Thursday, April 8, 2010

Smoothies a la Me

I like smoothies in all their forms. Juice based, milk based, yogurt based. You say smoothie I say "yeah!" I've always thought it was a great way to use up too ripe fruit and get much needed vites into the kiddo's. I have just one little problem.

I don't know how to make a smoothie.

Well, that's not entirely true. I know how to get a packet of smoothie mix from the store and blend it with frozen fruit and milk but after that my knowledge, experience and confidence in smoothie making goes flying out the window. Right along with all the amazing benefits of this simple treat. I have friends that make smoothies with vegetables (vegetables!) and still I sat on the fence mystified, thinking there must be a book, a website, to learn from. Some carnal knowledge that is ingrained in their bones giving them the keys to successful smoothie making sans powdered mixes and hip juice joints.

So I asked, and guess what? they just winged it. I've been known for sucessfully winging. Heck, I do it daily with five kids running around. Maybe smoothie making isn't too far out of reach for me.

Yesterday, I set out to confront my uncomfortableness. That's part of this whole big scheme I have going on with farming. Looking at a project or problem and not walking away. Not taking the easy road and letting someone else do it. Standing up to it and my inadequacies and head butting them like one of the goats I want to raise.

I stuck some stuff in a blender.


That there is Kefir (another new headbutting thing I'm trying), Strawberries, raw Wheat Germ, organic Whole Milk, Kale and Honey. I only added one leaf of Kale for the whole smoothie. I might be ramming things with my head but I don't want a concussion. Easy, baby steps over here.

I had to tweak it a bit. The strawberries weren't very tasty, actually a bit too tart so I added about a tsp of Raw Sugar to round it out.


I might not have blended it quite enough, the Kale pieces were noticable and a bit large but I did get most of the kids to drink it and I had some too! I encourage you, if there is a thing you want to try but are unsure to just go ahead and do it. The final product might not be perfect but it'll be yours and it'll be good.

2 comments:

Sarah said...

You go girl :) We make smoothies almost every morning from frozen strawberries, bananas, blueberries and pineapple. I've tried adding spinach but our blender is crappy and it makes the texture just a bit different :( I hope to make more veggie smoothies when we get a Blendtec, hopefully soon!

Lara Katherine Mountain Colley said...

I loved this post. Smoothies are wonderful, and it's funny how many food hang-ups and discomforts we all have to confront at some point. Afterwards, I always realize, hey, I can do this! Sometimes it feels like the universe is constantly reminding us to confront our discomforts.