Fruit Smoothie Universe

Found this recipe today and I just had to share it, how about fruit smoothie pancakes, I will definately give this a try and see what kind of cakes you can get out of this but heres the recipe from Susan Reece:

Smoothie in a Pancake
1 cup plain or vanilla nonfat yogurt
1 banana, peeled
½ cup fresh strawberries, cut up
¼ cup fresh blueberries
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 t. soda
¼ t. salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten (or ½ cup egg substitute)
1 T. butter
Additional fruit
Combine yogurt and fruit in blender until completely smooth. Set aside.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in eggs and yogurt
mixture with a wooden spoon. Heat a 12” nonstick skillet or griddle over medium
heat with a portion of the butter. Pour ¼ cup of the batter onto the skillet and
cook until bubbles start to appear on top. Turn the pancakes and cook briefly on
the opposite side until lightly brown. Remove pancakes to a warming plate and
continue process with remaining batter. Serve with added fruit.
Servings: 6

This morning I got up and started to put together my monday morning eye opener which consists of a fruit smoothie with many healthy ingredients, including a large tangelo, but to my dismay I opened the fruit drawer of my fridge and low and behold! no tangelos. In fact I had no fruit whatsoever to choose from in the fruit drawer except a couple of lemons! My first thought was how could this be? I know I had one left for monday and I knew my wife was going to resupply the fruit drawer on monday. Here it is Monday morning and life was already dealing me lemons. I was reminded of that quote  but I’m not sure who the author was but it went like this: “When life deals you lemons, make lemonade”. I don’t know about you but I am not a fan of lemons, in the two plus years that I have been making, drinking, experimenting with fruit smoothies I have never even thought of the lowly lemon as a part of my diet. In desperation and the fact that I am addicted to my citrus in the morning without even thinking about it I picked up one of the lemons and peeled the tough skin back and put half of the lemon in the blender along with my other stuff.  I kinda winced when I went to sip from the glass thinking it would be very sour but truly I got the shock of my life! What a wonderful flavor and the aroma coming from the drink was soothing, It almost felt like I was in an orchard and the sun was coming up…ahhh. Afterwards, I began to do some research on the lemon and found it to be a very versatile fruit with many healthful qualities. I am really rambling here but if you have never tried a lemon in your fruit smoothie regimen I would urge you to give it a try. If you add other fruit to your drinks as I do you will find that the combination will knock out the sourness of the lemon and leave the zest the lemon is known for. I will have more on the health benefits of the lemon in a later post, until then drink to your health!

By Elijiah Rampart

A kitchen blender is an absolute necessity for any serious cook. For every day use, an average duty blender will meet your needs quite well. Consider a heavy duty blender only if you are committed cook, and cooking in the kitchen is your passion. Having a blender in your kitchen is absolute must if you plan on making any type of frozen slush type of drink like a Margarita, or if you want to make a zesty pizza sauce, and especially if you want to make healthy fruit smoothies. The range of foods you can make with your blender is only limited to your creativity and cooking imagination. From creamy soups, to spicy salsa, and specialty desserts, your blender is a must have appliance. Let’s take a look at a few of the basics of kitchen blenders, so you can keep these things in mind the next time you are going to purchase a new blender.

Almost without exception, the more powerful your blender is the more expensive it will be. At a minimum you will want your blender to put out at least 400 watts, and if you can afford it splurge for a 1000 watt monster. The higher the wattage of your blender the more powerful it will bee, and the less likely it will be from seizing up. The lower power blenders will not enable you to puree ice cubes like you want when making icy type treats. Now, about speeds, you want your blender to have a wide range of speeds. Not all foods will require the highest speeds, and some foods need low speeds, and then there are times when you need maximum blending. If you are on a budget, however, you can probably do fine with a three speed blender, one that has speeds of slow, medium, and fast.

Modern blenders really come in many excellent designs, although this is usually where the price breaks occur. If you want a sleek design you are going to pay more money. However, since your blender will most likely be sitting on your counter top, you want to buy on that looks good and fits in with the colors of your kitchen. But if your blender is going to be stored in a cabinet, then you can save some money here by looking at blenders that don’t feature aesthetics as much. One thing is for sure, make sure the blender design is easy to clean, has a wide base for stability, and has some type of small opening where you can add ingredients during blending. Also, make sure the lid fist nice and snug, and has no apparent gaps with the seal. It should make solid contact with the jar all around the perimeter.

When you are out blender shopping, you need to pay close attention to what type of material it is made of. Glass and stainless steel have traditionally been the best materials to use for kitchen blenders. Glass is easy to clean, doesn’t scratch and can be sanitized, and you can see what is going on while blending. Stainless steel has the advantage of being lighter, it is impact resistant so it won’t break when you drop it, and it can be well cleaned as well. If your other kitchen appliances are stainless then you might want to consider using this material for your blender. Either way, you simply can not go wrong if you your choice is glass or stainless steel.

Holidays can be a stressful time with all the activities that come in such a short period of time. Finding time to prepare the right kinds of health inducing foods is not an easy task either. There is an easy way to help relieve that stress and that is the wonderful Smoothie. Adding a fruit smoothie to your daily intake will not only help relieve the stressful holidays but also give you the proper nutrition to keep you energized. By adding a fruit smoothie with it’s tasty nutrient dense goodness you can get the proper vitamins and minerals that will fight off stress related fatigue. Fruits such as oranges, strawberries and blueberries contain magnesium, vitamin C, calcium and folic acid. You can also add supplements such as supergreen powder, maca, bee pollen, flaxseed oil, sunflower seeds or I like to add almond butter to my smoothie. My morning fruit smoothie usually has just about every item I have mentioned above but you make it to your liking and enjoy this holiday season with a delicious fruit smoothie!

Pumpkin is a wonder ful ingredient for a healthy and delicious fruit smoothie you can serve to friends and family during the holiday season. Pumpkin is full of antioxidants and is a healthy alternative to pumpkin pie for those who are in need of a healthy alternative.

1/2 cup pumpkin (canned or homemade)

1 cup plain yogurt or kefir

sweeten to taste with honey or agave nectar, cinnamon and or nectar.

If you are feeling bold you can also add a touch of egg nog to give it that holiday yummy goodness! No matter how you do it, I think you will find wonderful ways to spread holiday goodness without the guilt.

The Pomegranate is an ancient food going back to biblical times but it has recently gained popularity for its health properties. The fruit contains a high antioxidant level and has been attributed to fighting such diseases as high blood pressure, kidney and prostate ailments and also gum disease. I decided to give this fruit a review in the blender as part of my morning smoothie. I must advise you that the route I took to obtain the juice was not the road I would recommend as this is a fruit that does not give up its fruity goodness without a fight! After finding some directions on how to procure the juice from the fruit I proceeded by cutting the top, or crown of the fruit and cutting down the side between the sections. remove the seed clusters from the skin and remove anything that is not a seed and put into blender. At this point I could see there was going to be a problem with skins or outer layer of the seed but I proceeded with the blending operation. once juiced I removed the shell with a strainer and added the juice to the rest of my drink ingredients and BAM! What a refreshing flavor the Pomegranate gives.Very citrus and a slight bitter but I added a touch of almond butter to the mix and it neutralized it quite well. Overall the Pomegranate was an interesting experiment that I had to experience but I would just go buy the darn juice at my local grocer next time and forget the ancient Roman way of getting the juice. You can purchase the juice or you can get it a syrup form but I recommend juice as it has less sugar and you can get all the healthful benefits of the wonderful Pomegranate without all the fuss. My tasty pomegranate recipe is as follows:

1 cup yogurt or Kefir
1 splash of Agave nectar
1 cup of pomegranate aril extract (the juice)
1 cup of mango slices
1 cup of blackberries
1 tbsp of peanutbutter or almond butter

That is how my drink came together but you can mix or match the combinations any way you like, in fact, if you come up with a great pomegranate smoothie recipe, please share your recipe!

If we leave our health up to the politicians, well then we should be worried about a pandemic. All the media hype about these killer flu’s and the subsequent lack of vaccines have left people in a quandry about how to protect themselves from theses viruses. While there’s not a sure fire method to keep you from these illnesses there are things you can do to boost your immune system and help fight it off. getting the right nutrition into your body could help you fight off colds and flu and that’s where the Super Fruit Smoothie comes in.

Certain super fruits such as Goji berries, blueberries, oranges, strawberries, etc. along with a few additions can boost your immune system. These fruits have many essential minerals and vitamins that help defend your body from nasty bugs. One of my cherished smoothies for the winter is detailed below and it has one special ingredient that is not mentioned enough and that is Bee Pollen. Bee pollen is a wonderful super food that is essential to boosting your body’s immune system. So here’s my morning immune system boost super fruit smoothie, I hope you like it as much as I do!

2 Cups of Organic Kefir (or your choice of yogurt, etc.)

2 Organic Bananas

!/2 cup Organic Blueberries

1/2 cup Organic Goji berries (or you can substitute Goji juice)

1/2 cup Organic Strawberries

Bee pollen

Organic Hemp seed oil

Organic Flax seed oil

Agave Nectar to sweeten

You can ice if you like your smoothie thicker and you can also add certain vegetables such as spinach or super greens powder to get that added potency. Any way you try this drink it will give you an added defense against those winter bugs that try to latch on to us and make our lives miserable.