Anything Goes Smoothie

In our house we often have small amounts of leftovers or fruit past its prime–a few berries, a soft clementine or two (there’s at least one in every box), a little juice left in a carton, some coconut milk or yogurt. I decided to throw a bunch of random things like these into a blender the other day to create a smoothie surprise. I wasn’t sure what I would end up with, but it was damn delicious.

This is not so much a recipe then, but an example of how to use up dribs and drabs in your fridge so they don’t go to waste. Ideally you need a single serving blender or immersion blender since the total amount of ingredients likely won’t be enough to fill a full-size blender. (Or maybe it will if you have lots of berries or other fruit slowly decaying in your fridge. Not judging–I’ve been there myself. I usually just freeze everything, but a big smoothie works too in that case.)

Ingredients

Here’s my version, based on what was in my fridge. See the Notes below for other ideas.

• Juice of two clementines with soft ends that would have gone mouldy in a couple of days
• 4-5 strawberries past their prime, washed with tops trimmed off
• Handful of blueberries
• About a half cup of silken tofu
• A tbsp or two of mango juice, to help with blending
• A splash of maple syrup to reduce tartness

To make the smoothie: cut off the soft ends of the clementines and juice them, then add the juice and all remaining ingredients to a blender and blend.

Notes

• You can add any kind of fruit–berries, melon, pineapple, bananas, peaches, mango, and so on. (But not really grapes, pears, or apples.) Just be wary of those that tend to dominate so you keep things in balance. Something like pineapple can be overpowering in large amounts. And, remember, you can freeze what you don’t blend. Just chop it, place it on a cookie sheet to freeze as individual pieces, then bag it after it’s frozen. 
• I would not use a clementine that has a lot of visible mould on it, but if one of the ends is starting to turn soft, you can cut it off and juice the rest. 
• I happened to have silken tofu leftover from making hot & sour soup, but you can easily use leftover yogurt or coconut milk. Creamy ingredients like this aren’t entirely necessary either–most of my smoothies consist only of fruit, juice, and water. 
• Use whatever kind of juice you have, even carrot or beet, but remember to balance flavours by not using too  much if the juice has a strong taste, like carrot and beet juices do. 
• Maple syrup is optional, but I find a little dash of it helps to reduce tartness. 

Fruit image: 115207419 © Oleksandra Tsvid | Dreamstime.com