Smooth Operator

I'm going to hit you with a completely obvious statement: Smoothies are awesome.

 

I never used to have them that often, simply because the only place around me that made them was this tiny stand at a mall, and heading there was a bit too much effort to satisfy a random smoothie craving. It really only worked out when I started jonesin' for a smoothie at the same time I "needed" some new clothes from The Gap (let's be real, how often do you actually need something from The Gap?) .

 

The clear question is, why didn't I just make them myself? Well, first off, I was never quite sure where my parents kept their blender. I knew they owned one, but its location was a mystery. Additionally, for some reason, I always thought smoothies were much more complicated that people made them seem. I was worried I'd somehow select the wrong combo of ingredients and waste all those yummy fruits and vegetables on some disgusting-tasting slop. I don't like wasting money or food, so that concern also kept me from giving it a shot.

 

After cleaning out one of my parents' kitchen cabinets one day (seriously, how do these people not understand how to properly store and organize Tupperware?!), I found their long-lost blender, crammed in the back of a shelf beneath our counter. Apparently while I was trying to dig it up, my parents were trying to forget they had it by means of "out of sight, out of mind." Not long after that, I stumbled upon some smoothie recipes (thank you, oh wise and time-sucking Pinterest!) that made me start salivating. Not only that, but I had a lot of the ingredients mentioned in some of those recipes--I could make this happen!

 

To the kitchen I went. Ingredients gathered, I loaded them into the blender, and let 'er rip!

 

Oh. Mah. Gawd. That smoothie was legit.

 

And that was it. Ever since that first attempt, I have this crazy addiction to making smoothies. I have one for breakfast pretty much every single day now.

 

I actually killed my parents' infamous blender in the midst of this new obsession. In all fairness, it was a bit outdated...

 

 

 

They apparently received it as a wedding gift. Back in the '70s. As if you couldn't tell.

 

I was a little sad to see the thing putter out. Yes, it was old, and didn't really do it's job too well, but it was quite retro-cool. Unfortunately, it was time to say goodbye, so I picked up this guy at Target:

 

 

 

It's pretty good! It gets those air pockets around the blades fairly often, but that's probably more of an operator error than a testament to the functionality...

 

I'm planning on sharing recipes on here in case anyone else out there has the same crazy obsession with smoothies and is looking for a few new ideas to mix it up (pun totallyyyy intended). However, I don't have any recipes together right now - I've been having such a great time playing around with all the different flavor combinations, I don't think I've made the same smoothie twice! Once I start writing down some solid recipes, I'll start posting them, and hopefully someone will be able to enjoy them as well!

 

Anybody else out there caught up in this smoothie movement like I am?