Oxmoor House - Healthy Smoothies: Delicious Fresh Ways To Drink To Your Health!

HEALTHY SMOOTHIES DELICIOUS FRESH WAYS TO DRINK TO YOUR HEALTH! SMOOTHIES, SHAKES, JUICES & DRINKS HEALTHY SMOOTHIES DELICIOUS FRESH WAYS TO DRINK TO YOUR HEALTH! EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Anja Schmidt SENIOR EDITOR: Rachel Quinlivan West, R.D. PROJECT EDITOR: Melissa Brown DESIGNERS: Melissa CLark, Teresa Cole, AnnaMaria Jacob, Olivia Pierce WRITER: Rebecca Sheehan Caine PHOTOGRAPHERS: Caitlin Bensel, Alison Miksch PROP STYLISTS: Kay E. Clarke, Audrey Davis FOOD STYLISTS: Torie Cox, Margaret Monroe Dickey ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER: Diane Rose Keener ASSOCIATE MANAGER FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCTION: Anna Riego COPY EDITOR: Donna Baldone PROOFREADERS: Jacqueline Giovanelli, Jasmine Hodges INDEXER: Mary Ann Laurens FELLOWS: Helena Joseph, Hailey Middlebrook, Kyle Grace Mills eISBN: 978-0-84875-519-5 AT YOUR SERVICE To send a comment or question, write to: Oxmoor House Special Editions 4100 Old Montgomery Hwy., 4th Floor Birmingham, AL 35209 INTERESTED IN MORE OXMOOR HOUSE COOKBOOKS? Find a variety of titles from your favorite brands Southern Living, Cooking Light, and many more. Whether you enjoy cooking, gardening, or decorating, youll find a wealth of how-to books that can be shipped straight to your door. Please visit timeincbooks.com for our many special offers, or call 1-800-491-0551. To search, savor, and share thousands of recipes, visit myrecipes.com 2017 Time Inc.

Books Published by Oxmoor House, an imprint of Time Inc. Books, 225 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10281. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, excepting brief quotations in connection with reviews written specifically for inclusion in magazines or newspapers, or limited excerpts strictly for personal use. Printed in the United States of America. On the cover: 1 Smoothie Basics Smoothies are a wonderful option to help jump-start healthy eating or reboot your diet, packing in multiple servings of fruit or vegetables (or both) in every serving.

Plus, making smoothies at homeinstead of buying from a local smoothie shopnot only saves you money, it lets you use ingredients you feel good about and customize each drink to your tastes. Six Smoothie Dos and Donts With the right blend of ingredients, a smoothie can be a nutritional powerhousefull of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, and protein. But a few misguided add-ins can leave you with a high-calorie, sugar-laden dessert thats anything but the healthy drink you had envisioned. 1. DONT: Throw everything into the blender. Its easy to treat a smoothie as a free-for-all, tossing in handfuls and drizzles of various ingredients, but this carefree method is an easy way to add calories, sugar, and fat to your drink with surprisingly unhealthy results.

DO: Measure your ingredients. Measuring ingredients will keep the nutrition stats in check, while also ensuring a good solid-to-liquid ratio. 2. DONT: Reach straight for kale. Were all about adding greens to our smoothies, but dont dive into kale right away. Its a bitter green, and if you start there, you may be tempted to add in too much sugar to compensate.

DO: Start with spinach. Its easy to mask the flavor of spinach, making it the perfect choice for green-smoothie starters. Once youve acquired a taste for greens, then begin branching out to more assertive kale or parsley. 3. DONT: Drink a second serving. If youre using a smoothie as a meal replacement, its natural to think youll need a larger portion, but even if youre only adding more fruit, the calories and sugar can creep up quickly.

DO: Add fiber-rich ingredients. To keep you feeling full long after your smoothie, try adding ingredients with staying power, such as avocado or oats. Both are great sources of fiber. 4. DONT: Resort to sweet. If youre looking to add more flavor to your smoothie, dont immediately turn to sweeteners.

DO: Branch out. Herbs, spices, and extracts can make a world of difference. Fresh grated ginger adds a warming touch, while Sriracha brings a little heat. 5. DONT: Pour in protein powder. Protein powders are often filled with highly processed ingredients that are more suitable for bulking up, so read the label to be sure you know what youre buying.

DO: Try nut butters, flaxseed, or tofu. Use natural sources of protein instead to help sustain your energy throughout the day. A small dose of peanut butter or a tablespoon of flaxseed is a healthy way to add protein to a smoothie. Silken tofu is another great option and blends easily with other ingredients. 6. DONT: Double the batch.

If you want to make more servings, dont double up on the ingredientsyou may overfill the blender and have trouble getting a smooth consistency. DO: Work in batches. Ingredients need adequate space to blend, ensuring smooth results in the blender and less frustration for you. Similarly, if you want less, dont try to downsize the recipe; you may not have enough ingredients in the blender for it to process properly. Instead, follow the recipe and freeze the leftovers. Make Treats Naturally Sweet The key to sweetening a smoothie or drink naturally is to find ingredients that dissolve well.

Some sweeteners boost flavor and texture. Concentrated juice: Frozen fruit juice concentrate allows you to add flavor, sweetness, and texture at the same time. Honey: Although slightly higher in calories than sugar, honey is sweeter, meaning you can use less. Be sure to taste the honey before you use it in your smoothie or drink: Intense honey might overwhelm the other ingredients. Maple syrup: Maple syrup is available in different gradesthe lighter the color, the milder the flavor. Simple syrup: Simple syrup, made of equal parts sugar and water, is the best way to use granulated sugar in a drink. Simple syrup: Simple syrup, made of equal parts sugar and water, is the best way to use granulated sugar in a drink.

Its dissolved, so graininess wont be an issue. How-to: Blend a Smoothie Making smooth smoothies and velvety shakes isnt as easy as it might seem. Some ingredients can leave behind chunks or get caught under the blades in your blender. Follow this general technique to create luscious smoothies and shakes: Liquid ingredients should go in the blender first, closest to the blades. This allows them to swirl inside the blender and incorporate all of the other ingredients, preventing clumps and chunks. Add the next softest ingredients.

Blend 20 to 30 seconds before stopping to scrape down the sides of the blender to make sure everything is mixing evenly. Add ice or other solid ingredients gradually as the blended mixture is flowing. Most blenders have a removable cap in the lid that allows for easy (and safe) access while blending. Go Dairy-Free If you cant do dairy or simply want to avoid it, dont let that limit you. Try these milks as alternatives to cows milk in recipes. Soy milk: Most soy milks have added thickeners to get that rich, milk-like consistencythe benchmark for dairy substitutions.