serc's Full Review: Mary Corpening Barber, Sara Corpening Whiteford, J...
I’m willing to admit that I have become somewhat obsessed with the idea of drinking smoothies. Because my home town is bereft of a smoothie bar (and I’ve never even seen a Jamba Juice, I am forced to try to concoct my own smoothies at home. Those who have seen me cooking will realize that I need recipe books to guide me.
I love my copy of Smoothies by Sara Corpening Whiteford and Mary Corpening Barber, and I was thrilled to find that they had produced a second tome, Super Smoothies: 50 Recipes for Health and Energy. The public library proved a useful source once again, and I’ll be sorry to return it tomorrow. My family likes the recipes so well that I added the book to my Amazon.com wish list!
Like Smoothies, Super Smoothies is mostly a book of fifty smoothie recipes. In the first volume, the smoothies were sorted by ingredients (there is a chapter of smoothies with no dairy, a chapter of smoothies containing alcohol, etc.). In this volume, the concept is carried a bit further, with chapters of smoothies that might help with common health and energy concerns. These chapters include Energy Elixirs, Immune Boosters, Weight-Conscious Concoctions, For the Gals, Kid Shakes and Baby Blends, For the Fellows, Stress Reducers, and Our Faves.
Also included are tips for making great smoothies, glossaries of ingredients that help with selecting them and preparing them, and information on additives. Interestingly, they do not recommend adding nutritional additives to smoothies because they are not necessary and they can detract from the flavor and texture of your smoothie.
Many of the recipes in this book are delicious, and some of them probably can help with various health problems. Our first smoothie attempt from this book was also the first recipe, Power Punch. This was somewhat of a disappointment; it included pear nectar, banana, pineapple, lime juice, and soft silken tofu. We couldn’t find "soft silken" tofu, and had to settle for "soft." The texture was surprisingly decent, but the taste was pretty bland. Not the way I would start a book, but we pressed on with other recipes.
Next we tried Honeymooner’s Tonic, a combination of cranberry juice, blueberries, banana, and strawberry sorbet that is supposed to help ward off bladder infections. (For those not in the know, bladder infections are sometimes referred to as "honeymooner’s disease." I’ll let you figure that one out.) While I can’t comment on the efficacy of the smoothie on one’s bladder, I do know that my three year old liked it, I liked it, and my husband loved it.
Our next stop was in the "Our Faves" chapter, the Hangover Helper. No, we weren’t hung-over… we just couldn’t resist the idea of having fresh watermelon in a smoothie! Strawberries, raspberry sorbet, a bit of lime juice and a pinch of salt round out this smoothie – which is quite delicious. We’d happily drink this anytime at my house.
I decided on Lite ‘N Luscious next, a "light" smoothie with strawberries, unsweetened apple juice, raspberries, and banana. It was another hit. At this point I knew this was a book we’d be buying in the future, one way or another.
For my final test, today I tried out the Morning Sickness Solution. Now, I like to do my homework on a review, but I couldn’t quite justify getting pregnant just to test this one out. So if this combination of pears, peach yogurt, pear nectar, fresh lemon juice, grated fresh ginger, and ice cubes would help with pregnancy nausea, I don’t know. But it was pleasant to drink and bland enough that it might help some women. It also includes pears, which are a great boon to the digestive system of pregnant women suffering from constipation.
There were several other smoothies that I wanted to try, some of which had ingredients that I just can’t find in Northfield. Where does one buy passion fruit sorbet? Maple yogurt? Strawberry nectar? Maybe next time I go to the Twin Cities I can find some of these things.
The other problem with this book is that on occasion it reaches a bit too hard to find a health reason for a smoothie to exist. While smoothies to help morning sickness, PMS, anemia, and bladder infections make sense for the "For the Gals" chapter, I found some silly stuff in "For the Fellows." For example, the Libido Lifter, a combination of chocolate milk, chocolate sorbet, bananas, toasted almonds, and vanilla extract. There’s no doubt in my mind that it tastes good with that ingredient list, but do men have so few healthy concerns that they have to market smoothies as aphrodisiacs just to include a chapter for them? Three of the four smoothies in that chapter relate to sex!
The flaws in Super Smoothies are far outweighed by the enjoyable smoothie recipes, some of which could be genuinely useful for health and energy boosting purposes. I will definitely be purchasing this in the near future so that I can continue to mix up new and delicious smoothies.
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