Smoothie Sunday: Orange Kiwi...Okay

Welcome back to Beach City Cooking for the first in a weekly weekend series: Smoothie Sunday. The idea behind this feature is pretty self-explanatory: every week, I will present a recipe and accompanying pictures for a smooth, blended fruit drink. Today's drink relies on the beloved combination of strawberry and kiwi, while future iterations of this series will venture out into less predictable realms.

In Jamba Juice Power, the blended drink recipe tome from Kirk Perron, the founder of the titular company, every smoothie is given an alliterative name. Some of these titles, like Mango Magnificence and Orange Opulence, roll off the tongue nicely, while others are less well-conceived. In their quest for alliteration, Perron and co-author Stan Dembecki sometimes decide on weaker alliterative titles that are a stretch worthy of Mr. Fantastic. (The stretchy guy from the Fantastic Four, for those unacquainted.)

Case in point, "Orange Kiwi...Okay," the title of today's smoothie from the aforementioned book. While its title leaves something to be desired in the realm of cleverness, its taste is unparalleled. The traditional combination of kiwifruit and strawberry is paired with soothing raspberry sherbet and the delightful tanginess of orange juice. Below, see how to whip up this concoction in less than five minutes.



This blender, an Oster BPST02-B Professional Series Blender, is responsible for all the really hard work in this series of articles.



A closer look. Oster claims this blender's 1/2-horsepower engine is the most powerful offered in any of their small kitchen appliances.



Dramatis personae: 1 cup of freshly-squeezed orange juice (don't feel the need to be a glutton for punishment like I am--feel free to use store-bought juice!), 1 cup strawberries, 1/2 cup kiwifruit, 1 cup of raspberry sherbet, and 1/2 cup ice. Please note the bizarre and superfluous use of the word "deluxe" on the raspberry sherbet container. The kiwi looks like it's trying to slither away. Don't worry, kiwi: this'll all be over soon.



Jamba Juice Power recommends you put the ingredients in your blender in a specific order: liquid, sherbet, fruit, ice. They also say you should blend on low for 30 seconds first, and then on high until a whirlpool shape appears at the top of the blending mixture.



This particular blender made the drink in less than half a minute total, unlike what the book indicated, so be sure to apply this recipe to your own blender's strength and speed.



Enjoy your smoothie! This recipe makes about one pretty large, or two small-to-medium-size, smoothies.



Thanks for stopping by Beach City Cooking for this inaugural Smoothie Sunday post, and I'll see you all tomorrow for a Japanese food-centric post, and for the debut of a new regular column on this site. Enjoy your smoothie!