"The only real stumbling block is the fear of failure. In cooking, you have got to have a what-the-hell attitude." ~ Julia Child

Drink your greens: Avocado smoothies

by Julie Tilsner on February 22, 2010

in Green Goddess, Breakfast, Vegetarian

Avocado smoothie vietnamese I’ve never been much of a smoothie person. The whole Jamba Juice
concept strikes me as excessive – such a production to make, so much
money to spend on fruit pulp with wheat germ organic oxygen shot extra.
And they hand it to you in a cup the size of a small bucket. I guess at
the end of the day I just want my “smoothies” to contain caffeine.

But I can be swayed. Sam, a friend and one of the managers at my local Trader Joe’s, saw me fondling the avocados the other day and asked if I’d ever had an avocado smoothie.

“Ewww…”

“No! They’re delicious!” he said. “And so stupidly easy to make.”

Well that had my name written all over it. I queried further.

“How stupidly easy, you think?”

One or two avocados, depending on how much you want, a few dates, some almond milk, and voila! Creamy, greeny goodness. Very popular in the Philippines, he said. OK, I said. Good enough for me.

I mean, think of the blog fodder…

This one had big disaster potential written all over it.

Unfortunately, all went uncharacteristically smoothly, mostly because Sam showed up after work and made one for me.  He scooped two avocados into the blender and added four pitted dates. He pulped this up, then added plain almond milk while blending until he got a consistency I could live with.

He poured it into a glass and presented it to me. Give it a try, he said.

I sipped. I had two immediate thoughts: Wow, that’s a sweet avocado shake baby; and, Wow I’m gonna be regular tonight…

I digress. I approached the Drama teen, eating soup at the table and reading a book. She scowled. Took the glass. Dipped her nose in. Handed it back to me. “No thank you,” she said.

“You love guacamole,” I reminded her.

“On chips,” she said. “Not in cups.”

The boy I know to be more adventurous. He eats avocados by the ton – spread on toast, smashed into guacamole, cut into slices and sprinkled with sea salt (“the good sea salt!”). But just to make sure he accepted this new, liquid version, I tarted it up with a shot of whipped cream on top.

The boy uttered a surprised and not-too-unpleased “ooh…” when I handed him what looked like a glass of green pudding. He ate the whipped cream. Then he got into the smoothie itself. “Wow!” he said between gulps. And with mouth rimmed in green, he asked for another.

Victory was mine.

A little research revealed that yes, in fact, these are very popular in the Philippines, only they make them differently, using condensed milk and/or sugar. Sounds yummy, but I’m gonna stick with the healthier version.

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

Dawn February 22, 2010 at 10:58 am

hmm. Now I love avocados, possibly more than is acceptable in polite society, but I’m having a hard time accepting that this would taste good. And yet why wouldn’t it? I’m conflicted. And I doubt I will try this myself so obviously you need to come up here, blend me up some delicious avocados, and welcome me to the dark side.

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Linda McGivern February 23, 2010 at 4:49 pm

I wonder how an avocado smoothy would taste with a hit of Benedictine?
And please stop being so blog prolific (blog-lific?); you are making me feel ashamed of my sad little monthly posts…

Reply

Sherry June 10, 2013 at 4:51 pm

Fabulous! Try it with avacado, coconut water, mango and spinach instead of dates and almond milk ( or you could conceivably just add spinach and mango) it is the most fabulous green and so delicious) my 9and 12 year old love it this way….so yummy 🙂

Reply

Julie June 10, 2013 at 4:58 pm

Thanks, Sherry! I’ve just discovered the joys of coconut water so I can imagine…now I’ve got smoothies on my mind again. Thanks for the suggestion!

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