Smoothies

@Country homesteader mentioned smoothies HERE She may have a nice recipe for you, in addition to that veggie one.

NH Homesteader said:

I'm trying to avoid dairy as it doesn't sit well with me anymore . DD1 likes yogurt smoothies and I've been sneaking in spinach when I can. I'm going to try with a different base for me, but so far what I've tried has been gross lol

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Try soy or almond milk, I use silky tofu sometimes and it's delectable.

I don't do soy, but I've been using cashew milk for oatmeal and things. I tried coconut milk yogurt and it was gross.

My husband is allergic to almonds so I have to make separate everything these days. Cashew milk has almonds in it... don't know how that's helpful! Lol

The only non-dairy base that I liked besides the orange juice - was frozen bananas. Made the smoothie nice and thick - but recently bananas have been giving me the belches, so no more nana's for me.

@sumi That is a huge strawberry! Did it taste as good as it looks?
one of hte seed catalogs I get has strawberry plants for sale that are supposed to grow those huge strawberries, but I am worried about the flavor. If I am going to grow it, it needs to taste good!

I've only been using the milk lately because I don't have any Almond Milk on hand.
I'm not positive on what other can be used for a base though. I know I won't be trying Cashew Almond Milk or Coconut Almond Milk in my smoothies seeing how I tried both and don't care foe them so I'll just stick with the Almond Milk. I also won't be using beets in my smoothies.
Lately I've been adding a tsp raw honey in them and they taste excellent.

wyoDreamer said:

@sumi That is a huge strawberry! Did it taste as good as it looks?
one of hte seed catalogs I get has strawberry plants for sale that are supposed to grow those huge strawberries, but I am worried about the flavor. If I am going to grow it, it needs to taste good!

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It was delicious!

Make your own nut milk and use that. It's easy to make. Would work fine on smoothies. Wouldn't be sweetened like commercially made or have the calcium added.

Plant milks are very poor sources of calcium no matter what the commercial industry tries to pass off. They add calcium to the processed product. Eat dark leafy greens for that since it's more bioavailable than the chalk added to store nut milk. The calcium present in the plant isn't really water soluble.

Soak nuts overnight. Rinse. Put nuts and fresh water in blender and run a few minutes to get as fine as possible. Strain through cloth.

Unlike the online recipes which say to use cold water, one of my older books from the 80s says to use hot water to try and get more of the nut fat into the milk. It also says to rest the nut and water mixture for 10 minutes in the blender before blending again then proceeding.

Personally, I think if I was making diary free, I'd use fruit juice, whole fruit, fruit jam or syrup to sweeten, and a tablespoon or two of nut butter. Texture wise, cashew would probably be best.

Smoothies is one of the main ways I use the homemade jam.

You can use ice to thicken, but frozen fruit is my preferred. Bananas make a fairly thick smoothies even fresh.

I never measure. So I can't give exacts. Blend until looks good.

Think I'm going to start adding soaked chia seeds at the end. I like those in any drink.

I just made a smoothie using just 6oz Orange Juice, 1 Naval Orange, 1 Pink Cara Cara Orange, 1 Granny Smith Apple, 1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon, 1 tsp 100% Pure Raw Honey, and 8-10 ice cubes. It's very delicious and not too thick but thick enough.

frustratedearthmother said:

Don't the best smoothies start with ice cream and end with Kahlua? Sorry - couldn't help myself!

Just don't use really, really (like fresh outta the ground beets). They'll try to kill you....BTDH

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Oh my gosh ice cream is an awesome base for a smoothie. of course only once in a while

I use coconut milk with greens and frozen fruit-- makes a really thick and creamy smoothie