The main benefits of smoothies are:
- ● Ease, speed of preparation and availability of ingredients.
- ● The high content of vegetable fiber, which improves the functioning of the digestive tract, allows you to prolong the feeling of satiety.
- ● Large amount of vitamins and minerals.
- ● Ability to create different combinations, cook quickly from ingredients that are at home.
- ● It can become a balanced meal if you use not only vegetables and fruits, but also dairy products or their equivalents, oatmeal, nuts, etc. Consider further how to make a milkshake and what we need for this.
how to make smoothies
To make a smoothie, all you have to do is have a few ingredients on hand and a blender or other kitchen appliance to stand in for it. If this is your first shake, you can use our blending options or recipes you find online. Over time, you will surely be able to create your own smoothie recipes. Homemade smoothies benefit from the fact that we do not chop the food too much, so they retain more benefits: small pieces can be chewed, which is good for digestion, we can keep the skin of vegetables and fruits and save more fiber. Keep this in mind if you are going to prepare a drink.
How to make a smoothie
Sometimes the lack of some special device prevents us from preparing something new or the apparent complexity scares us. But smoothies are easy to make. The main thing is the ingredients themselves for making smoothies. Devices that will help you make smoothies with them, you probably have at home.
with a blender
The easiest way to make smoothies is with a blender. You can use a stationary 800 watt. To prepare a smoothie, it is enough to have at hand a few ingredients and the mixer itself. Vegetables, fruits and herbs should be pre-cut and then placed in a bowl. During the cooking process, vegetable milk and other liquids must be added little by little, as the rest of the products are crushed, in order to control the consistency, so that the shake does not remain too liquid. Drink the finished smoothie right away, the shelf life of this drink is only a couple of hours at room temperature and no more than a day in the fridge.
With an immersion blender
An immersion blender is also a great kitchen aid for making smoothies. Adequate power – from 750 watts. It usually comes with a special glass. But if you don’t have one, a regular mug, ladle, or other container that isn’t too wide in diameter will do.
With an immersion blender, it is more convenient to grind the juiciest ingredients first (for example, celery, berries, plum, orange), and then the hard ones, such as apple, pear, pumpkin, carrot, or just add liquid at the beginning. This advice is worth using because solid vegetables and fruits turn into smoothies more easily when there is liquid in the container (from berry and fruit juice or water, kefir, milk). It will take a little more effort than a stationary blender, but the result will be just as good!
No blender
A blender is not always at hand, so we will tell you how to make smoothies using more affordable kitchen utensils.
- ● With a grater: Many vegetables and fruits can be grated with a normal grater, which is usually found in every home.
- ● Sieve: It can be used to clean the red fruits of berries, peaches, dates, figs, plums.
- ● A fork: it also helps to mash soft fruits, make a puree with them, to which you must add liquid so that it acquires the desired consistency.
- ● Meat Grinder – A handy option for making a lot of purees at once, which can be frozen for later or used in smoothies right away.
About the smoothie ingredients
To make a tasty and healthy smoothie, we need to combine ingredients from different groups in it:
- ● More vegetables: lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cucumber, zucchini, mint, dill, parsley, celery stalks.
- ● Fruits and berries: apple, pear, plum, banana, peach, apricot, orange, pineapple, strawberry, raspberry, cherry, blueberry – what will catch the eye and what colors will you want to add to your fruit cocktail.
- ● For satiety: avocado, kefir, drinking yogurt, nuts and seeds, peanut butter, oatmeal or buckwheat.
- ● For the texture: vegetable milk, water, chia, flax and sesame.
- ● For the color: cocoa, carob.
The more textures, flavors, and food groups in your drink, the richer it will be and the more satisfying your taste buds will be.
Apple, spinach and orange smoothie
This vitamin shake is perfect for breakfast. Peel and cut an apple and an orange into pieces. Blend the fruit in a blender with 200 g nonfat yogurt or kefir. Peel 1 pineapple, 1 banana and half an avocado, grate a small piece (about 1 cm) of ginger, finely chop the parsley leaves (5-10 sprigs) with a knife. Send all the ingredients to a blender, add a tablespoon of lemon juice.
Carrot smoothie
Wash, peel and cut a carrot, add a banana, send the prepared ingredients to the blender. While grinding, add 150 ml of carrot juice and 100 ml of non-fat yogurt. Look at the consistency, it shouldn’t be too runny.
Pear smoothie
This smoothie is perfect for a snack. Combine two pears and 2 cups of chopped spinach leaves. Gradually add water to blender until you get the consistency of thick sour cream.
Green milkshake
This cocktail is a real explosion of vitamins, vitality and benefits. Take a cucumber, a slice of melon and a pear, mix everything in a blender, gradually adding about 1 glass of water.
Banana smoothie:
Beat with a mixer 250 ml of milk and 1 banana. Clever! Optionally, you can add berries, cinnamon, cocoa, nuts, oatmeal.
