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
Want to save this recipe?
I'll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
So I was seeing lots of other HLS attendees getting their Ninjas delivered to their door. Mine never came. So today I finally checked the address I gave. IT WAS THE WRONG ONE! D'oh! lol stupid me giving a typo at the worst time!! Hopefully I'll have one in hand soon!!
My smoothie maker died in April and then my food processor bit the bullet in May. I have been without smoothies and homemade guacamole ever since! It's not in the budget to replace either of them right now since I just started back at college. The first thing I would use it for is to try to make a pumpkin pie smoothie. I would probably use almond milk and chia seeds in it too. Then I would have taco night with homemade guacamole followed by some kind of fall soup, perhaps butternut squash or pumpkin.
Lots of friends have been posting juice recipes on facebook. I would probably make on of those.
I would make butternut squash soup that I currently have to make one cup at a time in my food processor.
I have only dreamed about this Ninja Blender! I have herd so many great things about it, and I am SO ready to update my poor little food processor and get a real big daddy blender! I have so many tings I would want try with it, so if I won this, I would be busy for at least 4 days straight. But I have always wanted to make a nice thick butternut soup. Prefect for fall time! MY food processor just is not enough power so I would be most excited about soup and that is what I would try first! (: Cant wait!
I, too, have the Kitchenaid. It has been a trusty companion since I got married (13!) years ago. I have gotten into drinking green smoothies (esp love a little ginger in them)! I often dream of one of the big price tag blenders but just can't justify the expense. I can't even imagine having a 100% smooth drink in under a minute. One of my faves is - spinach, frozen blueberries, frozen banana, almond milk and ginger. So yummy!
I'd make a piña colada.
Why, of course...your Persimmon Spinach Smoothie! This looks delicious and I really do need to start making smoothies more! Can't wait to try out your recipe.
I would totally make a green smoothie first, but ultimately, I would use it to make baby food.
I would either make a smoothie or I just saw a recipe for a blended coffee/frappuccino type drink that sounded delicious and had nutella in it!
So you know how you mentioned having to practically chew your smoothies? Yep, that's the story of my current blender. The thing is is rough shape...whenever I make smoothies, I have to hold the base and the very top and shake it all up WHILE it's blending - it's quite the sight and my husband gets a good laugh out of it every time...I would be ecstatic to win a Ninja!!
I would LOVE to replace our sad, wheezing old blender with something more powerful! The first thing I'd make would be a green smoothie, without any fear that the whole machine would seize up and collapse!
I think I would definitely like to try a green smoothie!
Real Simple's kale apple smoothie. It's so good!
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/kale-apple-smoothie-00000000050666/index.html
I'd totally go the smoothie route as well. I've got some grand ideas about the possibilities involved if I were to have a blender that could actually chop ice!
Since I've stopped buying sweets, my go-to boozy dessert has been frozen mango + coconut milk + plum wine blended together, but I'm also dreaming of homemade hazelnut and almond milks.
pesto! a bunch of it!
I would celebrate finally being able to pitch my old blender by making a smoothie in my new one!
A smoothie for my kiddo!
I love making fruit-based smoothies but I'm trying to get into almond milk, so that might be first