Lunch

[leah]

clearly i also need to find me a man who can cook lol :P josh sucks at cooking hehe

SO i just went to the grocery store and came back with bags of frozen strawberries, cherries, blueberries, mixed berries, and peaches, as well as nonfat plain yogurt and low-sugar apple juice. think i can whip up something decent tomorrow morning?

[Gypsiyee]

sometimes with ice you get stuck with chunks

um do you put everything in your blender at once and then press start? because that's not how you turn out good results

similar to making salad dressing, anything large and solid like the fruit itself and ice if you so choose to use it should be put in first and blended by itself until it's to the consistency of your liking (food processors and robo coupes work better for this part). then thicker product (anything with oils in it) like yogurt should be put in last and very slowly because it's an emulsifier

don't ever just dump everything in and press puree and walk away unless you're not mixing water with oils. and since smoothies usually require dairy....

also vanilla yogurt is probably good for some smoothies but really plain yogurt will keep your smoothie tasting like what you put into it. and if you can't or don't want to get nectar for it, get yogurt that's flavored as per the fruit you're putting in

i cook for a living so i'm just passing this on fyi since it seems like you having trouble with your blender...

no, I cook quite a lot actually.. and 90% of the time make my own salad dressings from scratch - well aware how to add things slowly and that it makes for a more efficient blend, that's common sense, which I have plenty of even if I didn't, emulsifying is nothing you can't learn from 10 minutes of watching the food network. making a good smoothie has little to do with ability to cook, though - that's apples and oranges.

I have no problems with my blender, and I know how to use one just fine - I just find that frozen fruit mixes much quicker and more efficiently than ice. Personally, I don't like the flavor dilution of the ice either. I also prefer the taste of the vanilla yogurt because for me it gives it the ____ and creme effect.

smoothies don't always require dairy - in fact, the big smoothie chains down here don't use dairy but in a handful of their products. it's just not necessary. in general, if you're going to a smoothie shop, they put fruit, mini-chip type ice, sugar, whatever supplement you're after, and a little bit of water. they have super-blenders so they can walk away, but if you're looking to master what you get from that type of store, those are all the ingredients you need. ymmv depending on what type of blender and ice you have, because you typically can't walk away from it at home and you certainly won't have that nice little ball ice they have there. I just omit the ice and supplement altogether as a personal preference.

to each his own - I much prefer frozen fruit for an array of reasons.. unless there's a fruit I want in my smoothie that you can't get frozen, it makes no sense to me to use fresh fruit and ice.

[Drem]

it dilutes it? how? how is it any different than the ice around frozen fruit? zzzzz in frozen fruit all the juices are frozen and do not release as much aroma or flavor. think about it... or do you want me to explain more? i'd just go right ahead and tell you but you've made it clear that you're an expert in the kitchen with a lot of common sense, and therefore my professional training in multicultural kitchens and general knowledge of food and how to manipulate it is obviously wasted on your genius.........


PS when did i say cooking = making smoothies? i was talking about using a blender. i said i cook everyday as a reference point because i use equipment like that on a daily basis and think it's absolutely absurd you can have chunky ice in A BLENDER. all that says to me is that you're impatient (also what using frozen fruit says to me) or that you don't know what you're doing, so i kindly shared my advice. it helped somebody out, so my job's done as far as i'm concerned

yunno i try not to make big assertive posts all of the time but when it's closely related to something that pays my damn bills every month i feel i have the right to share my input. sorry you didn't like it. i'm not trying to say how to make your favorite flavor, i'm trying to illustrate to you how to make your favorite flavor taste even better. yunno, it's called friendly advice.... and using sugar and frozen fruit is not how you bring the flavor out. it's the lazy way to make a smoothie. but i guess if you think Jamba Juice or whatever is quality healthy product we're coming from two different places to begin with and this argument is more than pointless....

[Gypsiyee]

whoa whoa whoa, where's the attitude coming from? i'm not knocking your cooking ability, I'm just saying what my personal preference is and why it's my personal preference.

I've made smoothies both ways, and I, personally, find that a smoothie *I* make with frozen fruit has more flavor than one with fresh fruit and ice. yes, I'm impatient - but that's not why I use frozen fruit. I use frozen fruit because a) i like the way the consistency comes out better b) i like the flavor better c) it doesn't go bad in 2 days. you didn't kindly share your advice, you came at me with a 'uh what are you stupid' type of tone.

jeezo man, there's no need to go postal. it's friggin smoothies we're talking about here, not rocket science. you want to get defensive about how you make beef wellington fine, but there's no need to flip out over someone stating a preference on how they blend their frozen fruit beverage.

[Drem]

i didn't even curse :/

that was constructive cynical criticism................. or something. sorry dear~

i didn't realise you made it to last over a day, either. this stuff is basically my career at this point so i like to try to pass on information... i'll work on my approach heh

[leah]

i bought frozen fruit b/c A) it won't go bad as fast, B) it's cheaper than buying a butt-ton of fresh fruit, and C) i won't have to use ice cubes.

really though i'm a total noober about this smoothie-making nonsense, so all info you guys have contributed is great.

i didn't make a smoothie this morning because i'm nervous :S i don't know the proportions of fruit and juice and yogurt i should put in and i'm scared it'll taste bad or wrong or something. argh.

[Drem]

start with the fruit and get that pureed and put in little amounts of w/e else until you like it

usually you'll find what you like the best if you just experiment, rather than using someone else's recipe. plus it makes you feel good when you invent something that you actually like to drink

[Tikker]

don't know the proportions of fruit and juice and yogurt i should put in and i'm scared it'll taste bad or wrong or something. argh.

just add stuff until it tastes good

common sense for the most part really

more fruit/solid = thicker drink
more liquids, the smoother

[Gypsiyee]

i didn't even curse :/

that was constructive cynical criticism................. or something. sorry dear~

i didn't realise you made it to last over a day, either. this stuff is basically my career at this point so i like to try to pass on information... i'll work on my approach heh

You don't have to curse to make something sound condescending =p it's okay! I think it's great you have it as a career, if you can deal with the hours I imagine it's a fantastic fun and rewarding profession.

I don't really make them last over a day, but I do like to keep the fruit on hand in case I'm just sitting there and think well, damn I want a smoothie. I get weird about buying too much fresh fruit unless I'm going to eat it right then because chances are it'll go bad.. I have this nasty habit of buying a lot of shit that just sits on top of my fridge.

Last month I found pearl onions that had literally liquified, for example ><

[Hylissa]

I get weird about buying too much fresh fruit unless I'm going to eat it right then because chances are it'll go bad.. I have this nasty habit of buying a lot of shit that just sits on top of my fridge.

Last month I found pearl onions that had literally liquified, for example ><

LOL first mistake is putting it on the WARM fridge ....

[Gypsiyee]

well they were in a basket and on top of books! usually it's just miscellaneous cereal and crackers up there.. i used those once in one recipe and forgot about them :p