The Goods (Recipe) - Tropical Chai Smoothie

I found a great little juice bar/take-a-way food place in Solana Beach, CA, called Juice Nation, while looking for lunch options close to my office.  Among the smoothies on their menu was a Tropical Chai Chia Smoothie, which had a much different flavor than any other smoothie I tried.  The recipe below is my version of a this smoothie.   

½ c. frozen mango

½. c. pineapple

2 c. coconut water (or water)

2 c. spinach (or kale)

½-inch slice of fresh ginger root

2 tbls. Flax seed

6 dates

¼ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. fennel seed

1/8 tsp cardamom

1/8 tsp ground clove

(1) Combine all ingredients in a high-speed blender until thoroughly incorporated.

Note that you can use all fresh fruit.  In that case, replace 1/2 c. of the coconut water (or water) with ice. 

Smoothies - Food and Drink of the Gods

In Greek mythology, the Gods are often said to partake of ambrosia and nectar, the food and drink of immortality.  If there were such a food and drink, I am inclined to believe that smoothies would be one of the top candidates.  Several trains of thought that I have run across link high nutrition and low caloric intake with increased life spans (For Example, Eat, Fast, and Live Longer, a documentary by Dr. Michael Mosley, discusses these trains of thought and proposes a 5:2 fasting diet).  After looking at and wading full Monty into the food and drink landscape, I am convinced that smoothies provide the best platform for increasing nutrition while decreasing caloric intake.  Let me clarify that I am not talking about most commercially produced smoothies, which are often laden with sugar and cream - I'm talking about smoothies exclusively made with whole fruits and vegetables and a few acceptable adder ingredients.  These types of smoothies can be found in independently owned juice bars, but it is quite a bit cheaper to make them at home (if you own a high-power blender - which I recommend).

Smoothies, especially green smoothies, have become routine in our household for breakfast.  And after years of experimentation, Ingrid and I have found several rules that we recommended for making impromptu smoothies (from the fruit and veg sitting in your kitchen right now) in addition to a few specific recipes for which we deliberately buy ingredients.  I will start posting these guidelines and recipes shortly...

Our Current Fresh Fruit and Veg Stores.  A little sparse (mostly oranges and passion fruit) , but add some organic frozen fruit and it's still enough to make a mean smoothie...

The Goods (Recommendation) - Vitamix

I do not get paid to advertise for Vitamix, but I probably should.  Within a month of buying my first Vitamix a few years ago, at least six friends also purchased machines based on my recommendation.  What is a Vitamix, you ask?  Vitamix is the manufacturer of a high-power blender.  This high-power blender comes with a 2 horsepower motor and a 7 year warranty and will set you back somewhere around $400 (depending on model and accessories).  On the face of it this seems like a lot of money for a blender (and it is) - but with the changes Ingrid and I made to our diet, buying a Vitamix was by far the cheapest alternative and the overall best value.  So if you are thinking about making a dramatic change to your diet, a Vitamix blender is a must.

Vitamix, 48 oz., 64 oz., & Dry Grains Containers, Tamper, Cookbook, Smoothie Cup

We use our Vitamix almost daily for a number of reasons including:

1. Making Smoothies

We started to make green smoothies on a regular basis to increase our consumption of whole fruits and vegetables.  By making these at home, we had control over the ingredients (primarily to limit the sugar and increase the organic content) and to reduce the cost (versus buying smoothies at a juice bar).  Nowadays we rarely make a smoothie without some sort of green ingredient to boost the nutrition content.

2. Blending Sunflower Seed Butter
After cutting our peanuts and treenuts (almonds, cashews, etc.), one of the greatest discoveries was sunflower seed butter. In addition to being difficult to find in our local grocery stores, sunflower seed butter is expensive. The version that I make at home is much cheaper.

3. Milling Gluten-Free Flours
 The last reason that a Vitamix was the best value was because we bought the dry grain blender and milled our own gluten-free grains (rice, millet, sorghum, etc.) in bulk and grind them into flours for gluten-free baking.   We still buy some commercially prepared flours, but for the basics like rice flour, our homemade versions are much less expensive.

4. Making Babyfood
We grind rice into rice flour to make rice porridge for our daughters and use the Vitamix for grinding up fruit and vegetable mashes for our little ones.

I also advocate for the Vitamix because of the reputation of the company for producing a quality product and having excellent customer service.  One of the biggest factors in the quality of any motor (and hence the longevity) is the amount of metal used. More metal equals more money. The high cost of the Vitamix in addition to the 7 year warranty tells me that the motor is of very high quality. And every review that I have read in addition to my own warranty experience has verified Vitamix as a trustworthy company that stands by its warranty.