Steaming Smoothies!

Who says that a 'Smoothie' has to be a frozen beverage or even cold?

The concept of a "Smoothie" is a smooth blended beverage... why not have one that is warm or even hot?

Lets face it... for many with Gastric Motility Disorders the cold or frozen "Smoothie" is a blessing, but for others, especially those with 'Dumping Syndrome' those chilly beverages are a recipe for trouble.

The idea of a Steaming Smoothie might be a bit 'off setting'... "what... hot banana and strawberry... ewww" but what about the savory flavors that could be enjoyed in this way and not the sweet?

You can make broths (chicken, turkey, beef, ham... you name it) at home and by following some simple steps make them as fat free as possible* then use them as a base for Smoothies that have the flavor of dishes you have not been able to eat in years. Then you add your home made (or if you prefer stage 1 baby food) pureed veggies and can thicken with instant mashed potato flakes (check the label to make sure it is 100% dehydrated potato) then blend and microwave and enjoy! You can be sipping on things like split pea soup with ham, beef stew, Sunday chicken dinner.... I have even been working on one that tastes surprisingly like pizza by making pepperoni fat free broth with tomato juice and powdered Parmesan cheese, the spices are still a bit hard on my stomach but with work it might be pretty good one day.

Like cold smoothies you can add flavorless protein powders, water soluble fibers and other things to punch up their benefits.

You can also make hot desert style Smoothies by looking up hot desert recipes and modifying them to the Smoothie process. I can see things like hot apple pie smoothies, Molten Chocolate Cake smoothies being a possibility. It will take trial and error, but a hot Creme Brulle is not out of the question!

*The process for making a fat free broth at home is a bit time consuming but well worth the effort. While many manufacturers make "Fat Free" broths that you can buy they are often high in sodium or have other ingredients such as gluten and preservatives that you may want to or have to do without. Making a broth at home is the best way to be 100% sure of what goes into your broth.

To make your broth fat free you will need to follow a few simple steps-

1. Place the finished broth in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning most of the fat will have risen to the top and be visable. You can use a spoon to simply scoop the fat off the surface.
2. Reheat the broth then pour the broth into ice cube trays and freeze solid. Any residual fat can be wiped with a clean cloth off the surface of the frozen cubes.
3. Remove the cubes from the trays and store in zipper style freezer bags with as much of the air removes as possible. Stored this way they will last quite a while in the freezer and the cubes make it very easy to use only what you want when you want