Smoothie Queen

I am on a serious smoothie kick right now. And I blame it on my Grandma. You see, my sweet Grandma Shirlee bought me an immersion (or hand) blender for Christmas. It was arguably one of my very favorite gifts (1) because it was unexpected & (2) because I'd secretly been wanting one for my kitchen. Grandma = generous mind-reader.

This hand blender is a game-changer. Besides being able to blend soups in a jiffy (& if you've ever tried to do that in batches in a regular blender you know how messy/time-consuming/annoying it can be), it also can be used as a mini-food processor, electric wisk, chopper, & most importantly ... single-serving smoothie/shake blender! I rarely made smoothies in our regular blender because there were too many parts to wash & often I couldn't get all the good stuff out of the bottom of the blender. With my new blender, I can make the smoothie in the same cup I drink it out of & I only have one part to wash.

While I'm gushing about my new favorite gadget & treat, I have to let you in on a new smoothie secret of mine: throw some vegetables in your otherwise fruity smoothie. I'm telling you, it's an amazing way to pump up the nutritional content, get some extra vitamins & supplement an otherwise fruity, sugary, blended drink.

My favorites? Carrots & spinach. If you're thinking, "YUCK, no way jose"... I'll challenge you to give this little recipe a try & tell me if you can taste the veggies. I'll bet you can't!

Suz's Go-To Smoothie
Mix the following in your blender. Note that I'm not specifying measurements because that's not how I roll. I just eye ball & adjust if it's to thick/thin for my taste. It's how I live on the wild side.

• Vanilla or fruit-flavored low-fat yogurt (I'm not a fan of non-fat yogurt, but you could certainly use that)
• Frozen berries (I stock up on the big bags at Target when they go on sale -- note that you can buy frozen fruit in a sugary syrup, but you definitely don't want this. Just the regular frozen whole fruit will do.)
• 1/2 a banana
• A couple handfuls of baby spinach (I'm getting more & more adventurous & adding a lot more every time I make a smoothie. So far, I can't taste it!)
• Milk or Juice (I usually go with OJ)

Enjoy! I've also made this carrot smoothie a few times. I substitute frozen peaches or mango for the pineapple (it makes my tummy upset). Definitely has a bit of a carrot consistency so you know it's there, but it's still delish. Try it!

Matt used to have the reputation of smoothie king in our household. In fact, we've had overnight guests specially request a Matt-McA-smoothie. Move over, Matt...there's a new smoothie queen in the house.

[Photos from Real Simple (a.k.a. my favorite magazine). I can't be bothered to take a picture after I make myself a smoothie, I dig in too quickly! Also, I've gotta give credit where credit is due. The January issue of Real Simple prompted me to try throwing some veggies in my smoothies. You can check out all of their smoothie recipes here... just enter "smoothie" in the search box.]