The first time I saw a smoothie maker for sale I had an “only in America” moment. It looked just like a blender with a different name. To this day I don’t know the difference between the two. I also don’t know any people who have a blender and a smoothie maker, but I’m willing to bet they exist.
One of the first recipes called a smoothie showed up in a 1940s booklet for the Waring “Blendor” but it wasn’t until the 1960s that the thick alternative to milkshakes became popular, first on the West coast. The health food and macrobiotic movements were taking hold and smoothies, with their emphasis on fruit and their natural sugars, were a perfect fit.
Then in 1973 Steve Kuhnau opened his first Smoothie King in Kenner, LA and smoothies were here to stay. The company thrives today, with more than 500 franchised locations worldwide.
I ought to make them more often, despite advice from experts that we should eat food, not drink it. It was the Big Breakfast Diet, coupled with my love of pomegranates and blueberries, that led me to create this. Both fruits are superfoods and this is a filling, cold, beaded sweat-runs-down-the-glass smoothie with some tang. Feel free to use more honey or some vanilla yogurt for added sweetness.
An added benefit of smoothies is that frozen fruit is usually used. Not only is it more economical than fresh fruit, it’s just as healthy because it’s flash-frozen the day it’s harvested. That’s also why it’s often tastier, picked ripe and not in a state that’ll keep it unblemished during a cross-country or international trip to the supermarket.
Ella’s Superfoods Smoothie
1 cup/140g frozen wild blueberries, unthawed
1/2 cup/112g plain non-fat yogurt
1/2 cup/120mL pomegranate juice
1 TB honey
Place frozen berries in the workbowl of a blender, food processor, mini-chop or smoothie maker. Blend 20 -30 seconds until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and puree.
Serves 1
Makes 12 ounces at 245 calories.
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My raw food chef ex-roomie would approve, but so would I. That sounds delicious! He’s got me dumping spirulina into my smoothies and shunning soy, but as long as I can do breakfast on autopilot I’m good.
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Looks fantastic.
I will one up your take on the smoothie/blender though.
I received a VitaMix as a gift a couple of years ago, and only recently have starting using it.
I can’t understand why anyone would bother investing anymore in a blender when they can do just about everything with this machine. It is even better than the hotsy totsy Omega Juicer I own, because you simply pulverize all the fruits and veggies until they are a nice thick rich juice, fiber remains there to fill you up and do it’s proper work. Absolutely amazing. I am almost living out of this thing . . .
Love the way this looks . . . fantastic and lucious. Thanks for the idea. Also thanks for the reminder about frozen fruit. I was thinking that fresh is better, but you are correct and it is nice to know I can buy frozen fruit and be doing a very good thing for myself. Thank you!!!!!!
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That looks so good, Ella! All that goodness in a cup. I just love pomegranate juice.
I can’t have yogurt, what do you think of using crushed ice in it’s place?
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rain – Breakfast on auto pilot is the perfect way to go. This is something I can make even before my first cup of coffee. And that’s saying a lot, since I should just have an IV for the stuff!
blue – Oooh, a VitaMax? That’s a Rolls Royce you’ve got, lucky woman!
I hope you enjoy this — frozen fruit and all!
bead – Sure, crushed ice would be fine. One reason Steve Kuhnau got into smoothies is that he’s lactose intolerant, so if crushed ice is good enough for him…
LMK how it works out for you!
I have at least one smoothie a day, usually for breakfast so I’m eager to try your blend out. Right now we have an abundance of fresh locally grown strawberries and I’m enjoying them. Hmmmm … strawberry recipes. I’ll bet you have a whack of them.
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timethief – Good to see you! Wow, a smoothie a day! I should work up to that. If I had wonderful, fresh local strawberries — so hard to find here — I’d never waste them in a blender, to be honest. I would just eat them one by one and make a meal of them.
But a strawberry and banana smoothie sounds enticing.
I’m recently back from the pick-your-own blueberry farms with quarts of the little dears, so this smoothie is just the ticket.
And, I’m giving the Big Breakfast diet a go. I’m home from work so late in the summer that 8 p.m. dinners become the norm. I’ve needed a change in routine, and this should do it.
I do think I’ll start with 1400 calories, though, just because my work is true manual labor – varnishing boats. If there aren’t any results in a couple of weeks, I can cut back some. But I think just rebalancing the meals should help.
Such a wonderful blog!
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Hi, there! Varnishing boats? Yeah, I’d have a few more calories too.
Seriously, I can’t imagine it not working for you. I think we instinctively eat a bigger breakfast when we know we’ll need that fuel during the day, so this should fit in well for you. I think in my case the low-carb aspect is having the best effect, although if it were no-carb (like the first few weeks on one of those famous diets, Atkins perhaps) I’d never be able to do it. I love fruit too much.
I envy you all those fresh-picked berries. Bon appetit..and I’m glad you like the blog..and welcome to my blogroll. I’m going to check out your most recent post right now!