Smoothie Styles and 3 recipes, plus Cancer Awareness

In case you're wondering, I don't really post at 3am- the only good thing about Blogger is that it has a publish-time-setting feature- sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't! :-/

(Note to edit: I scheduled this to be posted at 3am on 10/3/09 but apparently Blogger just felt like posting it on 10/2/09...ornery little Blogger!)

The way I see it, there are three styles of smoothie drinkers:

The Traditionalist:

You say:

· I want my milk or juice and fruit. Don’t mess with simplicity.

· If I’m feeling really frisky I may allow some peanut butter.

· Sometimes I might put a tablespoon of yogurt in there and perhaps some protein powder, but THAT’S it!

The Experimentalist:

You say:

· Hmm, a veggie snuck into my shake - I can live with that.

· You want to doll it up with a little oatgurt or kefir? Well why the heck not?

· An herb here, an extract there – sure- life’s too short.

· There’s more nut butters to try than just PB, ya know!

The FrankenSmoothie Lover:

You say:

· I LOVE Hungry-Girl- I make all of her recipes!

· Torani Syrups, Splenda, Sugar-free/fat-free pudding Jello powder, Crystal Light=the 4 food groups…YESSss!

The Balls-to-the-Wall Risk-Taker:

You say:

· Eye of Newt and frog’s legs? Bring it on!

· Dinner in a blender? It’s so practical!

· I can drink a smoothie of any color. I’m not intimidated by vomit - green.

Think about what sort of Smoothitarian you are. I will admit to you that I am somewhere between The Experimentalist and a FrankenSmoothietista. I keep the calories roughly at 300 cals, and try to make sure there's protein, fat and complex carbs in the mix.

You might want to refer back to the Smoothie 101a post for more information.

So with that 'intro'...here is the first Edition of Smoothie SaturdaySundays...hope you enjoy!

The Elvis Pelvis:

• Water, Ice, Xanthan & Guar Gums, Stevia (these go into every.single.shake.I.make)
  
• Frozen Banana (half to one whole)
• Almond Extract
• T. Peanut butter
• Scoop Protein Powder
• 2-3 T. Oats, plus few more for sprinkling on top
  

Gyrate your hips as you indulge in this sammich-in-a-bowl. Seriously yummy. Love the chew & flavor from the raw oats.

Smoothie Girl's Sweet Potato Pie:

• Water, ice, XG, GG, Stevia
• walnut extract, Maple extract (or Mapeline) (or the real deal maple syrup!)
• Cooked, cubed, FROZEN sweet potato (half of a medium)
• Scoop protein powder
• Cinnamon (if you have a V-mix use a HUNK of real Cinnamon bark- TRUST ME!!!!)
  
• 1/2 oz Pecans to mix in at the very end so that it's chunky-licious (reserve a bit for garnish...must look pretty!)
  

Do you think that our interim counter-top looks like an ironing board?

Brrr. These babies are FFFffffrozen. I freeze almost anything I can that can go into a smoothie.

The magical flavor- MAPLE!

VitaPorn-bowm-chickie-bowm-bowm

Up close and personal

The 'Peace in the Middle East' Smoothie: aka 'drink your Halva'

• 2 T. Tahini (yes, tahini, and I froze it the night before in a cup)
  
• 1/2 small container (~3 oz ) Greek yogurt (didn't freeze this, but couldda)
  
• T. Powdered Egg white
  
• Vanilla & Maple extracts
• Stevia
• Pistactios- reserve some for garnish, and the rest PUT IN AT THE VERY END so as to keep a lot of gorgeous pistacio chunkage.

OK so I NEVER in a zillion years would have thought of making a smoothie with TAHINI, but HEAB was on a tahini kick this week and suggested that I come up with a tahini smoothie. I'm not one to shy away from a friendly challenge, so I put on my thinking cap. Turns out I was heading to my local Persian market to buy roasted hazelnuts (aka little balls of crack) and I got inspired by the Halva sold there.

Upon tasting, I texted her: "Think I need a cig"... Yes, it's THAT good.

On a different note, Charlotte's post from today highlights the fact that October 2nd is the LiveStrong/Cancer Awareness day. Food bloggers were encouraged to cook something yellow. She doesn't cook but featured lemon drops that her Grandfather used to love (he had cancer).

So I followed suit and took these YUMMY Licorice Pastels that my Dad loves from Cost Plus World Market:

and gathered these:

My Dad has leukemia and lymphoma. Most people I know are affected by cancer in some way- everyone knows someone who knows someone who has it. In a nutshell (and this is just my humble opinion)...cancer SUCKS EGGS! One day maybe we'll beat this sucker.