Down of America program.