I am currently visiting family in Hawaii, which is my great privilege to do at this time each year. I’ve always thought that this place is my heart’s true home. I feel most completely Me when I am here. I’ve often thought that I might have been born from a palm tree, dropped like a coconut to the sandy beach, and that my parents – visiting from the cold Canadian winter – scooped me up, took me back to the prairie and called me their own … but they swear I was born in the small town hospital of Radville, Saskatchewan and that’s what my birth certificate says, so what to do?
I love the humid ocean air, the salty breeze, the scents of tuberose and plumeria and the delicious tropical fruit these islands offer – pineapple, bananas, papaya, mango, guava and lilikoi (passion fruit). I have trouble digesting fruits like apples, oranges, pears, etc., but not these. Give me any combination of such tropical beauties, along with a meal or two of mahi mahi or opakapaka and some poke to snack on (oh, and a malasada or five) and I’m golden.
At home, I do my best to re-create my island taste experience by combining pineapple, banana and mango juice (it’s impossible to find good papaya in Arizona) to make smoothies with my immersion blender. The replication is adequate, but oh, what I could do with that blender right now with fruit, plucked fresh, as it is here.
I love my immersion blender almost as much as I love my tropical fruit, so this little blog is dedicated to it, sitting alone in all its magenta glory in my Arizona kitchen cupboard. Not only does it make delicious drinks (I also make a super yummy Cosmopolitan with it), it’s great for creating sauces, blending soups and, for you new moms out there, pureeing homemade baby food. Plus, the added bonus: easy clean up! Rinse the detachable blade portion in hot water or throw it in the dishwasher. If you don’t have one, I urge you to make the small investment. You won’t be sorry.
Plynn’s Tropical Smoothie
½ cup almond milk
½ cup guava juice (if you can find it; otherwise use mango juice)
2 heaping T of plain Greek yogurt
¼ cup pineapple chunks
½ mango, cut in pieces
1 banana (any size)
1 cup crushed ice
Put all ingredients in mixing container (comes with the immersion blender); nestle the blender blade at least halfway down into the container (otherwise contents may splatter out) and blend until desired consistency.
Pour into a glass or drink straight out of the container, like I do.
Of course, you know that you can use anything you like in a smoothie, so use your imagination and satisfy your taste buds!
I just got a bright idea – next year I’m going to pack my immersion blender in my suitcase, along with my curling iron and blow dryer, and bring it along. Oh, what fun we will have!
Eat well. Be happy.
Plynn Gutman 