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Super Smoothies: Build a Better Smoothie · Talking FACS

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  Welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
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  food, finance, and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized, award-winning podcast is hosted by the University
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  of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
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  and communities to improve quality of life.
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  Hello, and welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
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  food, finance, and fitness.
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  I am your host, Mindy McCulley, Extension Specialist for Instructional Support
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  with Family and Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky.
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  We are housed in the Martin Gatton College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment.
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  Smoothies are a great way to start your day, or they might be the way that you
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  take off the edge when you need a late night snack.
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  But my guest today, Anna Cason, who is an Extension Associate in the Department
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  of Dietetics and Human Nutrition,
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  is going to talk to us about Super Smoothies, your guide to building a better
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  smoothie. So welcome, Anna.
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  Hi, Mindy. Thank you so much for having me today.
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  So why smoothies? This is a great question.
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  So a smoothie can be whatever you want it to be. like you mentioned at the beginning.
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  It can be a sweet treat, a nutritious snack, or a full meal if you have the right ingredients.
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  So that's what I'm going to talk about today, how to build the best smoothie for you.
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  This is going to be a fun show. So where do we start?
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  All right. So to begin, we're going to talk about the basic necessities to build a smoothie.
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  First, you're going to have to have something to blend the ingredients to make
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  it what it should be, which is smooth.
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  Now, this can look a little bit different. I don't want people to automatically
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  discount counter conversation if they don't have a blender or the top of the
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  line blender that you might see in ads today.
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  But a blender is what people usually use to make smoothies, but there are also
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  other types that you can use.
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  So you can do a personal blender that is just going to make one serving for yourself.
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  It also takes up a little less room on a countertop.
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  There are also immersion blenders that can go in a cup or in a bowl to make a smoothie.
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  You can also use a food processor if If you have that lying around your kitchen,
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  something a little less common can work, but, and it might be a little bit more
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  time consuming, but if you've got it on hand, then you can give it a shot.
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  So I'm just thinking off of the top of my head, but if you had a little extra
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  muscle power, could you even use like a shaker? Sure.
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  You might be able to, depending on the ingredients that you use.
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  So if you're using whole fruits or frozen fruits, like we're going to talk about
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  later, I don't think that it would blend up to be smooth.
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  So that might not be the best option. But if you're using yogurts or already
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  blended fruits, then you might be able to shake it and make it smooth with a
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  spoon or maybe through a straw.
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  Okay. So let's just assume that we have a blender and we can check that off the list. What's next?
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  All right. So we're going to
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  get down into it. We're going to break a smoothie down into three parts.
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  We're going to start with the base, then we'll talk about the bulk,
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  and then we'll finish with the boost.
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  So like I mentioned, smoothies can be almost anything you want them to be depending
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  on what you use to make it.
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  So we're going to start with the base. You'll put that in your blender first.
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  It's going to be the liquid part of the smoothie, like milk,
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  yogurt, or juice, and it really helps to make a smoothie be smooth and creamy.
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  The measurements will change depending depending on how much you use of the
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  different ingredients. But typically, we're going to say start with a cup.
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  Okay. So you can start with a cup of milk. You can start with a cup of yogurt.
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  There's some less common ingredients that people have been using lately,
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  like cottage cheese. That's going to add some extra protein.
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  You can also use fruit juice. We would recommend 100% fruit juice without some added sugar in there.
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  There are also some vegetable juices that will add some additional nutrients,
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  like antioxidants to that smoothie.
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  And then if you don't do dairy, so if you're not doing cow's milk or yogurt,
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  there are also the dairy alternatives like oat milk, almond milk,
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  things like that that you can find in the grocery.
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  Lastly, something that is convenient and affordable and that most of us have
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  on hand is water. So you can add water to the smoothie.
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  It'll make it a little bit more thin so you could drink it through a straw,
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  but then you also don't have to just do water.
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  If you have a little bit of fruit juice laying around and you've got a little
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  bit of yogurt leftover, you could combine them all.
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  So really what we're talking about today is how flexible a smoothie can be and
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  how you can use some ingredients that you may already have on hand to make a smoothie.
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  I love all of these tips and I love to mix up and change things around to get different flavors.
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  Yes, makes it fun. So all of these different base options are going to really
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  change the flavor. They're going to change the consistency.
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  And so I think that they're great options.
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  So if we have this base in our blender, what's next?
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  All right. So next to the next, the next B we'll start with is the bulk.
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  So that's what it's going to sound like. Like it's going to create the bulk
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  of our smoothie or the biggest part of it. It's going to add a lot of flavor,
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  texture, and color changes.
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  When we think of smoothies, you probably think of adding fruits to it,
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  which yes, I'm going to encourage you to add fruits.
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  But you can also add vegetables into a smoothie and typically you won't taste them a lot.
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  So it's a great way to increase how many vegetables you eat in a day,
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  especially maybe for young kiddos that you got around.
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  Or if you just don't typically like the taste of vegetables,
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  This is a great way to kind of hide the flavor while you're still getting the nutrients.
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  Now, a couple considerations to think about. You can do fresh produce that you
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  see in the grocery store, but you can also do canned and frozen options that
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  are usually more affordable and they're more shelf stable and available year round.
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  But with these options, I'm going to encourage you to reach for ones that don't
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  have any added sugar, like canned fruits that are in 100% fruit juice, not in syrup.
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  And then also frozen vegetables or frozen fruits that don't have added sugar or added sodium to them.
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  No reason to boost that sodium level. Yes, exactly.
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  Okay, so the bulk is the biggest part. That makes sense. Mm-hmm.
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  Now, how much of this bulk do we add to our blender?
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  So again, smoothies are flexible, especially depending on if you're making it
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  just for yourself or if you've got someone else that you're going to share it with.
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  But a general guidance is to start with a cup or a cup and a half.
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  Remember, you can always add more of the base or of the bulk once you kind of get to blending.
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  And if it's too thick or if it's too thin, you can kind of play around with that bulk to adjust it.
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  And I'm guessing that bulk is going to make it thicker. It's going to be kind
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  of a thickening agent, right?
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  Absolutely. Especially if you're using those frozen fruits or vegetables,
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  it's going to really add that almost thick ice creamy texture versus if you're
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  using fresh ones or canned produce options, it will be a little bit thinner,
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  but you can always add a handful of ice in there to thicken it up also.
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  And I know when I was making smoothies for my kids or even now for my granddaughter,
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  daughter, one of the ways that I could get them to drink them was to say,
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  oh, this is kind of like a milkshake.
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  And so using those frozen items was a great way to give it that milkshake consistency.
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  Yes, absolutely. So now that we have the base and the bulk, what's the final step?
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  All right. Last but certainly not least is the boost.
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  So this is the part to boost the flavor, boost the texture, or boost the nutritional value and more.
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  If you want a sweeter treat, you could add a little bit of honey or maple syrup.
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  You can add some nuts and seeds for a fun crunch and some additional nutrients.
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  You can add some cooked beans even to increase the protein content.
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  Oats will thicken the smoothie and add fiber to help you feel fuller for longer.
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  Nut butters can add a fun taste and add more protein and fat.
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  You can also use things that you may have on hand in your pantry like cinnamon.
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  If you have some sunflower seeds, seeds.
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  If you have overripened fruits maybe that are sitting in your fridge that are
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  on the cusp of needing to be thrown out, but they're a little too soft,
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  you don't want to eat them, you can throw them in a blender and make it smooth.
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  Bananas. I think they're a great use for bananas because they really do smooth
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  things out, but I don't like overripe bananas at all to eat.
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  They're a little too brown and you don't want to eat them, but you also don't
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  have time to make banana bread or something.
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  Exactly. Great use for them. Yes. And I don't like to waste food.
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  So that's a great way to use bananas.
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  You know, it's a great time to put just a little drop or two of chocolate syrup
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  in there because Because you don't have to use much syrup to get that chocolate flavor.
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  Or cocoa powder. Some people have that laying around from baking.
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  Yep, that's a great way to use it. So this boost sounds like it can be a fun
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  addition to the smoothie.
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  But how do we know how much to add?
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  So the boost is going to be a little bit more tricky than the base to the bulk.
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  I would suggest starting small. Because again, it's flexible.
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  You can always add more. So start small, taste it, and then add more if you want.
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  But it's a little more difficult to take some away if you've already added it.
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  That is a great tip. Yeah. Once you put too much in, all you can do is add more
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  base and bulk, right? Yes. And then it gets to be a lot.
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  Yeah. And that's one thing about smoothies. They're really, really hard to store.
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  So if you don't have room to eat it all, you're... Yes. So I've got a fun tip and trick for that.
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  We do want to eat smoothies within 24 hours of making them. You can store them
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  in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
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  Or if you've got lots left over, you
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  can pour it in an ice tray and put a toothpick in it and then freeze it.
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  And you've got a little popsicle later on to snack on.
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  Now that sounds like fun. A little popsicle pop.
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  Yes. Lots of fun. A pop of a popsicle.
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  This sounds easy enough. up. And so if we've never considered how versatile
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  these smoothies can be, this would be a great time to try some different flavors.
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  Yes, absolutely. Again, it can be a little snack if you want something.
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  It can be a whole meal, but if you're going to use it as a meal,
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  you do want to try to incorporate an aspect of each food group,
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  including grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy, protein, and fat into it,
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  which is possible, but it does take a little more consideration.
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  Preparation or you can just make a smoothie and then have something on the side with it as well.
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  And it seems to me like it would be a great way to try out some new fruits and
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  vegetables that maybe you hadn't tried before.
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  You might not be committing to a whole meal of something that everybody doesn't like.
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  It would just be, you know, a little taste of a fruit or vegetable in a drink
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  as opposed to having to eat something that you might not find as palatable.
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  Yes, especially if the texture's a little bit different. You can throw it in
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  a smoothie and then you'd never know.
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  And one of the exciting things about smoothies is that they're quick and convenient
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  and can be taken on the go.
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  So you don't really have to sit down and eat them. Yeah, absolutely.
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  So smoothies sound so much easier than preparing a whole meal for our families.
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  Are there any last tips or tricks that you have before we wrap up the show?
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  The last thing, one of my favorite tips and tricks with smoothies,
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  once you've finished it or if you've poured it into a bowl or another cup,
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  If you fill up your blender about halfway with some warm water and throw a splash
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  of dish soap in there and then blend it up,
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  it'll get off that top layer, that first layer of all the food so that it makes washing a breeze.
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  Oh, I love that trick. Yes. Makes it even simpler.
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  Yes. Any meal that is easy to prepare and easy to clean up is a win-win for
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  me. Yes. A one-stop shop. up.
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  Anna, thanks so much for sharing with us today. I hope you'll come back and
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  give us other tasty treats to share with our families.
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  Of course. Thank you, Mindy. If you are just tuning in, you're listening to
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  Talking FACS and you can find us wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.
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  Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. We deliver programs focusing on nutrition,
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