Sunday, October 5, 2014

A Rant About Food Blogs & A Recipe for a Smoothie

Chocolate-Banana Protein Smoothie

1 to 1 1/2 scoops Chocolate Protein
1 to 1 1/2 Very Ripe Bananas, peeled and completely frozen
1 to 2 cups Milk (almond, soy, rice, or otherwise)
3/4 cups Yogurt
1 Tbls Coconut Oil
1/8 Tsp Salt

Add all ingredients to blender. Blend. Enjoy.

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I have hitherto resisted the urge to add a recipe to our family blog.  Food blogs annoy me greatly. First, I have never found a food blog that actually loves food more than stupid, pointless pictures. When you open up a recipe, you don't actually see a recipe, but instead an excerpt from someone's personal diary and page after page of pictures of the ingredients, measuring apparatus, mixing bowls, spoons, and the finished product from every imaginable angle and with every filter on their camera phone.  If it takes me more than a minute to scroll down to the actual recipe, I know it isn't going to be worth the time to make.

I have a whole shelf full of cookbooks from legit, amazing chefs.  But I have never once seen a recipe from the likes of Joel Robuchon or Thomas Keller that needed a picture of what a cracked egg looks like.  Or what a baking dish looks like before and after applying non-stick spray.

Second, there is no qualification needed to authour a food blog, and it is apparent that most food blog authours have no qualifications as a chef.  If you have spent any real time cooking, it becomes apparent that most food blog recipes are riddled with inconsistencies, errors, contradictions, and the like.

Anyway, there is my rant.

As far as the recipe, just a few notes:  This is a wonderful way to make use of overly-ripe bananas.  I let them get very dark, peal them, bag them, and allow them to freeze for at least 24 hours.  I like to use frozen bananas in smoothies because it gives the sweetness and texture that you would expect from using ice cream or sorbet, but is decidedly more healthy.

I recommend using Greek yogurt in this recipe.  The texture is very nice and it has a lot of protein in comparison to other types.  One thing that you will notice when using Greek yogurt is that when you pull out the container the second time, a slightly yellowish liquid will have seeped out of the yogurt. Don't throw that out!  That is the whey and it has a lot of the protein.  Also, don't buy the non-fat type.  Non-fat stuff is evil.  (I'll be making a blog post about that in the near future)

Coconut oil is the darling of the health food world these days.  I have been taking it for a while now, and am convinced of its worth.  I don't won't to go into the details here, but Google it and you will find a large number of articles explaining its uses.  Coconut oil is much easier to integrate in an application like this if it is melted first.  I would avoid using the microwave.  What I do is place the jar of coconut oil in a hot water bath.  It will melt within just a few minutes.  If you don't have coconut oil on hand, I have also used a tablespoon of peanut butter.  Adding a bit of fat really rounds out the flavour of the smoothie.

Don't leave out the salt!  Salt doesn't make sweet foods salty, it makes them taste better.

So there's the recipe.  I'm not going to put up any pictures.  I am sure that you know what a banana or a blender looks like.  And making a  smoothie is not like baking a souffle for Le Cirque.  If you want a thicker smoothie, use less milk.  If you want a thinner smoothie, use more.  Don't have chocolate protein powder, use vanilla, etc.  Feel free to adapt and experiment.


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