Smoothies: Healthy and Simple

I knew smoothies were healthy, but I didn’t know they were so simple to make!

Smoothies are simple to create. Some of you may laugh at me and think that everyone already knew that. But on the chance that there’s someone like me out there, who has perused the smoothie recipes online and given up the dream of delicious health in a cup, I’m writing this article anyway.

Plus I mentioned in one of my emails something about working on my health. Smoothies are a recent addition to my daily routine and what I have learned may benefit someone else as well.

In Search of Healthy Ideas (but make it simple, please)

Anyway, I’m not a health guru. I have always been an advocate for eating better, exercise, water, and rest. My repertoire of life advice for happiness, if condensed to quotes, would read something like ‘rest and drink water when you feel under the weather,’ ‘drama, stay away because I ain’t got no time for that,’ and ‘I just want to sit on my couch with my dog and a good book….’ (and a coffee, but since this article is about health, we’ll gloss right over that little Achilles heel) and so forth and etcetera.

(Yes, black coffee in moderation is good for you. I’m talking about milk and sugar with a bit of coffee and topped off with a heaping pile of whipped cream. Moving on…)

I’m not really a junk food junkie. I don’t get excited about desserts. I do get excited about macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, or some sizzling hot and salty French fries….

Comfort food.

Another weakness rears its head into my health article.

(But now, honestly, who doesn’t love comfort? Mashed potatoes and gravy are like pajamas and Netflix on a rainy day. Ah. So much for a health article.)

I’m trying to focus, really. I just wanted to be honest about my healthy endeavors. If it’s not easy, I’m probably not going to stick with it. Heck, I might not even start.

Smoothies and My Struggle

Which brings me to the subject I intended to write about this whole time: smoothies. The one thing I’ve always longed to do is drink smoothies. I mean, it sounds like the coolest thing in the world, like something someone who looks good in spandex would say they do in the mornings.

But my mornings are reserved for coffee. (Shh…we’re not talking about it.)

And I don’t look good in spandex.

But I digress.

Smoothies: Complicated or Misunderstood?

I always thought smoothies were so complicated.

I have a blender, not a fancy smoothie apparatus or Ninja something or another that turns spinach and baby carrots and ice cubes into delectable healthy treats that can’t even be rivaled by chocolate cake (or salty French fries).

I looked up smoothie recipes and realized I never keep all that fresh fruit on hand. And my grocery budget didn’t seem to be able to carry the weight of feeding my entire family for a week AND boast a refrigerator full of more fruits than a tropical country. 

Those of you who make smoothies are probably rolling your eyes. But maybe, just maybe, there’s someone like me out there, who thought smoothies are a mystical creature reserved for health gurus and the aristocracy, never to be understood by the sweet tea drinkers.

A Revelation at a Smoothie Shop

Then I started ordering a smoothie at a local shop, to the tune of $5 a cup. I thought that was a steal, since the cup was huge and I had entered the world of the guru elite. How important I felt ordering my smoothie with its acai and blueberries! I was sure my internal organs were delighted and amazed that I was consuming such luxury.

(I later found out that my delicious smoothie was loaded with sugar and calories. But I’m not bitter about it because my trips to this shop turned out to be the catalyst that opened my eyes to the simplicity of smoothie making.)

While waiting for my beach body in a cup one day (a girl can dream that it’s that easy), I read over the ingredients of many of their concoctions. Strawberries and bananas are staples, and probably dominated most of the menu. Add to those two ingredients just about any fruit you like, a supplement here and there…one even contained peanut butter!

I always substituted out the banana for pineapple in my order, because I love pineapple. The first time I ordered, I mentioned a banana allergy, and the lady working there said I could substitute ANYTHING. So that really got me thinking…

And I thought of the spaghetti I used to make when the kids were little.

You know how kids aren’t really crazy over vegetables? Mine weren’t really picky, but they all loved spaghetti. I went through a phase when I was making homemade spaghetti sauce (but this would work with store-bought) and I started chopping and grating up vegetables VERY tiny and adding them to the sauce. Just about any vegetable lounging around in the refrigerator was bound to end up in my spaghetti sauce. It really didn’t alter the taste of the sauce, and since we added ground hamburger, the kids didn’t notice there were pieces of other things in there. Carrots and squash were two of my favorites, but I’d try anything.

And that is the way you make a smoothie! Whatever you already have or can afford has the potential to be a great smoothie ingredient.

It’s going to get blended up and you won’t even know it’s in there – just like my spaghetti.

How liberating! Use what you have, or a few fruits you like, and adjust as you go.

Super Simple Smoothie Basics

I’m sure there are some great smoothie recipes out there, and I plan to try them someday now that my confidence in my smoothie making ability is growing. But for now, this is my super simple smoothie discovery, and it can be easily modified with some options of your choice.

Ingredients

Ice

Apparently ice is optional, but not in my world. I crush 6-7 cubes in the blender first because I don’t want any large pieces of ice in there. I like the consistency of a smoothie that includes ice, but you can be the judge of that. Also, I like that it increases the size of the smoothie without needing more ingredients (and that saves on cost, as well).

And it’s technically water. If you’re going to use a filler, how can you go wrong with water?

Fruit

Blueberries are my staple, and on days when I only have blueberries, that’s all I use! A handful or two of blueberries is perfect. They are my staple because they’re my favorite.  If you love bananas, they could be a staple -and they’re cheap!

I’ve been adding a few (3-4 large) strawberries, when I have them. If I don’t have them, I don’t worry about it.

I’ve used fresh and frozen strawberries and blueberries, and I can’t tell any taste difference between fresh or frozen. (I recently used a frozen berry blend that included strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries, and I didn’t like it as much because it was very sour.)

If I have pineapple, I add that because I love pineapple. I add a few chunks, not a lot. One day I was running low on blueberries, but I had pineapple, so I used more pineapple.

Any fruit will do – that’s the beauty of this.

I blend as I go (after adding each different ingredient) but only because I’m using a dinosaur of a blender. Some days, my blender works perfectly, and some days it almost refuses to chop a blueberry. I persevere.

Yogurt

I also have been adding yogurt. The vanilla yogurt is sweeter (and adds sugar, if you care about that), but I like plain as well. I add about 4 big spoonfuls of yogurt. Aldi has a tub (32 oz.) of organic yogurt for less than $3!

Other recipes I have seen don’t use yogurt, and some add almond milk. So that’s an option if it appeals to you. Or if you wanted, you could just add milk.

Or you can skip this step entirely.

Supplements 

I bought a berry superfood powdered supplement because I’m getting all crazy with my excitement over my new smoothie prowess. (I bought it at Wegman’s grocery store where you can buy as little or as much as you like.) So I add a spoonful of that. This is completely optional because I don’t think it alters the taste at all.

I have also started adding a spoonful of chia seeds due to aforementioned zeal.

We have found some great deals on powdered smoothie supplements at TJ Maxx.

There are as many supplements as there are smoothie recipes, and you don’t have to add any of them. But if you want, try one for added health benefits.

Just don’t be like me and think you have to wait until you have the perfect combination and perfect supplement before you can start making smoothies.

Sweetener

At first, I added a spoonful or so of honey because I thought I’d need a sweetener, but I don’t add that anymore – it’s surprisingly sweet as is. Honey is not a bad addition, however, and easy to keep on hand if you want a little added sweetness. (Or you just love honey.)

Save Money (& calories) Making Smoothies at Home

It makes one large glass full of deliciousness! And it is just as good as the smoothie I used to pay a minimum of $5 for!

My cost is more like:

• Aldi’s yogurt, $3, makes 6-7 smoothies, so (at 6 smoothies), 50¢/smoothie
• Blueberries, fresh, $2.50 makes 3 smoothies, so 83-84¢/smoothie
• Strawberries, same as blueberries
• Ice is free (because we freeze water – old-school – with ice trays because we don’t have an ice maker on our refrigerator) and supplements are optional (so I’m not including their cost – plus I can’t remember how much I paid for them but it wasn’t much)

So a very large cup (larger than my store-bought smoothie) of this super simple smoothie costs approximately $2.17 (and often less).

No extra tax. No waiting in line. No mystery ingredients. No added sugar.

You can save money by buying fruit in season and freezing the extras. Supplements are usually added in such tiny amounts that the cost is very minimal. Bananas would be a cheap addition, if you like bananas. Pineapple only adds 30-50¢ (as the cost of the pineapple changes) per smoothie if you only use a few pieces.

Smoothie Simplicity: My New Obsession

There is apparently no wrong way to make a smoothie! And it’s simple!

This is the revelation of my mid-forties that’s going down in the books as life-changing. (My early thirties taught me that a straight iron would tame cowlicks, and my mid-thirties taught me that women don’t all have flawless skin, they have foundation. We could say I’m slow to the table on some very important issues.)

If you like to drink calories, like me, smoothies are a great healthy choice.

If you want to consume more fruit, but you don’t really like eating fruit, consider smoothies.

With summer in full swing, they are very refreshing. Smoothies are a great healthy alternative to cold, sugary desserts.

And they are so much simpler than so many of the recipes imply.

Choose your favorite fruits and blend!

You might also like:

• Tips for drinking more water when what you really want is a caramel latte. Or an ice cold Coca-Cola. The struggle is real, I know.
• Permission to dream big. Because if you never try, you’ll never fail, but you also won’t ever succeed.
• Live on purpose, at this moment, taking it all in. Life is full of choices, and sometimes how you choose to view a situation or approach your day makes the difference between a life of joy or a life of misery.
• Just for a laugh: Along Came a Cat