Can't make a nice smoothie???

[Llama]

Hi all,

So I'm really getting into all these new interesting vegan foods I hadn't tried before (like energy balls, chickpea scrambles, overnight oats etc.) but one thing I really can't get into is smoothies. At all. I really really want to like them, they look so amazing and delicious with all the fruit and veggies and nut butters and milk and seeds and dates and superfood powders and the amazing colours... but I just don't like them. Well at least I don't think I do. I've only really made about two that were OK, one of which was quite nice but not amazing.

Banana, raspberries, freshly squeezed orange, almond milk: Too banana-ey, loads of seeds from the raspberries with was unpleasant. Not horrible but TOO BANANA-EY.

Mango, milk, peanut butter, spinach, dates: Absolutely gross. Thought it was OK at first but it really wasn't; Thick. Oddly peanutty. Weird, weird, and weird. In a bad way. Just gross. Made me feel ill and put me right off mango.

Watermelon, strawberries, milk, tiny bit of banana, dates, lime juice: Not nice. Sour, bitter, tart, and weird. Couldn't drink it. Couldn't taste banana but it just tasted bad.

Banana, avocado, milk, dates, cacao: Thick, bitter, and SO FRICKIN BANANA-EY. Could drink a bit but after that-yuck.

Banana, avocado, milk, dates, cacao, spinach: Pretty much the same as above but much thicker and gloopier (so I ate it with a spoon), and a really weird flavour that was gross. TOO BANANA-EY and just a weird flavour that was BAD.

Now onto the ones that were OK...

Peach, banana, milk, ground ginger, bit of water: Not bad, quite pleasant but still the banana stood out SO much even though I only put one in and the smoothie served 2. It would have been nice but the banana took over .

Peach, pear, milk, dates, lemon juice: The best one I've made. Very fresh and juicy and quite refreshing but again, nothing special and I wouldn't rave about it by any means.

So, there's the ones I've made (plus a few more I've missed off). So I don't know why I don't like them. They all seem too banana-ey. And they are certainly ripe enough because I let them get lots of brown bits on them so they are nice and sweet. And I love bananas as they are. They are delicious. Yet when I stick them in a smoothie-gross (or weird and overpowering). Am I doing something wrong? Am I over sensitive to banana flavours (I do have ASD)? Am I just fussy and don't like smoothies because they don't taste as delicious as I hoped they would be? Or am I just never going to like smoothies? Because I really want to like them but they always taste too banana-ey or weird or sickly or bitter (mainly too banan-ey). I especially want to like the chocolate smoothies with cacao in because I love chocolate and when these vegan bloggers post chocolate smoothies they always seem to get really enthused and say how delicious they are and the comments section seem to agree... but when I make them they are just yucky.

They always say how drinking smoothies makes them feel good, healthy, energised, strong, accomplished, and satisfied. I feel none of those. I feel like I'm having to force down every mouthful, not enjoying it, not even thinking about the health benefits because it's gross, and even when I don't drink that much it sits heavily in my stomach and sloshes about and make me feel heavy and uuuhhh and even s*ck (I have a v*m phobia and can't write anything to do with s*ck properly so i use asterisks ). Why is this??? I want to like them! Am I just never going to like smoothies ☹)? I feel like I'm failing as a vegan.

Also, I don't know how the heck everyone uses frozen fruit in their smoothies, when I do that my blender sounds like the blades are going to break and the whole thing is going to shatter. It can't be doing it any good. And then it won't break up at all and just gets stuck. So I have to add water. And keep trying it for ages until eventually it either starts to thaw a bit and soften or if not I end up stabbing it violently with a knife to break it up. And then when it does eventually break up I end up with what seems to be called 'nice cream'. Only lumpy nice cream that's not meant to be nice cream, it's meant to be a smoothie. So how all these people who use all frozen fruit and end up with a liquid smoothie, I'll never know. Madness.

Any advice would be much appreciated . I just wanna nice smoothie ☹.

Llama

 

[Lou]

I wonder if part of your problem is your blender. Some "low-end" blenders can't do ice (or frozen fruit). But you don't have to have a high priced blender to blend frozen stuff. I have two blenders. I have a little rocket blender I got for Christmas 2 or 3 years ago. I leave it on my counter and use it almost every day. It has no issues with ice of frozen fruit. Rockets and Bellas are like $30 list - but you can usually find them for under $20 when they are on sale at places like Target.

I also have a Black & Decker full-size blender. It's old. but since I got the rocket it only gets taken out of its cabinet once or twice a month. I just checked and its pretty much the same thing as the rocket. About $30 full price. but i bet some careful shopping - you can find one for under $20. You can spend a lot more on a blender. I may someday decide to upgrade. A really top-notch blender is a cool kitchen gadget. But not really necessary.

My other guess/suggestion is that your smoothies are too complicated. Simplify. This is my favorite and I make it at least twice a week. 8 oz soy milk, one banana, one tbsp peanut butter, one tbsp of ground flax seed. Start off with that recipe and then you can play around with it till it is perfect. Maybe a little more PB and a little less flax seed. You can also add some chocolate syrup if you are wanting a dessert. In the summer I leave out the PB and add strawberries or blueberries.

 

[hopeful]

I would also suggest trying to use a vegan yogurt (soy, coconut, whatever) instead of banana. It makes it creamy (like bananas do) without that banana taste.

 

[Emma JC]

I agree with Lou - use a smaller rocket blender if you can find one and that way you don't make "too big" a smoothie and it is more powerful than a blender. In mine I can fit, frozen fruit (usually 4 or 5 pieces of pineapple, 6 pieces of frozen sliced strawberries, a bunch of frozen wild Canadian blueberries) and I then I pour a bit of hot water from the kettle over the frozen fruit just to start the thawing process. Then I add a tablespoon of ground flax, a tablespoon of peanut butter powder, 1 teaspoon of greens powder, sometimes some cacao, then I put in one banana and pour my plant milk (usually almond, unsweetened and natural flavour) over it all and spin it. Delicious and not overwhelming.

Emma JC

 

[Lou]

I agree with Lou - use a smaller rocket blender if you can find one and that way you don't make "too big" a smoothie and it is more powerful than a blender. In mine I can fit, frozen fruit (usually 4 or 5 pieces of pineapple, 6 pieces of frozen sliced strawberries, a bunch of frozen wild Canadian blueberries) and I then I pour a bit of hot water from the kettle over the frozen fruit just to start the thawing process. Then I add a tablespoon of ground flax, a tablespoon of peanut butter powder, 1 teaspoon of greens powder, sometimes some cacao, then I put in one banana and pour my plant milk (usually almond, unsweetened and natural flavour) over it all and spin it. Delicious and not overwhelming.

Emma JC

I gotta try that!