Smoothie Sunday: Cherry Chicle

Today's smoothie once again comes to us from Jamba Juice Power, Kirk Perron and Stan Dembecki's blended drink cookbook. If you recall, the smoothie-loving duo almost always give their creations an alliterative name, with varying results. In the case of today's beverage, Perron and Dembecki stuck with their self-imposed smoothie-naming constraints and deemed this drink Cherry Chicle. Alliteration aside, this is a delicious beverage that's perfect for one of those warmer August days.



As you can probably tell from the above photograph, I didn't actually make Perron and Dembecki's Cherry Chicle, given that the only cherry-related ingredient in their recipe is cherry cider, and I actually substituted cranberry juice for it. I'm sure the cherry cider version is delicious, but I was jonesing for that cranberry flavor, and after carefully weighing my options, just went for it. I realize this was a pretty daring maneuever, but I think it was Sherlock Holmes who said "eliminate all other juices, and the one which remains must be cranberry," and I do think those were some very wise words. So this smoothie consists of 1 cup of cranberry juice, 1 cup of pears, 1/2 cup of strawberries, 1 cup of raspberry sherbet, and 1/2 cup of ice.



As I mentioned in the first edition of Smoothie Sunday, your drink will blend more quickly and easily if you add ingredients in order from least solid (the juice) to most solid (the ice). Here's another tip for you: only leave the blender plugged in when you're ready to blend. You don't want to accidentally flick the switch and have your delicious smoothie end up splattered on your wall and cupboard. That hasn't happened to me, but I plan on doing Smoothie Sunday every week, so I'm not holding my breath.



The end result is going to be surprisingly pear-heavy in flavor, with the juice and strawberries playing more of a supporting role. You can barely taste the raspberry sherbet, but you won't miss it, because the pear flavor is pretty delicious--surprisingly so, I thought. Enjoy your smoothie! Next week I hope to include a little video of our blender using its 1 horsepower engine to make short work of the smoothie's most solid ingredients; hopefully it'll be slightly more engrossing than the previous video on this site.



Thanks for stopping by Beach City Cooking, and I'll see you all tomorrow for another edition of Windy City Cooking! Have a great night, and stay cool!