Smoothies | Imamother

calaflower

Thu, Apr 30 2015, 5:31 am

Trying to start a smoothie kick in my house, have tried a few different things... But I need a new blender... Trying to keep the cost down. There are about a million Ninjas out there, and it's so confusing!
Anyone have a good blender they use frequently they like, specifically to crush frozen fruit in a short amount of time (preferably good quality that will last awhile without breaking the bank?)
Thanks!

JMM-uc

Thu, Apr 30 2015, 5:51 am

I have an Oster and I'm happy with it. But IMO Vitamix is better, it was too expensive for me.

Make sure you get one that's designed to crush ice.

Amarante

Thu, Apr 30 2015, 6:05 am

I make Smoothies with my Braun stick blender. Mine came with a few attachments including a "beaker" which is used for making Smoothies. I've never had any problems with frozen fruit - generally I use either frozen strawberries or raspberries but I've also used some other frozen fruit like peaches.

My Braun came with an attachment for crushing ice which I've never used.

I find the stick blender to be extremely useful as I can puree soups in the pot. Mine also came with a whipping attachment which is good if I am whipping cream or eggs when baking because my Kitchenaid would be in use for other items and whipping eggs for a cake requires clean blender and bowl.

I got the one with the stainless "shaft". It's much more versatile than any blender I've ever used. It comes apart so I store it in a drawer.

calaflower

Thu, Apr 30 2015, 6:16 am

Amarante wrote:

Thanks! I actually have a dairy immersion blender(with a small beaker!) But never thought of using it for smoothies

Amarante

Thu, Apr 30 2015, 6:22 am

calaflower wrote:

Thanks! I actually have a dairy immersion blender(with a small beaker!) But never thought of using it for smoothies

I found it to be the easiest way to make a Smoothie. I once even bought a smoothie maker but the stick blender was so much better and I just gave away the Smoothie maker.

The beaker I use for the Smoothie is a bit high - like a very large glass. You might see if you can find something similar to make your Smoothies in as it really make the process very simple. I could even drink out of it with a straw.

Often I would use Soy Milk as the base for my Smoothie. There was one that had a vanilla flavor that was not very high in calories - about the same as regular skim milk and so when I added the fruit, it was the perfect combination.

calaflower

Thu, Apr 30 2015, 7:02 am

Amarante wrote:

Did you use anything for more protein? Or was that the reason for the soy milk? We've been using Greek yogurt as the base

Amarante

Thu, Apr 30 2015, 7:07 am

I wasn't concerned about protein because my diet included lots of protein sources. I was more concerned about getting Dairy into my diet and from what I had read soy milk provided the same benefits as skim milk - although I used the soy milk for taste and I also use regular milk for other things. I liked the vanilla soy milk because it was a nice base for the smoothie - with the fruit, it wasn't too sweet at all but just had a nice background flavor.

I never tried it with yogurt but there is no reason that wouldn't be excellent base for a smoothie. Whatever you like - I just wound up using soy milk because it was the easiest for me to get a good result and also provide the dairy I wanted. I could just pour some of the vanilla soy milk in and add the fruit and I liked the result. :-)