5 Best Smoothies
One of the best ways to get a taste of summer once our warm days have waned is to grab a fresh and fruity smoothie. We pulled together our five favorite examples of tasty blended perfection.
By Katie Pollock Estes | Photo by Kevin O'Riley
Nov 2013
ⶠThe Mama Load
MaMa Jean’s Natural Market,
Three Springfield locations, mamajeansmarket.com
We passed by the Mama Load half a dozen times before we decided to give it a try. It sounded like… too much. Too many ingredients. Some fruity, some warm spices. Even a little cacao! But once we tried it, we were hooked. It comes packed with coconut water, strawberries, blueberries, mango, pineapple, bananas, cacao, maca, flax oil, bee pollen, spirulina, cinnamon, honey and sea salt. The fruit tastes bright and refreshing while the cacao bits and bee pollen make the whole thing invigorating.
â· The Chunky Date
Big Red Juice Truck
Find them at Farmers Market of the Ozarks, or track their movement on Facebook.
A very close second in our hearts is The Chunky Date, a smoothie that’s a little different than others we’ve tried in 417-land. Peppered throughout the cool, silky smoothie are chewy chunks of sweet dates. The decadent little bits marry perfectly with the rest of the smoothie’s ingredients: almond butter, banana and plenty of cinnamon. It’s not a tart and fruity smoothie but a warm and indulgent smoothie with the perfect amount of wintry cinnamon.
⸠Popeye Smoothie
Joplin Avenue Coffee Company
506 S. Joplin Ave., Joplin, 417-529-9285
We love a good green smoothie that’s bursting with super-healthy fresh spinach. The Popeye Smoothie at Joplin Avenue Coffee Company is just that. The mega-green is blended with fresh banana, nutty peanut butter, smooth almond milk and Greek yogurt. What you get is a bright green concoction that’s packed with healthy ingredients and even some peanut butter protein, but it still tastes like a treat thanks to the sweet banana and rich yogurt.
â¹ Chai Banana
Mudhouse
323 South Ave., Springfield, 417-832-1720, mudhousecoffee.com
Another smoothie that tastes more like a treat than a healthy sip is the luscious Chai Banana from MudHouse. Spicy chai tea is blended with banana and fat-free yogurt, the perfect ingredients to add a sweet, thick texture to what’s already one of our favorite coffee shop tastes. And because the chai is filled with the flavors of nutmeg, cloves, vanilla and other warm spices, the smoothie packs quite a flavor punch.
⺠Mix-and-match smoothies
Walkabout Café
1860 N. Commerce Dr., Nixa, 417-725-5282
At Walkabout Café, smoothies are about as simple as they come. Real fruit is blended with almond or soy milk in any combination you choose. Nothing fancy, just fresh deliciousness. We enjoy mango, blackberry and almond milk for a perfectly thick, ultra-fruity, mega-fresh liquid meal.
