made my first green (actually, brown) smoothie

BFwillie_g

BFwillie_g

Barefooters
May 17, 2010
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954
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Kulmbach, Germany
#1
Hi,

we finally got a blender that does an ok job making smoothies. It's a normal blender from Phillips, not a super-duper smoothie-monster, but it seems to work all right.

So my first attempt after goofing around a few times with apples and carrots, had all this stuff in it:

  • Stinging nettle (thumbs are still throbbing a little)
  • Dandelion
  • This Stuff (that's a link there), which we call "Gundermann" over here and seems to have a lot of English names (we basically have a whole lawn full of it)
  • Strawberries (fresh from the pick 'em yourself farm)
  • a nectarine
  • fresh ginger
  • walnut oil
  • a little orange juice for liquid, it was the only juice that was open
Amounts - no clue, really, but a lot of the nettle and dandelion. The Gundermann has a VERY strong flavor, so I only used a little (the wiki page says people use it in salads, but that's not true).

Flavor - not bad at all! A bit tart and, well, "healthy" ie "green", but I could easily imagine buying a bottle of the stuff in the organic supermarket. Just needs a spiffy name ...

Color - it turned brown for some reason. But a pleasant, creamy brown (looked like I was drinking a huge glass of Amaretto). Oh, I wonder if the oil may have affected the color?

After effects - none yet. I mean, no bad things.

Anybody got any smoothie experiences they'd like to share?
 
#2
Can a regular blender do the same thing? I mean do you have to purchase a smoothie machine to make smoothies? You just can't use a blender?
 
#4
I would think is should be able to do it. I don't know that I've ever had a "smoothie." Isn't it just a fruit shake?
 
#5
Sunday morning I chopped a load of fruit and said to the kids, pick what you want for smoothies. We just have a plain blender, but a pretty powerful one.

Me and my son had banana, pear, apple, papaya, blueberry, orange juice and a couple of scoops of hemp protein powder. Turned a deep olive green but tasted great. He could not get it down quick enough.

This morning though!

Next time I need to remember to add some nuts/seeds and also some frozen cranberries.
 
#7
lol, yeah, I hated nettles for years when I first moved here - had never seen them in NY (We got poison ivy/oak/sumac over there, which I'd trade against nettles any day) and I kept brushing up against the stuff, which grows everywhere here :mad:

But it's full of minerals, makes spinach look like Marshmallow Fluff. Dandelion is also bursting with nutrients and so is the Cat's Paw/Gundermann stuff. And they all actually taste pretty good. Dendelion leaves taste pretty much like you'd expect, green and bitter, but ppl do use it in salads, sort like Rucola. Nettles have a unique flavor, really good, hard to describe. Makes excellent soup and tea. Gundermann is like a spicy herb, delicious, but powerful.

The exact medicinal uses are out there in the internet, for all who are interested.

But I don't think I'd want to make a simple "shake" with these kinds of ingredients, especially the nettles. With the smoothie attachment, it all gets forced through a fine-mesh sceen, leaving the rougher in the mixer.

Tried it yesterday with Chia - kind of gummed up the works.
 
#8
Hi Willie,
I picked up a Blendtec around a year ago and that pulverises, the actual blades are blunt not sharp. My main drink is Kale, pear and banana, or Silverbeet, pear and banana. I'll probably switch over to Pineapple as they will be in season soon. Kale is pretty high on the anti inflammation factor so is supposed to be pretty good for you. I'm always a bit worried I'll put the wrong stuff in if I try picking Dandelion or other weed species.

Neil
 
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#11
I use my regular blender for my smoothies and it works perfectly.
My smoothie recipe is as follows
1 individual container of plain greek yogurt
1 small banana
some strawberries
a handfull of pumpkin seeds
1 big handfull of spinach
either coconut milk or almond milk for blending.
Enjoy!!!!
 
#12
So then you can use a regular blender for smoothies I take it Dama? Is there any benefit to getting one specifically made for smoothies? We've got several different blenders, a heavy duty one, one that can stir and cook soup, and the magic bullet which I use for my protein shakes everyday.
 
#13
NickW said:
So then you can use a regular blender for smoothies I take it Dama? Is there any benefit to getting one specifically made for smoothies? We've got several different blenders, a heavy duty one, one that can stir and cook soup, and the magic bullet which I use for my protein shakes everyday.
Click to expand...

Sure you can, my blender has I think 10 speeds and blending is one of them is a cheap one Osterizer? but does a great job when making soups/smoothies.
The heavy duty you have will work if you can make soups with it then you can make smoothies too.
But you already have the magic bullet does it do a good job when making smoothies?
 
#14
I was given the magic bullet and it is missing one of the attachments, the main one for smoothies. I've just got the simple attachment that is ok but not great for mixing up a banana, protein shake mix, and milk. It's still a bit chunky. I've found the attachments I need online pretty cheap, but I have to wait for a little bit till I can order it.
 
#15
Hi all,
I have smoothies on a daily basis but keep them simple. For the last couple of months we've been having banana/ plum smoothies which are delicious! I'm on last stock of plums as they are now officially out of season. Next we may have banana /date smoothies although I find them a bit heavier, not to mention sweeter. Over Summer when my neighbour's mulberry tree was fruiting we had - you guessed it banana / mulberry smoothies.;) These 2 combinations are pretty good with sweetness of banana and tartness of plums and mulberries. Oh yeah for liquid I only add 2/3 cup water and I use ordinary blender, have just bought new one as last one spat the dummy after a couple of years. I have occasionally added in green leaves and the blender works fine but I find them too bitter and would rather eat greens in salads.

Hi BFwillie_g
Your smoothie could have turned brown due to oil, I have no experience with that. Also, the nectarine could have started turning brown.
There is a lot of info about edible weeds on web and if you don't know what to look for it pays to look through images. We used them from garden for a while in salad wraps and me & my boys are still doing okay! It's certainly cheaper and no real gardening maintenance. The nettles are just coming up in my garden now and they're pretty tasty in soup, tastes a little like aniseed when cooked.
Take care,
Jenny
 
#16
hey there again... still going strong with my smoothies. Found some hawthorn, a really potent herb (it's actually more like a small tree or large shrub, very pretty) for the heart and circulation.

So I've got nettles, cat's paw, dandelion, milfoil, hawthorn... plus fruit, whatever's around. Nuts, ginger, etc... A friend is coming up on the weekend to take us for a walk and see what else is growing around here. The world outside the supermarkets is FULL of edible, healthy plants.

But yeah, you have to know what not to take, as well. Buttercups, for example, look tempting, but :eek:

hey, the thing about smoothie vs shake, if you're using stems and roots like I do (did I mentioned that yet?), then, really, you want it super-fine, just to make it more palatable. My blender makes shakes as fine as possible, I can't imagine a normal blender doing a better job of it, but I still run the stuff through the smoothie screen afterwards. Otherwise, meh :p

Did something that didn't work out so well: Poured about 500ml of smoothie mix on top of 1L of bubbly mineral water (in a 1.5L bottle) to take with me to the sauna. It bubbled up and all the secondary matter floated to the top, looked like dirty pond scum, and tasted weird. The mineral water reacted with the stuff somehow... blech.
 
#17
Mine is simple but good:
- 3/4 Cup Greek Yogurt
- Handful of ice (6-7 cubes)
- 1 tsp Honey (more or less depending on how sweet you like it)
- 1 Cup frozen fruit (either buy it frozen or freeze your own)
- 1/4-1/2 cup of a liquid of your choice (soy milk, almond milk, orange juice...)

Lately I have been doing blueberries with a small squeeze of lemon, I want to toss some chia seeds in there too, but haven't made it out to the store to buy some yet.
 
#18
Barefoot Dama said:
I use my regular blender for my smoothies and it works perfectly.
My smoothie recipe is as follows
1 individual container of plain greek yogurt
1 small banana
some strawberries
a handfull of pumpkin seeds
1 big handfull of spinach
either coconut milk or almond milk for blending.
Enjoy!!!!
Click to expand...
sounds very good!:)I'm gonna try...it better be good:D
 
#19
BFwillie_g said:
a plain blender-blender won't do it, afaik. I know our plain blender-blender didn't work. The one I bought has a smoothe insert - maybe others do as well. If the blender can do smoothies, it'll say so specifically in the literature/advertising...
Click to expand...
Barefoot TJ said:
Can a regular blender do the same thing? I mean do you have to purchase a smoothie machine to make smoothies? You just can't use a blender?
Click to expand...
in my experience it also depends what has to go in it...try making apple juice in a regular blender.I don't like that,but it's personal too.;)
 
#20
One of my kids used to like apple smoothies from blender. Of course it's nothing like apple juice. Personally I prefer eating apples but I agree these things are all personal taste. I've heard that we ought to chew our smoothies anyhow which must be better for digestion, I reckon.:)
 
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