We *Heart* Smoothies!

I work both in an office in the big city of Seattle and also at home. Because my employer of 20 years is generous and lovely, and because it is a 2 hour commute from my front door to my desk in Seattle, I have the good fortune to regularly telecommute.

For me, the absolutely BEST thing about working from home is being able to make smoothies. Nothing - - really nothing - - beats a smoothie for lunch. It has to be lunch. For me, a smoothie doesn't quite cut it as a breakfast. I must have an egg for breakfast, preferably draped over some leftover from the night before. And dinner has to be cooked or at least chopped. After all, those leftovers that are going under that egg the next morning have to come from somewhere.

My dear friend and food maker extraordinaire, Jean, told me that she and Charlie are smoothie fans; and listening to her, I knew that I wanted to be one, too. I dug around in the cupboard and found my blender. I'm sure it must be nearly 30 years old. Isn't that about 130 in blender years? Happily, I determined that the machine worked, and I enthusiastically set out making my own cold, milkshaky happiness.

If you haven't made a smoothie since the 70s, let me remind you that the most essential ingredient for flavor, thickness, and smoothiness is frozen fruit. I buy the bags of fruit from Remlinger Farms that are labeled "Too Good to Hide" because they are packaged in clear bags. This is a local product for me, I can see the fruit that I'm buying, and it is darned good tasting. I try to always have some strawberries, blue berries or peaches on hand.

After the frozen fruit, its all improv. Most often, I will toss in a small handful of nuts, sometimes a banana, pretty regularly a dollop of plain yogurt, from time to time a spoonful of oat bran or wheat germ, occasionally a tiny bit of jam, rarely a drizzle of maple syrup, and frequently a substantial squirt of honey. Applesauce, cooked rhubarb, watermelon, toasted coconut or a chunk of fresh ginger are all delicious additions. My Mom, who I've recently enticed into my smoothie cult, likes to use sherbet. For liquid, I usually use milk, but just think of the possibilities: juice, coffee, chai tea, soda water. Go crazy - use what ya' got.

So far, the only thing I've tried in a smoothie that was a failure was peanut butter. It gave the smoothie a slick consistency that just wasn't appealing. Better to stick with whole peanuts if you want that flavor.

We slurp our smoothies out of quart canning jars - the largest drinking receptacles in the house. I wrap the jars in a cloth napkins, knotted like the scarves of tidy Boy Scouts, and stick straws in them. Nirvana. Bliss. Lunch.