fresh!

have i ever told you that one of my first jobs was a summer stint at a local juice shop?  it was a hop over my back fence and a few blocks to walk to work every morning.  this was no jamba juice–this was the real thing.  small, independent restaurant that (when i worked there) sold lots of fresh juice and smoothies as well as amazing muffins, sandwiches, salads, stuffed baked potatoes (i learned here that avocados make excellent baked potato toppings.  i also like the added crunch of alfalfa sprouts.  and, of course, plenty of cheese and sour cream.).  all the food there tasted amazing.  i still get cravings for some of her menu items.  (i designed the menu for her (yep, i enjoyed design and layout even back then) and kept a copy, so at least i have a list of all of the sandwich ingredients. even if i don’t make my own mayonnaise* i can still pile up one of her amazing veggie sandwiches.)  sadly, the place has since gone out of business, and even before it did, she reduced her menu drastically, so i’m my only option is to re-create her foods the best i can remember.  i think the muffins are a lost cause (i don’t have a convection oven) but the juices?  well, those are really quite simple to replicate and it’s what i made most often, so that’s what i did today.  grapefruit juice.  fresh from the fruit**.  honestly–can you drink the stuff that comes from a jar/can/box/anything without a peel?  it tastes like stomach acid to me!  before i worked at the juice shop, i was blissfully ignorant that apple juice and orange juice taste nothing like the fruit they profess to come from.  the first time i drank fresh orange juice, i think i actually said, out loud, ‘wow!  this tastes like an orange!’  carrot juice (which i’d never tried before) was a revelation to me.  my favorite combo became orange/carrot.  each (early) morning, when i went in to work, we made a big pitcher of orange juice, pineapple juice, and carrot juice and smaller containers of grapefruit juice and “veggie mix” (a random assortment of vegetables that were in the salad bin and weren’t nice enough for the salad plate, but made perfectly good juice.  making this juice every morning taught me that cucumbers and beets and lettuce make lovely juices while okra…. not so much.).  we didn’t make apple juice ahead of time because it turns brown so quickly.  we also pureed strawberries and sliced up lots of banana to freeze for smoothies.

i really liked that job.  the only thing i didn’t like was the way my hands smelled after cleaning stuff with bleach water and i didn’t like sore feet, but really, if i ever have to work food service again, i hope it’s in a shop like that one.  lunch break was always amazing.

here’s the recipe for a simple smoothie:

fresh-squeezed orange or pineapple juice (just enough to go past the curve at the bottom of the blender)

pureed strawberries (no sugar needed.  you can also just throw in chunks of fresh or frozen strawberries or substitute blueberries or raspberries)

frozen bananas (key ingredient! this makes your smoothie cold and sweet and thick.  ripe (but not overripe) bananas taste best)

add the frozen berries to the juice and puree until smooth.  add in a handful of the frozen banana slices and get the mixer going.  if the mixture gets stuck, pour in a little orange juice until it starts moving again.  when the top of the smoothie is spinning smoothly and there’s a small hole in the middle that goes down like a whirlpool, your smoothie is done!

optional add-ins:  yogurt (makes it stay thick longer, adds the benefits of dairy and active live cultures), wheat germ or ground flaxseed (sneak in a little extra goodness), more fruit!
feel free to play around with the juice/fruit combo, as long as you include bananas.  i am such a smoothie snob now that i can’t stand the kind that have ice or sugar or (gasp!) come in a boxed mix.  i hope you enjoy this recipe.  hmmmm….  i may have to make one for myself tomorrow for breakfast….

if anyone is interested, i can post the list of ingredients for her veggie sandwich.
*i did actually make mayonnaise once at the juice shop.  i think i made one successful batch, but i haven’t tried it since.

**i have a bunch of grapefruits and oranges right now.  there was a fundraiser where some kids in my church were selling citrus.  i don’t remember anyone selling cases of citrus when i was a kid, but maybe it’s because i grew up further south?  where you can buy “texas ruby red” grapefruits in the grocery store.  any way you can get them, i love the way their bright flavors perk up the back end of winter.