Ashkers Restaurant - Smoothie Saturday #7

By Vicky Nardone

 

For today's Smoothie Saturday, I decided to share with you one of the spots we love to go in Buffalo for smoothies - Ashkers.  We recently discovered this spot with the help of our friend Lauren.  It's a very artsy cafe on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo.  They have lots of juices, smoothies, coffee drinks and delicious salads, sandwiches and breakfast dishes.  We went for lunch last Saturday with Lauren.  I love the atmosphere of the place.  They have a cool old piano - there's an entire music room in fact, a conference room that people can rent out and lots of fun artwork hanging on the walls.  In the summer they have a beautiful patio for people to sit on.

Creamy Fruit Pops - Smoothie Saturdays #6

By Vicky Nardone

I work in a fairly large building downtown and every so often, the building brings vendors in during the lunch hour for people to shop at.  I think my favorite one so far was a discount book seller that they had in right around Easter time.  They had all these really great cookbooks for under $15!  I got at least five or six.  One of the books that I got was a popsicle recipe book and I'm so glad it's getting warm again so that I can eat these without freezing to death. 

Bailey's Iced Cappucino

By Vicky Nardone

This one is definitely not for the kiddos but if you're looking for a delicious refreshing coffee drink this one is for you.  I made one of these on Saturday night without the Bailey's and then I noticed that I had a bottle of Bailey's in the fridge that I had bought around Christmas time and decided that was just what I needed to take my drink over the top.  And boy did it!  I wanted to make the drink a little more beautiful by adding some whipped cream on top but unfortunately I was at the very end of the can and I only got a tiny bit out.

Raspberry Peach Smoothie

By Vicky Nardone

I'd been paging through my two smoothie recipe books and nothing was jumping out at me.  I was mulling over possibilities in my head to make with the fruit I had on hand and one combination jumped out at me - peach and raspberry.  Raspberries are my favorite fruit but they generally need a bit of sweetness added to make a good smoothie.  Peaches work perfectly for that.

Strawberry Mango Peach Pineapple Smoothie - Smoothie Saturday #3

By Vicky Nardone

I have to say that this smoothie is seriously good.  It's definitely a favorite of Matt and mine.  The recipe is based on a Jamba Juice copycat recipe that I found on pinterest.  I added some of my own special touches to it though and is both healthy and delicious!  I must admit that I have tried making smoothies in the past but they always came out just average.  I think my two  tips that I have for what you need to make a great frozen smoothie are the following.  First off, a good blender is key.  Matt and I got a Ninja blender for our wedding and it's just awesome!  Matt hates when there are ice chunks in his smoothie.  I usually alternate between chop and blend on our Ninja for 2-3 minutes and the smoothie is perfectly smooth.  My second tip is to use frozen fruit.  I think one of my biggest complaints about my past smoothies were that they were always too liquidy and not as refreshing as they should be.  Using frozen fruit instead of fresh fruit gives the smoothies some extra thickness and the smoothie stays colder longer.  Too other benefits are that the frozen fruit is a lot cheaper than fresh fruit and lasts longer too and it's already cut up for you so it's ready to go in the blender with minimum prep work.

Chocolate Monkey Coffee Drink - Smoothie Saturday #2

By Vicky Nardone

Ok, I can't claim this one is healthy but it is certainly delicious.  I think it tastes as good as the coffee houses like Starbucks make.  My dads got us an espresso maker for Christmas and I love it.  Matt, however, thinks the coffee is too strong to drink just plain but he loves it in this coffee drink.  Add chocolate and everything tastes better right?  If you don't have an espresso maker, you can substitute the espresso for a cup of coffee.  It won't taste as strongly of coffee but it will still be delicious!

Strawberry Limeade Smoothie - Smoothie Saturday #1

By Vicky Nardone

 

Hi all and welcome to the very first edition of Smoothie Saturday!  Matt and I have been obsessed with smoothies lately.  It all started when I found a giant bag of frozen fruit and our amazing local grocery store Wegmans for only $9.  It was big enough to make like 20 smoothies!  I've been using the fruit and some sites I found on pinterest to put together some interesting combinations.  I'll be sharing them with you throughout the summer.

Tropical Smoothie (with Mango)

By Vicky Nardone

Today's post is about my all-time favorite drink: smoothies.  The recipe I made today is with my favorite fruit - the mango.

We picked out a few at the store last weekend and they were perfectly ripe when we went to use them today.  You know a mango is ripe when it's slightly soft when you squeeze it.  We used our juicer to get the juice from the mangoes.  Matt had really wanted a juicer and my mother-in-law got us one as a bridal shower gift.  We love making pineapple orange juice with it too!