#59 A Smooth, Smooth Summer

As some of you may know, I fell in love with smoothies this summer. It started with the berry heaven at Cup Diner, continued with the berry fulfilling at Jamba Juice, and ended with me finally using my Waring blender regularly. Here's a quick list of my favorite summer smoothies:

• the aforementioned berry heaven from Cup Diner


• the aforementioned berry fulfilling from Jamba Juice


• homemade acai smoothie with banana, strawberry, and apple juice

(the following are all from The Big Book of Juices and Smoothies)

• coconutty 'nana: banana, pineapple, coconut milk, pineapple juice


• tropical deluxe: mango, banana, lime juice, guava juice


• papaya salad: papaya, pineapple, banana, pineapple juice, watermelon (I use raspberries instead)


• summer sunset: peaches, strawberries, guava juice

And here are a few things I learned about making smoothies:

• rehydrating dried fruit means soaking overnight, not for fifteen minutes


• if you need to redistribute fruit in a blender, wait until the motor has stopped running before sticking a fork in it


• frozen fruits makes for cold and thick smoothies, so I pretty much like to freeze it all, even the fresh stuff


• adding Greens+ powder makes your smoothie taste like seaweed


• most importantly, smoothies are so delicious, a great way to load up on fruit, and a good substitute for pretty much any meal

The blender is coming in the car in the drive out west. There's no telling when I'll crave a papaya salad!