The Ultimate Smoothie Book: 130 Delicious Recipes for Blender Drinks, Frozen Desserts, Shakes, and More!

by Cherie Calbom

Written by nutritionist and renowned author Cherie Calbom, this text shows readers how to make scrumptious smoothies that will make them feel great. It includes charts that analyse calorie, fat, protein, and vitamin content of the smoothies.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Reference, Nonfiction, Cooking

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Cherie Calbom, MS, is the author of The Juice Lady’s Turbo Diet, The Juice Lady’s Living Foods Revolution, and Juicing for Life, which has nearly two million books in print in the United States. Known as “The Juice Lady” for her work with juicing and health, Cherie has taped HealthWatch for CNN and scores of TV and radio shows and has appeared in Shape, First for Women, Women’s World, Men’s Journal, Vogue, Quick & Simple, Marie Claire, and Elle Canada. Cherie earned a master’s degree in nutrition from Bastyr University, where she now serves on the Board of Regents, and has practiced as a clinical nutritionist at St. Luke Medical Center in Bellevue, Washington.

Reviews

[Samyy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty extensive list of fruits and foods at the beginning, though not something I was interested in it would be helpful for people just starting out making smoothies and who are unsure of the health benefits of some foods.

Some good recipes it looks like, though some are repetitive. I wish it wasn’t so focused on juices also, as I don’t have a juicer.

[Tabitha · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you like complicated smoothies that take weird ingredients, maybe this is for you. Tofu, bee pollen, garlic, pickled plums, cashews... None of this sounds appealing. There's also recipes that require brewing tea, freezing it into cubes and then adding it to the smoothies. There's no 'throwing a smoothie together' when it takes prep work a day before.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

n an effort to add more fruits and vegetables into our diet, I've been looking at smoothie recipes. My chiropractors really recommend them as an energizing breakfast, packed with nutrition. I think this can be true if the smoothie recipe focuses on healthy ingredients without added sweeteners.

The Ultimate Smoothie Book contains a lot of great information regarding the best ingredients to use in smoothies and what nutritional benefits each food adds. It is well-organized with informational sections before you actually get to the smoothie recipes. The smoothie recipes are also organized into categories which makes it easy to find the type of smoothie you are looking for. I love that each smoothie recipe also has a nutritional breakdown per serving.

I was a bit thrown off by the book beginning with a section on juicing. I wasn't looking for a book on juicing - I was looking for smoothies! Calbom puts a great emphasis on using fresh fruit and vegetable juices in her recipes, which would unfortunately necessitate another piece of kitchen equipment which I am not interested in purchasing at this time. Calbom also uses ice frequently in her smoothie recipes and claims that a regular blender will be able to handle this. Maybe some blenders can handle ice well enough to make a truly smooth smoothie but I know mine cannot.

The majority of the recipes included in The Ultimate Smoothie Book look really tasty. Unfortunately, I've decided that I'm going to need to wait until I have a better blender and warmer weather to actually try them out. Smoothies in the middle of winter just don't sound very appealing!

[Shellie (Layers of Thought) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a bit tired of my regular blends for smoothies and checked a couple of books out from the local library. This book was better than a few of the others I looked at which are just picture books or beginning smoothie enthusiasts.
The Ultimate Smoothie Book is an informative guide that has some delicious recipes for smoothies, shakes, frozen desserts, and blender drinks. It goes beyond your common fruit and yogurt smoothie with some interesting variations including vegetables, grains, nuts, spices, as well as nutritional additives such as protein powder and vitamin C. The recipes are simple and give you a caloric and nutritional breakdown of each recipe, which I love.
We particularly liked one with rhubarb - "Grandma's rhubarb smoothie". Yum!

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been having smoothies a lot when I'm on campus all day (buying one for lunch at the smoothie shop in the University Center). I'm looking forward to making my own. I'll have more control over what goes into the smoothies that way and I'll save some money by buying supplies and making them myself. Lots of the recipes in this book sound super yummy, so I'm excited to try them out.

[Gus · Rating 1 out of 5]

None of these are quick treats. If you're in the mood for a *barf* soup smoothie or taking the time to brew tea, make it into ice cubes, crush them and then make a smoothie, than you will probably like this a lot better than I did.

[Jeanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're into this kind of thing, it might be helpful to mix up something new. Gives some basic nutritional information.