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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Butternut squash soup, for sure. 'Tis the season!
I would make butternut squash or tomato soup!! Perfect for fall
The first thing I would make is some form of yummy sweet potatoes pureed for my daughter. I am starting to make homemade baby food and this would be perfect!
Kappas juice!!!! Kale apples lemon and ginger
I don't currently have a blender and would love this one! The first recipe I'd make with it would be a puréed soup. Probably a simple butternut squash soup, made with chicken stock, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Mmmmmmmm!
Hi!
Probably my first use would be your Apple Pie Spinach Smoothie. Love that one! I never had the guts to try a green smoothie until I saw that recipe, and I fell in love with it right away. Not only is it delicious, but also it's really healthy for you.
I, too, am hard on my blender, so this Ninja would be awesome. I have a Magic Bullet that I use quite frequently, but it has started to warp and leak a little from all the use and time in the dishwasher. It also does not puree quite as well as I would like, and I'll bet the Ninja would do a great job with that.
Congrats on your win!
I would love to try some green smoothies... right now my blender has a tough time not giving me very gritty smoothies. Gritties?
I am in total need of a new blender as well and also fell in love with the Ninja Ultimate at HLS! The first smoothie I would make is either my signature chocolate peanut butter banana OR the green smoothie Ninja made for us for Saturday's breakfast!
I burned up the motor on my smoothie maker after only using it for two months. Love making smoothies for my kids. I would make our favorite raspberry, blueberry and blackberry smoothie.
Owning a Ninja would be a dream! I would make my preschooler her favorite Broccoli Cheddar Potato Soup from your recipe right here!
I will definitely make a green smoothie with kale, spinach, and fruit. Got to get eating healthy again.
I'm enjoying making different variations of hummous!
I would make a banana and peanut butter smoothie...my blender is shot!
My regular green smoothie, minus the chunks of frozen fruit my current blender (such a bummer). My recipe: kale, spinach, spirulina, maca, coconut water, almond milk, coconut oil or avocado, frozen blueberries, frozen pineapple, and frozen mango chunks. Not a big banana-base smoothie girl myself.
I'm totally stuck on pumpkins right now so I'm thinking I'll create something with pumpkin and apples.
What a wonderful giveaway! I think our first smoothie would be with seasonal berries and some nut milk yum!
Like many, a smoothie. Just for the sheer joy of it only taking seconds and it not getting stuck on the bottom! That and no random chunks of fruit found along the way...
The first thing I would make would be an oh so appropriate pumpkin pie smoothie.
I'll just be honest... I'd make margaritas first. And then nurse my hangover the next day with a peanut butter banana smoothie. 😛
I feel like to celebrate winning this wonderful-looking blender, I'd have to go with a batch of pina coladas.