Monday, February 8, 2010

Strawberry Broccoli Smoothie

I feel like this one should be prefaced with the fact that many health conscious people preach the "good news" about green smoothies. To me, throwing in vegetables ruins a perfectly good smoothie, but I wanted to see for myself. For someone who hates veggies, this is a good way to sneak some in my diet. So when I didn't have time to make lunch one day and needed something quick and filling to hold me over, I gave it a try- my first green smoothie!


1/2 cup frozen broccoli
1/2 cup frozen strawberries

1 cup orange juice
3 ice cubes

Dump the ingredients in the Vitamix. Select Variable 1 and increase speed to 7. Blend for 20 seconds, pushing down ingredients with the tamper. Then blend on High for 10 seconds.



Taste score: 5/10
Likes: I think the 2:1 fruit to broccoli ratio is just right. This tasted like a regular strawberry-orange smoothie, without the pulp or seeds. I will definitely sneak some veggies in my fruit smoothies again, just maybe not this one.


Dislikes: If I said I couldn't taste the broccoli I would be lying. But it's not so bitter when blended with the sweetness of the fruit, and tasted more like a hint of green instead of a mouthful. Next time I'll add different types of fruit so it settles better in my stomach.


Nutrition score: 7/10
I used fresh squeezed orange juice (not from concentrate) but it contains a lot of sugar. Apart from that, I also used frozen broccoli which doesn't have as much nutritional value as fresh veggies. But broccoli is anti-carcinogenic and can prevent all sorts of cancers.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The majority of frozen vegetables have essentially the same nutrition as fresh. All vegetables lose nutrients the longer they are "off the vine." Most vegetables that are frozen are frozen just as fast as they are delivered "fresh" to your local grocery store. Canned, on the other hand, do have less nutrients, but some are better than none. What should be avoided are "prepared" frozen vegetables that include preservatives and other non-food ingredients.