Virginia's Nutritious Smoothie Recipe

In response to last week's blog entry on how I used a Vita-Mix blender to establish a smoothie bar for my Aunt's cafe, one of our readers from California, Virginia Wical of Loma Linda, was kind enough to share the following nutritious smoothie recipe with us:

Ingredients: (Makes 4 servings)

1 cup raw old fashioned oatmeal
4 tablespoons raw oat bran
4 tablespoons golden flax seed
1 or two teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Small handful of raisins
16 pitted dates
1 Meyer lemon plus the skin and seeds
1/2 cup frozen orange juice
3 cups cold water
2 trays of small ice cubes
One or two bananas
Fresh or frozen fruit (mix and match among sweet cherries, boysenberries, apples, blueberries, fresh pineapple, and apricots)

Directions:

Blend all ingredients except ice cubes in a Vita-Mix or BlendTec blender until nice and smooth.

Pour part of this mixture into a pitcher and add two trays of small ice cubes into remaining mixture in blender and blend until smooth. The quantities listed above tends to produce more than one blender will hold - this is why it may be necessary to pour some of the initial mixture into a pitcher.

Combine both batches, give it a good mix with a wooden spoon, then serve in tall milkshake-sized glasses.

Note from Virginia Wical:

We order frozen berries from Bithell Farms (http://bithellfarms.com) in Boring, Oregon. We usually order blueberries, boysenberries, sweet cherries, and sometimes Marion blackberries. They are wonderful berries grown in the Willamette Valley. Their phone number is: 503-663-6182. Hope (you and your readers) will find this to be something that you will enjoy.

Many thanks to Virginia for sharing her special recipe with us!