VGYO smoothies represent Violet, Green, Yellow and Orange colored healthy smoothies…
The truth: I was hoping to make VIBGYOR smoothies and ended up with VGYO. The idea of making VIBGYOR smoothies had been tuning in my mind for a while. This was not an effect of seeing a rainbow. The last time I had encountered a rainbow was during my camping trip at Starved rock, IL in the summer of 2008. Since then, I haven’t seen one. Is it because it’s banned in my place? or does this mean that I don’t look at the sky these days?
When I decided to go with this VIBGYOR idea, I never thought that I would end up making VGYO smoothies instead. My whole idea was to make healthy fruit smoothies. However, while attempting to make these, I found that it was nearly hard to achieve indigo and blue colored smoothies with the fresh fruits. I tried a few of the blue and close to blue colored fruits like blueberries, purple grapes and plums, when they were blended I didn’t get a blue color, but got more of a violet color. Hence, I dropped the indigo and blue colored smoothies. Now, you must be thinking what happened to the red color. I knew it was quite easy to make red colored fruit smoothies with watermelon or strawberries. Without much reasons, I skipped this too.
If I had added color I could have gotten the blue and indigo color. My goal wasn’t to make artificial colored smoothies, but to make healthy and refreshing smoothies.
VGYO Smoothies: for Violet color: Pomegranate; for Green color: Kiwi and Apple; for Yellow: Mango Lassi; for Orange: Cantaloupe.
Yes, I do have a favorite among these smoothies, hands down my favorite smoothie is Mango Lassi. I doubt if there is any Indian restaurant without this. Believe me, making this in your own kitchen is easy and fast.
Fruits Used:
Pomegranate Smoothie
Ingredients:
- Pomegranate seeds- seeds from half of the pomegranate
- Milk- 1 1/2 cups
- Sugar- 3 tbsp or as required
Instruction:
- In a blender, combine all the above ingredients.
- Strain the milkshake to discard the seeds.
- Serve the drink by topping with some pomegranate seeds.
Kiwi and Apple Smoothie
Ingredients:
- Kiwi, ripe- 2
- Apple, cored, seeds removed and cut in wedges-2
- Sugar- 3 tbsp
Instruction:
- Place these ingredients in a blender and puree to a smoothie constituency which will be thick and fibre rich.
- You could also make this in a power juicer to remove the fibre and for just the juice.
Mango Lassi (My Favorite)
Ingredients:
- Fresh ripe Mango or canned mango pulp- 1 ripe mango diced or 1/2 cup canned mango pulp
- Yogurt- 1/4 cup
- Milk- 1 cup
- Sugar- 2 to 3 tbsp
Instruction:
- In a blender, blend all the above mentioned ingredients till smooth.
- If you are using sweetened mango pulp, avoid adding sugar. Taste the lassi and add sugar accordingly.
- Pour into glasses and enjoy.
Cantaloupe Smoothie
Ingredients:
- Cantaloupe, rind removed, seeded and cubed- 4 cups
- Lemon juice (optional)- 1 tbsp
- Sugar- according to your needs
Instruction:
- Into a blender, add the cubed cantaloupes, lemon juice if using and sugar.
- Blend until smooth, you will get thick and fibre rich smoothie.
- You could make this in a power juicer as well, to discard the fibre and for getting just the juice.
Tips:
Difference between Blender and Juicer:
Blenders do not separate the juice from the fibre, while Juicers do so.
- Pomegranate seeds- seeds from half of the pomegranate
- Milk- 1½ cups
- Sugar- 3 tbsp or as required
- In a blender, combine all the above ingredients.
- Strain the milkshake to discard the seeds.
- Serve the drink by topping with some pomegranate seeds.
- Kiwi, ripe- 2
- Apple, cored, seeds removed and cut in wedges-2
- Sugar- 3 tbsp
- Place these ingredients in a blender and puree to a smoothie constituency which will be thick and fibre rich.
- You could also make this in a power juicer to remove the fibre and for just the juice.
- Fresh ripe Mango or canned mango pulp- 1 ripe mango diced or ½ cup canned mango pulp
- Yogurt- ¼ cup
- Milk- 1 cup
- Sugar- 2 to 3 tbsp
- In a blender, blend all the above mentioned ingredients till smooth.
- if you are using sweetened mango pulp, avoid adding sugar. Taste the lassi and add sugar accordingly.
- Pour into glasses and enjoy.
- Cantaloupe, rind removed, seeded and cubed- 4 cups
- Lemon juice (optional)- 1 tbsp
- Sugar- according to your needs
- Put the cubed cantaloupes, lemon juice if using and sugar if needed into a blender.
- Blend until smooth and you will get thick and fibre rich smoothie.
- You could make this in a power juicer as well, to discard the fibre and for getting just the juice.
Blenders do not separate the juice from the fibre, while Juicers do so.
