My income tax refund arrived yesterday and I ordered my VitaMix today!!! I'm impatiently awaiting it's arrival. I've faithfully prepared and drunk a green smoothie since I began -- how long ago?? I can't imagine missing a day. Waiting, waiting, waiting....

Today, my smoothie was 3 fresh peaches, 2 measures of stevia powder, 4 C green leaf lettuce, and 1 1/2 C water. Mmmmmmm.... Really nice texture, too. Bet the VitaMix gives me better texture than my Oster -- I'll let you know. **giggling in anticipation**

I've been using my cheesy blender for mixing up with the fruit and green stuff.

I was whining yesterday about wanting a Vita Mix ahahah. Hubby just said ohhh u just need more liquid it wouldn't be any different.

YA RIGHT!!!! My parents had one since I was a kid and it's amazing!!!!

You can't make a nice warm soup in this blender that's for sure hehehe.

I'm excited for you, they're awesome.

Ven

You won't regret buying that vitamix- I use mine all the time for smoothies and all sorts of delightful things- saves sooo much time and is definately worth the money. Hurrah for green smoothies!

My Vita Mix arrived yesterday. I didn't have time to play with it until this afternoon. I was scared of it. 2-HP is a LOT of power!! It didn't take off to the moon but it did blend my smoothie faster and more thoroughly than my poor old Osterizer. I put everything in at once rather than individually. Worked great!!

Today's smoothie was 1 C papaya, including the seeds and skin, 1 medium orange,peeled, one big handful baby spinach, 4 C mixed baby salad greens, and 1 C water. Blended for only 1 minute in the Vita Mix. Oster would have taken about 5, I think. Add, blend, add, blend, add, blend.... Oh, and the seeds were undetectable -- totally pulverized in the Vita Mix. Now I can do persimmons, raspberries, blackberries....

I noticed yesterday that I seem to be losing a lot less hair in my morning shampoo.

ha ha haha I know what you mean about being scared of it! It IS different. I'm glad you got it, Cris. Mine is 15 years old & still going strong, the thing is indestructible.

If you want a hot soup or warm smoothie, just let it whizzzz for a longer time, the friction will make it steam, if you let it.
Enjoy!

Cris,
I have noticed the same thing, about the less hair loss. Since I had my son, almost 2 1/2 years ago, my hair had been falling out more rapidly than I remember. After starting these smoothies...and I confess, I have been rather lax lately about making them...I have hardly had any hair fall out! Yay!

Glad you got your vita-mix...I'll get there someday, but until then, the Oster will have to do.

Hugs
Jen

I've had my Vita Mix for two weeks now. I'm lovin' it! Definitely liquefies better than the Oster. There's no comparison, really.

To build on Karen's suggestion to put paper towel in with greens to keep them fresh longer, I've been looking into various vegetable bags. What I really wanted was microfiber green bags. But at $13.95 per, I'm way too cheap. I need about 10 of them. Yikes! There are green plastic veggie bags, terry cloth bags, cotton bags, and the microfiber bags. I went to JoAnn Fabrics. The person I talked to clearly did not know her fabrics and couldn't help me with microfiber. I bought a few yards of heavy-weight 100% cotton duck and made some bags. One itty bitty little problem -- I forgot about shrinkage in laundering. I made them 13" X 20". They came out of the laundry 10 3/4" X 19". Dang it! They work but I have a bit more trouble getting the greens in and out. So I buy the greens at the produce market once a week. I wash them when I get home and put them in the bags. No draining, patting with towels, or spinning. I've a shelf full of soggy bags -- and fresh greens all week.

My herb garden isn't doing so well. Some of the herbs are doing well. Others are yellowing and not growing so much. They're on my patio with southern exposure, so sunlight almost all day long. I potted them in organic soil. I water them regularly and don't let them sit in water. I should have started with just a few and worked up as I learned. I rarely start anything slow though.... Jumpin' right in on most everything....

I forgot to mention. My boyfriend wants green smoothies every day now too so I'm filling the 64 oz container. He enjoys the fruity ones better so I'm not getting veggie ones as often as before. I'm too 'energy-efficient' to make two different ones.

Hmmmm - first thought that struck me is... Why not have fabric like small towels and just loosely roll the veggies in the the "towels" They would be likely to fit anything any shape better???

Second - just a note - we have taken to calling them "Kermit Kocktails" rather than swamp goo!

HI Love them smoothies, the birds (read Honker) and I fight over who gets how much. I am losing, of course.

Their feathers are shiny, no stress lines, no cleavages anymore, eager for morning lunch/midafternoon break. If I am up here doing something silly like working hard, they begin to do polite chirps. Then they work themselves in tandem, no less up to the Queen Mary docking and get my F..A.. downstairs to begin smoothieng. (SPL?)' They taste everything I try, if they don't care for it, they do the obvious and tilt it down the side of the cage to the floor. Brats. They then scream till I do another, contending that I have done nothing as yet.
Anyone out there have a great recipe for parrot on a stick or parrot pie?

We now eat/drink as would royalty! Naturally my feathers look best.

Gussie GRABS the serving bowl to taste it: if acceptable I am given a very gratifying OoooooooOOOOOOOO! if not up to standard, I run.
Fast.*Wonder what idiot placed her massive cage next to a white wall, knowing parrots fling*

Honker makes no comment, just dives in, comig up for air occasionally. He looks adorable with the jungle goo covering his beak and back and front and bottom and both feet.

After goo meal comes the mandatory bath break.
*If not done the parrots can attach themselves to what ever is hanging nearest and stay there forever.*

I am writing this treatise to tell all of the vets and animal lovers who peruse our site that this Jungle Goo, or Kermit Kocktail causes any bird, including a sulpher-crested Cockatoo to cease plucking, a miracle in itself.

Thanks Cris and Jana, you probably saved Honks life again. He was plucking from allergies.

Hope this helps other birds who own persons who pluck.

zeneagle

Me again. I forgot to ask for more recipes that don't include oranges, albeit they are delicious.

Anyone out there know what green herbs to add? I am feeling my way, and it is difficult with two birds and an allergic threesome.
thank you for the help.

zeneagle@aol.com

Zen-
As always, you crack me up!
Thanx for the chuckles
Chrsitna

Zen,
I tend to put whatever fruits get in the way...depending on what I have on hand. So, every smoothie tends to be an experiment, and I doubt I could duplicate them again!

I have tried adding a few other things too. Parsley...doesn't take much to taste it though, so is probably better in vegetable concotions. I put in a couple of sprigs and that was fine...more than that and, to my taste anyway, it would have been too much. Alfalfa sprouts, again probably better with veggie goo, but I used mine in a fruit/spinach smoothie, and it was alright...hubby didn't want to know what was in it until after he drank it, due to the taste though LOL. That is as far as I have gotten in adding anything like herbs. I have wanted to add watercress, but I'll be darned if I can find it around here.

One other thing that I add on occasion is flax meal. Granted, I am doing this in the blender, so I don't know how that would be in a juicer. It is a good way to sneak in those omega-3's, though.

I'd be interested in hearing others experiments with herbs and other greens.

Thanks for letting us know about how this has benefitted your birds. Having worked in a vet practice that had 50% bird clients, feather plucking was one of the more prominent problems we attempted to treat (note the word attempted). And it can be very frustrating and heartbreaking for both bird and owner.

Love and hugs
Jen

Watercress, endive/chicory, and arugula are bitter greens. These are better with fruit added, to my taste anyway.

I use dill with cucumber and with my "V8" smoothies. I use cilantro with my guacamole smoothies. Think of the dishes that you like to eat, add greens and put it in a blender. I did marinara kinds, one with eggplant, one with zucchini. So I used oregano, thyme, basil, garlic, green onion in those. Now that the boyfriend is sharing smoothies, we have more fruity ones than veggie ones.

Jen, A juicer doesn't make smoothies. The idea of a smoothie is to keep all that great fiber and not throw any nutrients away.

Carrots, celery, and other fibrous veggies liquefy much better in my Vita Mix than they did in my Oster. Still gotta go easy on them though.

Sorry Zen, but you asked.....


Parrot Pie
Ingredients: 1 doz. paraqueets, a few slices of beef (underdone cold beef is best for this purpose), 4 rashers of bacon, 3 hard-boiled eggs, minced parsley and lemon peel, pepper and salt, stock, puff-pastry.
Mode: Line a pie-dish with the beef cut into slices, over them place 6 of the paraqueets, dredge with flour, fill up the spaces with the egg cut in slices and scatter over the seasoning. Next put in the bacon, cut in small strips, then 6 paraqueets and fill up with the beef, seasoning all well. Pour in stock or water to nearly fill the dish, cover with puff pastry and bake for one hour.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jana,

Hi All Green Smoothies,

A thing I was told by my herbal & elctroaccupuncturist was to be sure you soak your fresh veggies in salt water for 15 minutes (if eating it raw) to get rid of the worms/parasites.