New Blender - Smoothie/Energy Shakes Recipes

[surgtech1956]

Just purchased a 'magic bullet' type blender and now I need some healthy smoothie, energy shake recipes. A co-worker buys Lean Shakes from GNC. What about Whey Protein powder? Seems like I read somewhere that there is some better protein powder??? Thanks

[OakLeaf]

My favorite protein powder is Garden of Life. It's organic, raw FWIW, dairy-free and soy-free. I seem to do better on that than I do on other formulas I've tried, plus it blends well, isn't gritty and has a neutral flavor. Some of those hemp protein powders can be pretty strong tasting! It's not the cheapest protein powder on the shelf, but IMO it's worth the price.

[itself]

Trader Joes Vanilla Hemp Powder is my favorite. Give us gals the Omega 6 & 3s we need!

[marni]

i'm pretty much stuck on a generic whey based powder that I buy at the gym. I believe the brand name is apex. I especially love a smoothy made with apex powder, chobani greek honey yogurt, fresh mango, a dash of roasted chili powder (new mexican style) and either water or skim milk to thin it down. My other favorite is left over breakfast coffee, apex powder, a tablespoon or so of cocoa powder, and a banana.

really though greek yogurt and fresh fruit make everything taste better.

[tzvia]

I've had one of those magic bullet things for a while now, and I prefer to use nuts and seeds over powders and formulas. I love Salba- lots of omegas and it tastes good. Mix it with sesame seeds, walnut, flax, dried soy, almonds, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds-whatever, it makes an awesome tasting coarse powder. I mix that in stuff like yogurt and fruit, an in the summer, frozen fruit. Some fruit juice, plain yogurt, the powdered nuts/seeds, frozen fruit and I have an awesome meal replacement shake that's good and cold.

Take that powder, add a little organic pressed coconut oil and grind some more, and I have what I call 'everything butter' that I spread on matzo or rye bread. Yum.

[Catrin]

Such a good timing for this thread! I just purchased a small Cuisineart "smoothie blender" (can't think of the real name) that also comes with a small nut/food chopper and, additionally, 4 "travel" glasses in which I can make a smoothie directly. Really a nice deal. I have a much larger Cuisinart blender but it seems to rarely come out of storage for some reason - it is quite large and heavy. This looks like the same concept as the Magic Bullet, small and compact, easy to use.

I have never been in the habit of making smoothies, but it seems a good time to start learning, and this thing takes up very little counter space. Looking forward to seeing some recipes/ideas here, and will share favorites as I find them :)

[jennyrc]

One thing I discovered about smoothies is spinach - you can add a lot of spinach to any sort of smoothie and you don't taste it (you just have to deal with an unappetizing color to your smoothie). But, this is a great way to eat your spinach if you wouldn't otherwise!

[Owlie]

Not sure these are so much "healthy" as tasty, but they get fruit in me...

a few ice cubes
fresh/frozen fruit (I like some combination of strawberries, mangoes, peaches and raspberries)
Perhaps half a banana if we've got enough
yogurt if we've got some in a flavor that works
splash of milk (if the fruit is frozen)

I'm glad to be back at home where there's a blender that's capable of crushing ice! (I'll just skip the spinach, thanks. ;) )