From a first-timer to a Smoothie Queen?

Salli’s Communication Manager Virpi Hakala got inspired by the bright and sunny winter days and made smoothies for the first time in her life. The question was how to manage without a blender, but luckily the immersion blender rose to the challenge. Only the pears that were perhaps not totally ripe almost caused problems.

The smoothie virgin was so happy with the result that the traditional afternoon coffee shall have to give way to yellow banana-mango smoothie. And ideas for even more tasty smoothies started to appear: using curd or yoghurt to add protein, oats, almonds or nuts, lingonberries and raspberries from the freezer, crushed ice in the cooling smoothies in summer… Or perhaps a vegan smoothie of cucumber, avocado, kale, celery and basil. Perhaps her next buy will be a real blender!

The resul of the day was three different smoothies, green, orange and yellow. Pick the one that fits your day, mood and inspiration, and try for yourself! And tell Virpi if you have more suggestions of different colours, so she can continue the experiments. Who knows, one day she can be crowned Salli’s Smoothie Queen.

Below the recipes and evaluations. At the bottom of the page you can see a video about how smooth going it was.

Green Dream
avocado
pear
kiwi
fresh mint
2 dl sparkling water seasoned with lime
garnish with mint leaves and cucumber
Evaluation: This was almost too thick, maybe the whole 2 dl of sparkling water was not used. Also there could have been a lot more mint, instead of just the few leaves. This would taste good on a hot summer day, with cucumber and crushed ice. Avocado made it very rich and smooth.

Yellow Mellow
banana
juice of ½ lemon
juice of ½ lime
small can of pineapple chunks
grated fresh ginger
garnish with star fruit
Evaluation: This was the best! It was nice and thick and the ginger gave it extra spiciness. It was a bit like a milk shake or dessert. Next time some curd could be added, to add protein. And with a real blender almonds or nuts could be blended in; their taste would go nicely with banana and mango.

Awesome Orange
orange
mango
1 dl carrot juice
vanilla powder
garnish with heart made of pear slice
Evaluation: This was the freshest, and it would have been even better served cold. This would make a nice addition to breakfast. Some other yellow or orange juice could be used instead of carrot, and raspberries would also be a nice addition.

Smoothie video