Vitamix for the Seattle factory

[dorayme]

I dehydrate kale vs. blending it into juice. We love the kale chips!
Turnips, I have only creamed. They were better the second day.

[Darcy]

Please share your experiments with kale and turnip.

What fruit or vegetable can be added to it to make a good looking juice or smoothie.

Good looking to me means dark or light green with a purpleish hue but not anything in the mustard to brownish hue.

I think dinosaur (aka lacinato) kale is the best variety for smoothies. Try kale, romaine lettuce, banana or pineapple, apple, and lime (unless you find lime adds bitterness). The romaine lettuce and lime cut the "grassy" taste. Go lighter on the kale until you develop a taste for it.

As for turnips... for me, starchy vegetables make the most sense cooked or roasted. dorayme's creamed turnips sound really good!

[backpack]

Thanks both for your great ideas, much appreciated!

What I am not fond of in kale is the texture, it very much feel like eating roughage, not much strong crunch like brocoli nor light and watery crunch like carrots or romaine lettuce.

Thanks to both of your inpiration, we run out of greens quickly and there is a fierce competition between my husband and I about who will eat the most.

Who would have thought?


Dorayme, is it possible to make dry chips in the oven with a regular pan? I do hope I don't have to buy a dehydrator.

Darcy, what color does the kale, banana and romaine lettuce end up looking like?


bltkmt smoothie's picture is about right, green and fresh.

[dorayme]

You can make chips in the oven, but I have only used a dehydrator. I can make a significantly higher quantity at once in the dehydrator than what would fit on my oven racks. That saves me time. From online reading, dehydrators preserve the color better and have a less baked taste. I think this is because most ovens are still hotter on their lowest setting than dehydrators.

I also use our dehydrator for making fruit chips and leathers. I intend to also use it to aid in food preservation once I return to gardening, along with my MIL teaching me canning. FWIW, IMHO needing to buy a dehydrator isn't a bad thing. My inexpensive vintage round one died last time I made chips, so I'm getting an Excalibur as a Valentines day/early birthday present. It's on tomorrow's truck!

[darbs]

When using Kale, I always add pineapple to combat the slightly bitter taste. I've found that adding a combination of strawberries, blackberries, or blueberries gives you the darker green with a purple hue.
This morning's smoothie was fresh squeezed orange juice, ground flax seeds, ground chia seeds, vegan protein powder, a banana, fresh pineapple, handful of kale, frozen mango, and frozen peaches. It turns out a fairly bright green color and we call it the Incredible Hulk smoothie at our house. That bright green color always makes me feel like it is super healthy and it tastes yummy!

[barefoot]

Just got my new Vitamix last week!! This weekend I was knitting and stopped to make a green smoothie (romaine lettuce, frozen peaches, bananas) which turned out the same color as my wasabi stuff sack

Good thing it tasted nothing like wasabi

[Darcy]

Darcy, what color does the kale, banana and romaine lettuce end up looking like?

Here's a photo of my kale, banana, apple, and romaine smoothie!

[julawils]

Sounds delicious...but looks like ecto-plasma...

[Darcy]

Sounds delicious...but looks like ecto-plasma...

Haha, it does. I made a smoothie today using mostly collard greens -- if ecto-plasma, it was definitely from a malevolent entity... :/