Smoothie Obsessed

I missed Fitness Friday last week because I was busy taking part in a pool tournament with the office. I’m terrible at pool but this time I managed to actually get a ball in a pocket! A correct ball that belonged to my team! It was the best game of pool I’ve ever played. People who have skillz at pool would laugh at my attempts, but I managed to hit the the cue ball each time and all in all wasn’t totally terrible. I was, it shall be confessed, fairly, erm, inebriated. (*ahem*)

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about getting a smoothie maker. One of my coworkers has the Nutribullet (as seen on TV!) and loves it. I looked at the reviews and it seemed okay… just kind of expensive. But I figured with a coupon to Bed Bath & Beyond it would be around $85 which is doable.

Except that I was at Walmart on Saturday buying an extraordinary amount of boring-yet-necessary things (toothpaste, toilet paper, kitchen trash bags, etc.) and I thought I’d look and see if they had Nutribullets since another coworker mentioned they had them there. I wasn’t going to get it because of the whole use-a-coupon-at-BBB thing but I wanted to look at them.

Anyway, I didn’t see it, but that’s only because I was distracted by the same sort of machine (single serve smoothie maker) that was only $20, the Farberware 17-piece Rocket Blender. 

It comes with five big cups and one little one, plus lids and lip guards, two different blades, etc. It’s only one speed but I have to tell you, I’ve made a couple of different smoothies using different ingredients that came out nice and smooth! My biggest concern, since I’m sensitive to food textures, was that it blend everything up so it’s not chunky. This worked great.

It didn’t take me very long to make one this morning before work, so that’s nice. It helps that I have everything ready to go and I stopped at the farmer’s market yesterday and picked up some spinach, nectarines and blackberries (and a cheese zombie). I also picked up some frozen mixed berries and strawberries. I actually dislike strawberries and berries in their berry form due to their texture, but I like jam and other berry-by-products, so I figured I wouldn’t mind them blended out. And – it’s true. I made a smoothie with blackberries this morning and it was really good.

Here’s the recipes I’ve done so far. None of these contain banana, as I hate banana (in every iteration):

Spinach/Nectarine/Grape/Yogurt Smoothie

Handful of spinach (probably about a cup)
Half a bunch of red grapes
1 yellow nectarine
1 vanilla Yoplait
Little bit of water

Cut up the nectarine into smaller pieces. Blend, enjoy.

Spinach/Nectarine/Blackberry/Yogurt Smoothie

Handful of spinach (probably about a cup)
1 white nectarine
Blackberries (I dunno, probably about 20)
1 blueberry Yoplait
Little bit of water

Cut up the nectarine into smaller pieces. Blend, enjoy
This one I had kind of a lot of stuff to blend so I put the spinach, blackberries, and part of the cut-up nectarine into the cup and blended that first, then added the rest of the stuff (including the yogurt) after, making sure it didn’t exceed the max-fill line.

Tonight I plan on making a tropical smoothie – I got some fresh pineapple, oranges, and coconut milk! I also got some almond milk to use for liquid in berry based smoothies… I’ve never tried it so I hope I like it. :/

So far I’ve just been making spinach based smoothies so I get some good healthy stuff in me. Eventually I’ll probably branch out to kale and other greens, but for now, spinach it is. I’m also interested in berry-only drinks and mixing up the ingredients. I don’t have any peaches right now, but peaches, pears, and raspberries are on my list of fruits to squish. I’m not really interested in apples.

The yogurt really helps add to the consistency of the smoothies. Right now I only have Yoplaits because that’s my yogurt of choice, but I will eventually branch out to Greek yogurt, which I also like for the most part. It’s nice and thick, though I’m not sure if it comes in a big tub, which I would prefer, and I’ll have to look for. I’ll probably branch out to Safeway brand yogurt, which I know comes in a tub and tastes okay. I hate Trader Joe’s yogurt, but they’re good for fresh and frozen fruit, not to mention spinach, etc.

And thus begins the smoothie adventure!