Smoothie Kits

Update: Read through for instructions on how to prep ahead of time for easy mornings, and then pick a smoothie to try!  The following smoothie recipes are posted!  Citrus Explosion, Piña Colada, No More Blues, Matcha Made In Heaven, and 24 Carrot

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but one of the things I most look forward to each week is my Moms’ Group at church. David and I started going when he was 3 months old, mostly because my mom kept bugging me to get more involved with my church now that I was staying at home. I kind of expected a group of frumpy, not very cool ladies, and went in with the lowest expectations. Turns out I could have had the very highest expectations and I still would have been impressed! I love my group of ladies—now some 40 regular attenders, plus more from time to time—and can’t imagine not going each and every week! Every stay at home mama knows how valuable 2 hours of kid free time with other adults is each week—not to mention having caring staff to watch your kiddos for free!

Not only do I meet up with my group at church each week, we also meet for playdates, share advice with each other, and really look out for each other. And this is especially true when a new baby is born. Being that we’re a moms’ group for moms of babies and preschoolers, there are a lot of babies being born! I looked around a few weeks ago and counted up that 1 in 3 of us is currently pregnant. That’s crazy! And that’s also a lot of frozen casserole dinners being made! Often a group will get together and use our church kitchen to make bulk meals to divide among the new moms. Since they usually involve ingredients I don’t cook with, I do my own thing. Recently I had a friend who had a new baby and I knew she also has a Vitamix, so I made her a smoothie kit!

So many people think to bring dinners for a family, but what about the rest of the day? Anyone knows that a newborn can make for some early and tired mornings, or the need for a quick afternoon pick me up. So I decided to make 8 different ready-to-go smoothies for my friend. I spent the better part of a week freezing ingredients in ice cube trays to prep for this project. To be a little more practical you could pick 1 flavor of smoothie and make a big batch. But I had to be fancy and try a whole bunch of new flavors so I could share them with all of you! Over the next few posts I’ll be sharing the recipes for different smoothies. You can prep them ahead of time and have ready to go bags in the freezer, or prep them at the time you want to make them—either way works. First I want to share some of the prep tips, then on to recipe posts!

Liquids: You can freeze your liquids in ice cube trays so that each morning you can just toss a few cubes in and be ready, or you can just keep the liquids on hand. Some liquids I ALWAYS have like almond milk or orange juice. Others, like pineapple juice or hemp milk are not as staple, so for me it made sense to freeze those. If you’re giving a smoothie kit as a gift either freeze the cubes, or gift the remainder of the smoothie ingredients in a bag with a carton of orange juice/milk/etc.

Fruits: I take advantage of Costco here and buy most of my fruits pre-frozen. They have huge bags of pineapple and mango that I love! I also found organic blueberries today! I freeze my own bananas, and I have found that Trader Joes is the very cheapest when it comes to bananas, but that Costco is only a few cents more. I also cut up a lime into small pieces and froze it—I don’t think frozen lime is a regular in the freezer section!

Veggies: For the carrots I just peeled, diced, and froze a few. You could also buy them pre-frozen at the store. When I use greens in my smoothies I usually make a puree and freeze it. I place the entire 1 pound box from Costco of whatever greens I want to use, and maybe 1 cup of water to get it moving. I just puree, then pour into ice cube trays and freeze. I estimate that 2 cubes (of my particular tray) are about the same as 1 cup of greens.

Tip: When freezing fruits or veggies, freeze them in a single layer, prewashed, on a parchment lined baking sheet. Once frozen place them into a plastic zip top bag or container and label it with it’s name and the date so you know what it is.

Seeds: Because I wanted to make this completely ready to go for my friend I froze cubes of hemp and chia seeds! I mixed 6 T of chia with 12 T of water and allowed it to gel for about a half hour. Once they were soft I spooned them into an ice cube tray and froze them. For the hemp seeds I scooped 1 T into each ice cube spot and then filled with hemp milk before freezing. You could also throw them in dry into the same bag that is holding the rest of your mix if you wanted to.

Powders: For cocoa and matcha powders I mixed them up with water before freezing. Mix in a separate container—trust me on this one! Then pour into an ice cube tray. A 1 to 1 ratio should be fine here!

Blending:

• If you have a high powered blender like a Vitamix or a Blendtec this should be fairly easy. Add all frozen contents into the blender jar (including frozen juices or milk) and add 1 cup luke warm water and blend (it will help to thaw the ingredients a bit, but still be cold and icy).
• If you chose not to freeze the liquids, add the liquids and frozen solids into the blender and additional water or ice as needed for desired consistency.
• If you have a lower powered blender, place your bag of frozen ingredients in the fridge the night before and let them thaw. The next morning you can thin/thicken with water or ice as needed.

Ready for some recipes? Click here to get to the first one—Citrus Explosion!

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