Persimmon Spinach Smoothie
Let's talk about my blender situation.
I'm hard on blenders. Really, terribly abusive. I've had the same bright orange KitchenAid blender since I was about 22, and the poor girl is in bad shape. We've done a lot of fixes and repairs, but the truth is, my eight-year-old blender just isn't made to go through the kale-blending, soup-pureeing, ice-chopping daily abuse I put it through. In fact, a few months ago, some part in the blade assembly broke again, and she's been sitting in basement purgatory waiting for me to decide if she's going to be fixed again or going to go to the landfill ever since. We've had a good run, but my blender was made for folks who want to make the occasional blended margarita, and as much as I love the occasional blended margarita, I use my blender for a lot more than just that.
I've seen the big ole fancy high-speed blenders demonstrated at Whole Foods, but as much as I love a good kitchen appliance that can blend a cell phone without losing step, I gotta draw the line at dropping $500+ on an appliance that isn't really necessary in my life. I'm just way too cheap frugal to spend that kind of money. It's the same way I feel about organic red bell peppers. Would I love to buy them? Yes. But I cannot justify $4 a pepper, regardless of how pesticide-free they are.
ANYWHO. This sordid tale of my blender-related life is all to inform you about my frame of mind with I walked up to the Ninja booth at the Healthy Living Summit a couple of weeks ago. They had this beautiful, incredible, high-speed blender (the Ninja Ultima) sitting out, and right next to it, a sign saying they were giving away five blenders to HLS attendees-just as long as you snapped a photo with the blender and posted it on Instagram. I was, quite shamelessly, all over that.
And I found out the next evening-I won! I never win raffles or giveaways or things like that, so I was SO pumped. I was at dinner with Lauren, Gretchen, and Amy, and I totally flipped out.
And immediately started thinking about all the amazing things I was going to whip up in my new, shiny blender. So many options! No longer would I have to pre-smash ice. Or only blend things a cup at a time. Or drink a gritty smoothie. Oh, the possibilities!
I really wanted to put my new blender to the test, so I decided to start off with a green persimmon spinach smoothie. Green smoothies can be tricky because if you aren't careful, you might find yourself chewing your smoothie a lot more than drinking it. No one wants to chew a smoothie.
I know a lot of folks use bananas as the base for smoothies, but we don't eat a lot of bananas in our house, so instead, I make sweet, tangy persimmons the base of this persimmon spinach smoothie. If you've never had a persimmon before, it's one of the sweetest fruits on the planet, it's soft, and has a slightly citrus-y flavor. It's incredible delicious. And we're very lucky that they grow wild right in our backyard. But if you don't have your own persimmon tree, many grocery stores carry them (albeit a totally different variety than what grow around here).
The Ultima totally rocked this persimmon spinach smoothie. The thing that impressed me the most was the speed. With my old blender, it took me a good 3-4 minutes worth of blending to make sure there aren't any spinach chunks, but with the Ultima, it was ready to go in just a few seconds. And the added ice? Absolutely no problem. It was smooth, creamy, and totally delicious. I'm a big fan.
I am so thankful to Ninja for being an HLS sponsor, and giving away their awesome blenders to attendees. And if that wasn't cool enough, Ninja also decided to giveaway more blenders to two friends of the winners. Which means not only did I win an awesome blender, but so did the amazing Coach Krissie (because it was the least I could do to pay her back for all the awesome she brings to my life).
📖 Recipe
Persimmon Spinach Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 cup fresh spinach
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup persimmon puree
- Pinch of cinnamon
- 1 cup nut, soy, or cow's milk
- Handful of ice cubes
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in the carafe of a high-speed blender. Blend on high until very smooth. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
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My ancient blender can't handle ice anymore, so I'd probably make a frozen adult beverage.
Cilantro pesto! Fingers crossed!
I'll make a green smoothie! I've never made one before, but seeing them so often on various blogs makes me think they must taste good 🙂
A pumpkin smoothie! I'm quite fond of this recipe:
http://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/10/pumpkin-smoothie/
I'd love to be able to make smoothies that I didn't have to chew! Or maybe a creamy soup! Or coconut butter... I really can't choose
The first thing I plan on making is a green smoothie with
baby spinach, banana, frozen strawberries and coconut water!!
I would probably make a green smoothie, too! My favorite combo is frozen strawberries, blueberries, and pineapple, along with almond milk, yogurt, almond butter, raw oats, and lots of spinach. I would love to try other, tougher greens like kale, but I don't think my blender is up to the challenge!
My kids have "green monster" smoothies every day, so I'm sure they would love to break it in 😉
Raw spinach dip for the veggies and little ones!
First, i would make a smoothie with kale. when you don't have a high powered blender, kale never seems to completely be pulverized in a regular blender. Next up would probably be hummus or filling for a raw vegan cheeze cake.
The first thing I would make is my favorite smoothie. A little bit of Greek yogurt, frozen bananas & strawberries, some ice, a little bit of almond milk and a few almonds! So delicious but my current blender doesn't like to mash up the almonds so you end up with a bunch of chopped almonds in the bottom or sipping a few chunks up in the straw. Although it's delicious, I'd prefer a smooth smoothie 🙂
I would make some yummy squash soup for fall!
I would make a super thick, creamy smoothies or banana soft serve, since my little magic bullet can't handle these things anymore. And it would be glorious!
My go to morning green smoothie:
Handful of Kale
Pineapple
Banana
Almond Milk
Fresh Ginger
Keeps me going all day! I need a powerful blender for this kale!
I would make hummus! I love hummus, but have never had a blender up to the challenge!
OH MAN- I would LOVE a Ninja blender! I would want to start testing out "green smoothies". I love peanut butter and spinach smoothies but the devices I have at home just don't make a smooth smoothie.
My blender is also very sad. Probably some a smoothie, that ideally will not be chunky 🙂
What an awesome give away! The hubs and I have been enjoying gritty smoothies from his decade old, inexpensive college blender, too. His specialty is a green smoothie with yogurt, cacao nibs, oats, and banana.
I like simple smoothies. I use one part yogurt, one part fruit, one part ice and a splash of juice and blend it. I have to add the ingredients in layers and fuss with my blender to get it to do its job.
I would absolutely make a frozen beverage of an adult nature 🙂 My perfect blender will crush ice in a daiquiri like it's nobody's business.
Then I'd probably make lots of green smoothies the next day to squelch my poor decision making from the night prior.