Melsky's Guide to Fantastic and Healthy Smoothies

smoothie ingredients, originally uploaded by Melsky.

I was born and raised in California, and I grew up eating smoothies.

What is a smoothie anyway? In many restaurants they are merely a fruit milkshake, no healthier than having an ice cream sundae with strawberry topping. To me a smoothie is a healthy food, made from yogurt, milk, frozen fruit and sweetener. They are an important part of my diet. I love starting summer mornings with a delicious sweet and creamy treat that is healthy and low in calories.

Here's how I make smoothies.

First of all, it's important to have a good blender. I bought this one about eight years ago and it's still going strong.

I gather together all my ingredients. I use milk and plain yogurt, either non-fat or low fat. I use frozen fruit, which I usually buy frozen. I use flavorings like cinnamon and vanilla, and I use a sweetener, usually splenda. In this case, I'll be making one of my favorites which is a peach and cinnamon flavor.

I don't have set amounts of ingredients that I use. I just eyeball them. First add the frozen fruit, then a few serving spoons full of yogurt, then the milk, sweetener and flavoring. Blend! You may need to add a little more milk if your smoothie is hard to blend.

For this smoothie I used the following (amounts are approximate)

3/4 cup frozen peaches – 50 calories
½ cup nonfat yogurt – 55 calories
1 cup 1% milk – 110 calories

That adds up to just 215 calories!

Some people use ice in their smoothies, I do not. If you use ice make sure that you have a very powerful blender.

Sometimes I add cereal to my smoothie. After it's done I pour it into a bowl instead of a glass and I top it with grape nuts and eat it with a spoon.

Another thing I add sometimes is bran or psyllium to get extra fiber. It's pretty hard to tell if psyllium fiber is added. The bran definitely adds texture to it and takes away from the creamy deliciousness of it. I usually only do this if I will be eating it with cereal, in which case I don't notice the bran at all.

Many people add dates to smoothies; in fact my parents did this. I don't like dates in general and I don't like the texture they give smoothies but if you like dates that is something to try.

There are a wide variety of fruit combinations to use in smoothies. Almost any type of berry makes a great one, especially strawberries. You can get bags of blends of fruits, usually tropical blend or a mix of berries.

I find that a little vanilla, the same bottled kind that is used for baking, really enhances my smoothies. On some fruits like peaches and pumpkin, cinnamon adds a great flavor.

Pumpkin smoothies are unexpectedly good. I freeze canned pumpkin in plastic bags. Just make sure to freeze it in small enough chunks that it can be blended. Pumpkin pie spice is great with this, or just use cinnamon.

I’ve been meaning to try this with butternut squash too.

Bananas are one fruit that you never find frozen, but it’s quite easy to freeze them yourself. Just peel them, break into chunks, pop them into a plastic bag and freeze. This is good to do with over-ripe bananas. I frequently freeze and use in smoothies bananas that I would never eat by themselves. Bananas are great with tropical fruits or strawberries.

Smoothies are quick to make in the morning when you have all of the ingredients on hand. You can even have one on the way to work, just put it in a travel mug. That is a lot healthier than stopping for a donut.

They are not just for breakfast either. Sometimes I like to eat one as a desert.

If you have any great smoothie recipes, hints or suggestions please leave them in the comments, I would love to hear about them.

Crock Pot Black Bean Soup or Dip (and it's vegan)

This is great for a cold winter day.

Melsky's Crock Pot Black Bean Soup or Dip

All amounts are approximate; it’s a good recipe to experiment with

3 15oz cans beans

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

1 red bell pepper

2 onions

3 cloves garlic

3 stalks celery

2 large carrots

1/3 cup olive oil

Slice red pepper and put in crock pot with cumin, red pepper flakes and olive oil

Slice and add onions, carrots, garlic and celery

Cook on high for at least an hour, preferably two. Stir every half hour or so.

Add 2 ½ cans beans and cook for several hours

With a hand blender, blend until soup is smooth, adding water if needed

Add the remaining beans.

If you want to make bean dip instead, just don't add water. If it's too liquid, cook it for a while with the top off.

You can also make it chunky style, just don't blend it.

Easy Pumpkin Muffins - so moist and good.

Best Pumpkin Muffins Ever, originally uploaded by Melsky.

These were so good! They were also very easy. I used this recipe, but I used whole wheat flour. I did use the whole can of pumpkin like she did. They are incredibly moist. I didn't add the sugar/cinnamon mixture on top. I think they would be good as cupcakes with frosting on top. Next time I make them I plan on adding walnuts, which I meant to do this time but forgot.

They are not good when warm, they were a bit gooey at first but when they cooled they reached a perfect moist yet firm texture. It's a little bit like pumpkin pie, with the large amount of pumpkin and the two eggs.

Instead of pumpkin pie spice called for in the recipe I used a quarter tablespoon each of powdered ginger, cloves and nutmeg, and a tablespoon of cinnamon.

On edit: I have made these muffins a bunch of times and have included my version of the recipe since I've made so many changes.

Melsky's Pumpkin Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup whole wheat flour

½ cup bran

1 tsp baking powder

1 15 oz can pumpkin

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 tsp cinnamon

½ teaspoon ginger

½ teaspoon cloves

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1.25 cups sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Generously butter a 12 cup muffin tin, or use paper liners

Whisk together flour, bran and baking powder in a small bowl.

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, spices, vanilla, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then stir in dry mixture until just combined. Do not over mix, that can make muffins too dense.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups

Bake until muffin springs back when touched, 25 to 30 minutes.

These are best eaten when cool, because they are slightly mushy when you first take them out of the oven. If you would like to eat them warm, I recommend slicing them in half and toasting them.

Variation: Add ½ cup walnuts, dried cranberries or raisins if desired

You can also omit the bran and just use another half cup wheat flour.