Let's Talk Smoothies

My father managed a commercial kitchen for all of my life. He taught me that good cooking starts with some basic skills, and after that, it's comfort with improvising. It used to drive me crazy when he'd give me a recipe over the phone with measurements like "a smidge of pepper" or "a handful of carrots" (he has HUGE mitts, while I have the smallest hands known to womankind).

It wasn't until I was giving a recipe to a friend and she complained that "whatever's in the fridge" isn't a helpful list of ingredients (especially since keeping rabbits lends a lot of unusual veg into the mix) that I really understood what he was telling me. Couple that with my very particular tastes, I tend to change recipes at random and not write them down. Hence, this blog.

Anyways, more to the point, I like to use ingredients I have on hand and try to limit waste. This means, my meals are more dictated by chance and mood than anything else. I did try meal planning, and that lasted for all of a week. Things always come up, and what if I wasn't in the mood for what I had planned, anyways? It's something I would definitely return to if I had a family, or maybe if there was more than just me. But there isn't. And I'm lazy, besides. That's also why I try to eat a lot of veg (even though I much prefer meat and grains, and SUGAR). Any scraps or leftovers can go to the bunnies.

Which brings me to today's recipe. My vegetarian stint had me discover one of my favourite ingredient substitutions: Almond Milk! (I hate soy milk) If you can't find it anywhere, you can use soy or cow milk in this, or whatever you usually use for milk. Using just the juice will make the smoothie too tangy. But I really suggest you find almond milk. It adds a nice smoothness, a subtle taste and some protein (this is a great breakfast for vegetarians or vegans).

Basic Raspberry Smoothie Breakfast-On-The-Go
(gives about 10 oz)

1/4 c orange juice (fresh squeezed is the best, concentrate tends to be very acidic)
1/4 almond milk
1/2 banana
small handful frozen cranberries* (annoying, isn't it??)
1/4 to 1/2 c frozen raspberries
Dash of FRESH ginger**

Toss all of this into your trusty blenderizer-type device. If it gets all frozen and stops with the blending, then nuke 1/8 c water or oj and drizzle it in. This will assist with the smoothenizing.

And because I believe wholeheartedly in spontaneous improvising, please feel free to substitute, add and change the fruits depending on your taste. My favourite is raspberry, who knows what yours will be?

If not vegan, try a touch of honey in there, too! (works well if you make a straight cranberry smoothie) If you try carrot in there, cook it lightly first (it'll need to be soft... I recommend steaming), don't use too much and toss a bit of nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves in.

Points value for the original recipe: 4
Fill value: Light to Moderate, but good for non-breakfasteers, or on-the-go-ishness

* Not only are cranberries very good for you, but remarkably, they really make the raspberries taste more like, well, raspberries than they normally do!

** Here's a hint for you: Take your polyp of ginger, peel it, and toss it into the food processor. Then separate it into 1 tsp servings. You can use an ice cube tray, you can keep one specially for the purpose of portioning out stuff, but I'm too disorganized to do this. I just take small pieces of plastic wrap and make pouches and freeze them that way. Once they're all frozen, place the cubes or pouches into a freezebag and there you have 'em. Defrost one, it'll last in the fridge for about 4-5 days, and throw a bit into your cooking. Alternately, I saw mini-cube trays at the dollar store yesterday which would work for individual shake size... go nuts!