Smoothie Recipies?

Wow, two posts in one day. I must have nothing better to do. :-)

This last week was Oregon Classified Teacher Appreciation Week. In my building it is usually a week where the certified staff (a.k.a teachers or most anyone else licensed with the infamous organization TSPC) expresses appreciation to all the educational aids, office staff, and custodians for their work in making the school function better for us and the students. So, us teachers frantically planned the week before in selecting a theme and what we would do.

I was on the Smooth(ie) Sailing Social for Wednesday afternoon. Apparently, nobody but me and the music teacher (who wasn't going to be there that day) knew how to make a smoothie. They knew that smoothies were fruity, cold, and refreshingly thick drinks made in a blender, but they didn't know how to make one. I was amazed. I reassured them that it really wasn't that difficult. Throw in whatever you think will taste good together and blend. No, literally. No, finding a recipe would be a waste of our time. I ended up making very specific assignments of things to bring.

I'm glad I ended up skipping out of something else to help make the smoothies because I'm not sure what would have happened. Even after all the ingredients were on the table and I suggested throwing in a banana, a handful of each of the other ingredients, a couple spoonfuls of orange juice concentrate, and water they were still unsure. So, I showed them. I was amazed with how amazed one teacher was. She wanted to take notes! She told me to wait so she could see better and she looked intensely at the pomegranate juice to make sure she knew exactly what it was. Simply knowing it was pomegranate juice was not enough. She studied the bottle. I hope she doesn't freak out at the grocery store when she can't find that exact bottle. I hope she understands that any pomegranate juice will do, no matter what kind of bottle it comes in. I think the idea that any fruit juice will do was a little too hazy for her. They were a little shocked about carrots going in the mix. I figure carrots are relatively sweet so you might as well throw some in and get your vegetables. If V8 can do it then so can I. Granted, some of my personal smoothie tastes might be seen as odd. Anyway, the simple raspberry, blackberry, and strawberry fruit smoothies we made were delicious. I feel proud to have stretched one's palate and imagination.

So this post is dedicated to sharing smoothie ideas. In no particular order my preferred standard ingredients upon availability are: banana, berries (cranberry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, strawberry), other fruit (like peaches, mangoes, cherries), carrots, ginger root, fruit juice (apple or orange from concentrate), plain yogurt, and liquid (milk or water).

I have also been known to include red pepper (they're not as sweet as carrots, but just a little will add an intriguing flavor, not to mention some veggie vitamins), ground flax seed (for the omega 3s), tofu (for the protein), avocado (good fat), wheat germ, honey (but only if the fruit isn't as ripe and sweet), and even more occasionally cayenne pepper for a spicy kick (which goes well in hot chocolate too), ... I think that's about it.

Sometimes my smoothies are a simple treat like an orange julius. Most of the time they are jam packed with earth-muffin-crunchy-granola goodness.