Last weekend I tried out my brand new Blendtec Blender and made my first batch of green smoothies.   Let me just say this blender is awesome!  It was a lot of fun because I was over my best friend’s (Mama Kelly) house and everyone got to taste them (the kids too).

I made four different blends.  I made small batches of each (using 1 cup of water instead of two and estimating half the fruit and veggies added) to avoid having a lot of left over.   

Here are the combinations and tasting results:

Apple & Romaine Lettuce Green Smoothie (results: so-so) - 1 apple, a few Romaine lettuce leaves and 1 cup of water.  This is the combo that I’ve seen recommend for beginners. However, it has a rather strong “green” aroma.  No one really liked it  and only took one or two sips.  The kids and Mama Kelly’s hubby didn’t like it at all.   Mama Kelly and her friend who was also visiting thought it was drinkable but not really something they enjoyed.  

I thought the combo was ok, but it wouldn’t be one that I’d make too often.  If I did use romaine again – I would definitely try it with a sweeter larger apple or maybe with 2 apples, and maybe add another fruit too (like a few strawberries or some lemon juice).  I do love Romaine for a salad but will most likely not use it in a smoothie very often.

Banana, Strawberry & Spinach Green Smoothie (results: very yummy) – 1 banana, a few strawberries, a big handful of baby spinach, and 1 cup of water. This one was very tasty and no one knew I had added spinach.  Everyone finished what was in their cup.

Banana, Blackblerry & Parsely Green Smoothie (results: very yummy) - 1 banana, a handful of blackberries, a handful of fresh parsley, and 1 cup of water. This one came out a pale purple. Everyone agreed this one was a hit.

Mango & Mixed Greens (results: oops try again) - mango with a small amount of Romaine lettuce, spinach and parsley, 1 cup of water.  This one flopped but only because the mango was bitter.  It think it would have been very tasty IF the mango had been ripe enough – unfortunately it was still hard and ended up being very bitter tasting.  Underneath the bitterness there was definitely potential good taste.  I will be giving this combo another try with a riper mango.

We didn’t have ice or very cold water, so I used cold tap water.  Personally I don’t like anything too cold that I drink, so the water out of the tap was fine for me.  However, I think for most folks using ice or very cold water most likely would have improved the taste.

I combined the leftovers from all three green smoothies (I didn’t include the last one because it was too bitter) in the green smoothie container I had to keep for the next day because I didn’t want to waste all those fresh ingredients.  The combo was very tasty and I finished the whole thing the following day.  Teacherman, my hubby, tried it and he thought it was tasty too.  So perhaps I’ll get him to have a green smoothie now and then too.

I made more green smoothies during the week using the left over fruit and veggies from the weekend.  I brought them into work and they were great to sip on all morning.   

I am looking forward to experimenting with various combos. However, for myself, I will most likely focus on more savory kinds of green smoothies, using just veggies, herbs and seasoning combined with hot water. I think I would enjoy these a lot and maybe even more so then the fruit-veggie combos. 

Another reason to try the savory green smoothies is because the nutritionist I see recommends not having fruit (or very little) when trying to lose weight, “sugar is sugar period.”  The diet right before gastric bypass is NO fruit what so ever, only high sources of liquid protein and veggies.  The weight loss diet following gastric bypass is also no fruit or very little fruit.  Also, there is always the possibility of “dumping” where foods containing sugar could cause vomiting and diaherrea, so that would make eating fruit a no-no or only in small amounts. 

The Blendtec Blender is just incredible and can do so much more then just smoothies.  I’m looking forward to trying out combos to make soups, fresh sauces for cooked veggies and lean meats, and lots, lots more.  And of course getting more fresh greens into my daughter’s diet with fruit-veggies green smoothies and sauces will be a great plus too.

Related Articles:

Currently Diet Pulpit is rarely updated. Lady Rose is now blogging at Blissful Moon, where she is staying healthy and continuing to have adventures, please stop by and visit.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Tags: , ,