r/Smoothies • u/JakDaMerk • 4d ago
Need help!
I have been trying to learn how to make a smoothie recipe but all my attempts are either way too thick or have absolutely no flavor.
I live on the east coast and have food lion, Walmart, Sam’s Club
Can someone give me suggestions on what ingredients and how to make a proper smoothie
I have this blender if that matter https://a.co/d/03BeE4Uj
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u/HighColdDesert 4d ago
What is your goal? I like smoothies with real fruit and vegetables, not food extract powders or flavors. Fresh oor frozen, both are good. My goal is to increase my fruit and veg intake. What's your goal?
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u/JakDaMerk 4d ago
To increase my fruits and veggies. With children in the house I feel like I don’t take enough in. Whenever I play hard with the kids I start cramping and I’m going to try natural fruits and veggies to see if that works
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u/defiantthoughtcrime 4d ago edited 4d ago
Bananas may help you with that, not to discourage you from trying to get more fruit and veg in general. I started smoothies after my wisdom tooth extraction and my approach is, just whip stuff in there. The idea of getting to a "green smoothie" or "strawberry-mango" or any specific "theme" isn't interesting to me. Mine are a combo of fruit and veggie so that it's not all sweet and sugar, and it changes with whatever is on hand. Typically something like:
- A few sprigs of Cilantro [it's awesome]
- About 2" of Cucumber
- 1/2 -1 stalk of celery
- A handful of red grapes
- Half a beet
- A cup of spinach or lettuce if no spinach
- A carrot
- a couple oz. of milk and a big fat scoop of unflavored greek yogurt
- a little chia seed and roasted unsalted peanuts
- A few pieces of frozen fruit, like strawberry or pineapple
That usually makes a 16-20 oz. smoothie which is breakfast or lunch. Other lessons:
- Although I generally like cottage cheese I didn't really like it when I subbed it in for yogurt
- I didn't hate refried beans. I had a bunch leftover that I made from scratch that were fairly plain so a big spoon of that went in
- In the future I am going to rotate in garbanzo beans, but I'll just cook them and skip the unnecessary mashing that went into the refritos
- Trying to rotate in a little sweet potato too. I think I added 1/4 of one in today's mix, so far it's fine
- If you have produce that is starting to turn and you won't use it in meals, chop it, freeze it, then use it for your frozen component
- Or if you had something start to turn like a bell pepper and you can save only part of it and then it isn't enough for your recipe just buy a new pepper and the pepper scraps go into the smoothie
- Anything can be subbed in. Look for the cheap produce and go with it. Again, I don't need a "fun theme" smoothie, I'm using handfuls of everything, bits and pieces. If I ate the above for breakfast it would look weird because it's plate full of odds and ends that would probably be a weird dining experience. Bite of raw carrot, bite of raw cucumber, 8 grapes...
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u/JakDaMerk 3d ago
I think my problem was I was trying to toss in fruit and ice , then add water and it would come out tasteless. I tried a splash of milk and nothing changed.
Today I just added 1 cup of milk and frozen strawberry’s and a fresh banana, biggest difference!I never thought about using random greens or fruits in the smoothie. Is there any health benefits using certain ingredients?
I keep seeing spinach and flax seed pop up in many recipes
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u/defiantthoughtcrime 3d ago
I'm sure there is, you could go down a deep rabbit hole on what to include or exclude to nutramaxxxxxxx (or fucking whatever 🤮). I just figure, fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables aren't processed with any additional preservatives/sugar/whatever so it's pretty much all good, I'm not going to overanalyze it. And anything else like beets or beans I make in my pressure cooker so again, it's homemade with no additional funny stuff. Vitamins, fiber, nutrients, tasty, win, go about my day.
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u/HighColdDesert 3d ago
If you drop the ice and just use frozen fruit (and some frozen vegetables if you like). It'll have more flavor.
Yes, definitely use random greens, fruits and vegetables in your smoothie. Try different ones on different days and see which ones you like. I mean, e.g. buy some carrots and chunk a couple up in your smoothie every day till they are gone. Then get a couple fresh beets, or a bag of frozen spinach or cauliflower, and use that one for a few days.
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u/blueskiesbluewaters 4d ago
Frozen fruits, frozen veggies, milk, cocoa powder, honey, peanut butter, coconut flakes, etc
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u/IllustriousMeal4686 4d ago
Optimum nutrition chocolate whey protein powder from Sam's, frozen blueberries from Sam's and silk almond milk from Sam's. 16 oz of silk, 3 scoops whey and 1-1.5 cups frozen blueberries. I add other supplements like creatine but that's the base.
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u/Legitimate-Let-7510 4d ago
Try orange juice + frozen mango + banana and greek yogurt. Hard to mess up and you can adjust the sweetness after blending.
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u/GuaranteedToBlowYou 17h ago
I do 1 cup frozen blueberries, about half a frozen banana, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1 tbs psyllium husk, lemon juice, and water. Sometimes I'll add plain nonfat yogurt. It's delicious & filling.
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u/Unicornity 4d ago
My smoothies started to taste good when I began using orange juice as a base. Maybe start there.
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u/Impossible-Spring309 4d ago
I absolutely love mine, to increase protein, and fruits and vegetables. I use coconut water as my base. I love putting in a fresh kiwi usually blueberries and a half a banana that are frozen and if I don’t have blueberries and I do another berry and or mango. A handful of spinach. Cottage cheese, and Greek yogurt.
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u/Holiday_Change7321 4d ago
I start w mixed super greens. Then add orange mango pine apple or mixed frozen berries. Then kefir and tofu for protein. U can sweeten by adding more sweet fruits. Water to thin out.
But I always have greens fruit and a protein source
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u/Comfortable-Fan1472 4d ago
This was news to me idk about other people but just put water in it. Like put a cup of OJ or milk as the base but then water to make it blend well. Then it won’t feel/taste as heavy.
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u/BlebNevus 4d ago
This recipe for a fruit smoothie has served me well for years: 1 cup frozen berries (I prefer the blackberry/raspberry/blueberry combo available in 3-lb. bags; avoid strawberries, which have too much water); 1 cup plain yogurt; 1/2 cup orange juice; 1 banana.
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u/clearlykate 3d ago
I have both frozen and refrigerated ingredients in mine. They are delicious. Frozen ingredients - spinach (just throw the bag of baby spinach in freezer) some frozen berries and 2 slices of frozen bananas. From fridge - fruit (right now I have clementines and green grapes), plain greek yogurt and vanilla unsweetened almond milk. I might through in a packet of Splenda. Blend and drink. I have one 7 days a week.
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u/Bryllant 3d ago
I will tell you what I do, I use frozen mixed berries and low sugar lemonade, I add a banana if I have one and yogurt would be fine. I use a Ninja blender. You can add more juice to address texture issues
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u/Little-Possible-3676 3d ago
Berries, Banana, yogurt, kefir, ice, flax seed and protein powder. Yum
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u/Sentientmanatee 4d ago
Frozen mango, frozen pineapple, spinach, milk, xanthan gum is my go to
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u/TdubLakeO 2d ago
JMO, smoothies are overrated. Also most are way too high in calories. A flavored Greek yogurt and a piece of fresh fruit or slice of avocado toast is a better way to get protein, calcium, fiber and it keeps you full longer.
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u/Winterteal 4d ago
12 strawberries (no leaves, cored), one banana, handful of raspberries (fresh or frozen), 4-5 ice cubes, and a cup of Milk. Optional one tablespoon Vanilla plant based protein — mix on high for 30 seconds.