Make and Take Smoothies for Moms

Consider giving the gift of smoothies to a new mom, a friend recovering from oral surgery, or a harried neighbor. Ready to shake up and drink, smoothies are a fast way to get some nutrition and get back to business--be that bonding, healing, or caregiving.

Motherhood equals nurturing (no, you don't have to have created/raised offspring to read on--we've all had moms). One way folks nurture is via food [hello, nurture and nutrition share the same root].
Taking meals to a new mom is one way of nurturing the new family as they become a unit. Taking a meal to a mom after her 6th kid is just plain nurturing for her [though watching the kids and doing her laundry so she can get a massage is even better but doesn't fit with my theme for today's recipe].

What about other folks who need nurturing? A busy friend caring for aging parents? A neighbor caring for his ailing wife? Someone recovering from oral surgery? It's the last situation that inspired today's post, but the more I though about it the more I think this concept would work for a variety of circumstances.

Smoothies keep for several days, and it's easy to scale up a recipe to make an extra portion. With that in mind, when I found out my friend wouldn't be eating solid food for quite some time after her tonsillectomy, I offered to bring her some smoothies. I was going to be near her home on post-op day #5 and that seemed like a good time to deliver as she'd be coming out of the initial post-op haze.

With a delivery time set, I worked backwards making a smoothie or two a day so that I had a nice assortment. I delivered on Cinco de Mayo and I even included a little Cheater Margarita Smoothie since she was off all her narcotics.

The one aspect of post-op recovery I didn't think about until I arrived at my friend's house [and the RN in me woke up and asked after her bowels] was pooping. I should have made a smoothie with some prunes. Yes, putting the whole fruit into the blender does mean that my smoothies do have fiber, but I could have gone a bit further.

The next day I tried my hand at making a Peanut Butter & Prune smoothie for our after school snack. The kids drank it up because it was sweet and creamy, so add that to your repertoire for new moms and recovering friends.

Robert Barker did not sample the peanut butter and prune smoothie. He sampled my hostas, though.

I used my Vitamix (Amazon affiliate link) to make the smoothies, the same as I've done since 2001 or so when I bought it in Hawaii. We found that our preschooler would not eat vegetables or fruits, but he'd drink them, and we spent a lot of money at Jamba Juice before buying a Vitamix at the base exchange. I've used this machine often throughout the last 14 yrs and have recommended it to others. Check out Costco to purchase, though, as that may be a better deal.

As you can see, the smoothies settle out soon after blending. Simply shake it up and you're ready to drink. I've not kept smoothies more than 4 days, but on day 4 the taste was just fine. I do like to add vegetables to most of my smoothies. It's a terrific way to use greens from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share--even long-frozen greens put up in a fit of greens paralysis last year.

I delivered the smoothies in pint canning jars [in a cooler, though I did display them in this adorable canning jar tote from my thrift shop] because this is the time of year that my canning jars are all sitting empty. Any recycled jar would do very well for this purpose. I'm a big fan of these canning jar plastic storage caps (Amazon Affiliate Link). They extend the usefulness of my canning jars--in the freezer, in the pantry with dry goods, and in the fridge with opened jars of jam.

If there's not alcohol in a smoothie, I don't measure anything out and can't provide an extensive recipe, I just dump the ingredients in the order listed, slowly start the blender, and finish it up on full power until the little bits (of blueberry or spinach) look small enough to me.

I'll just give you lists of ingredients for the various smoothies I brought to my friend, and for the peanut butter and prune smoothie I made afterwards.

My Peanut Butter & Banana Smoothie was inspired by Meghan's  Peanut Butter Chocolate Smoothie but I didn't have most of the stuff so I went rogue.

In order of appearance:

Cheater Margarita Smoothie

a handful of frozen blueberries
a handful of frozen strawberries
ready-to-drink Margarita mix
ice

Peanut Butter Banana Spinach Smoothie

1 banana

a handful of fresh spinach leaves (though frozen works just fine as well)

a generous spoonful of peanut butter (My current favorite is Mighty Maple, Amazon affiliate link)
half a cup or so of vanilla yogurt
milk
ice

Strawberry Banana Carrot Smoothie

1 banana

a handful of frozen strawberries

a handful of chopped carrots or baby carrots

half a cup or so of vanilla yogurt

milk

ice

Pineapple Coconut Milk Smoothie

½ fresh pineapple

1 can full strength coconut milk

half a cup or so of vanilla yogurt

milk

ice

Blueberry Orange Spinach Honey Smoothie

a handful of blueberries

1 orange, peeled

a handful of fresh spinach leaves (though frozen works just fine as well)

half a cup or so of vanilla yogurt

a spoonful of raw honey

milk

ice

Peanut Butter Prune Smoothie

half a cup dried prunes (mine were orange-flavored)

a generous spoonful of Mighty Maple peanut butter (use what you got)

half a cup or so of vanilla yogurt

milk

ice

Happy Mother's Day!