The Secret To an Easy, Delicious Smoothie? These Ice Cube Trays
It was over two years ago now that I wrote about my Nutri Ninja Pro Blender, and my frequent distaste for dinner. Things haven’t really changed. I still have a smoothie for dinner at least two or three times a week (sometimes I add microwaved popcorn. Not to the smoothie, just as part of dinner. It’s a two course meal!), and my blender is still going strong. I’ve improved my smoothie game over the past two years, and now I use some pre-made acai packs to make the whole process even easier (Sambazon is my preferred brand, I’ve been doing one sweetened and one unsweetened package per smoothie. I’ve tried the Trader Joe’s ones, and they are too hard to open without getting frustrated and messy, and they cost about the same as Sambazon). I add two acai packets to about 1/4 cup of frozen fruit (lately I’ve been using this blend), some fruit juice, a banana, and some green ice cubes. WHAT are green ice cubes, you ask? They’re the easiest way to get some veggies in your smoothies, and they are such a game changer I’m mad I didn’t know about them sooner. I used to add fresh baby spinach to my smoothies, until I saw this TikTok:
@gentlydownthestream Reply to @dianimated for a #peacenik, i do love to drop a stealth nutrition bomb. #makelovenotwar #simple #smoothiebar #mealprep #freezerfood #kitchenhacks #smoothie ♬ original sound - junie c
SIDENOTE: I find this account SO soothing. One particularly rough afternoon I sat on the couch and watched every one of their videos.
So the creator here makes spinach bombs because their son is picky about having fresh spinach added to smoothies. Fair enough, kid. This trick caught MY eye becasue I don’t make smoothies often enough, or use enough spinach in each one, to make my way through a whole bag before the spinach leaves get all wilty and wet and weird.
BUT, I can blend up some spinach bombs and keep them in the freezer for an eternity (or like 6+ months)! It’s GENIUS. I got a bag of baby spinach, then used my Nutri Ninja to blend it with some water until I got, well, spinach water. Lately I’ve moved on to blending a bag of “power greens,” which is why I call them green ice cubes and not spinach bombs, but it’s the same principle. My method is haphazard: I stuff as many leaves as I can into the blender cup, add some water (measure with your heart), and blend. It will be more water than greens, and pretty soupy. I just keep adding greens to that liquid and blending until it reaches a consistency I like (melted ice cream, maybe? Again, it’s a haphazard system). Then I transfer the green goop to one of these OXO Silicone Measuring Cups (I have the 2 cup and 1 cup ones and I use them ALL THE TIME) and pour my mixture into ice cube trays. (I did try pouring from the blender cup itself - extremely messy.)
Now, for the real product recommendation. I have tried MANY ice cube trays. I have tried plastic, silicone, a half-plastic/half-silicone thingamajig, and even a muffin tray. So when I tell you these are the BEST ice cube trays I have found, know that I have done my research. The gray one I got first, at Home Goods. I was using a combination of many different trays, but the gray one was my favorite, I needed better ice cube molds, and after looking around locally, I turned to Amazon, and there I found a pack of three of my beloved hexagonal ice cube tray! I ordered them immediately and banished all other ice cube trays to the cabinet above the fridge, where I keep Crap I Don’t Use Regularly.
If you use a dishwasher, the lid may get cloudy (all mine are, this is the worst one) but who gives a shit? This is a product for convenience, not presentation.
Why are these the Perfect Ice Cube Molds? I’LL TELL YA.
Dishwasher safe. Are there any sweeter words? Both the trays and the lids can go in the dishwasher. I LOVE an easy clean up
Lids, you say? YES, these trays have a little silicone sheet that goes over the top, so you can STACK these trays on top of each other without messing up your creations. I have a small-ish freezer that is packed to the gills, so the fact that each of these trays makes 37 cubes and they freeze in a nice little stack? Perfection.
The size is perfect for my needs. My blender is a cup, which means it only really works if the things you are trying to blend are small (I made pucks in a muffin tin and my blender could not break them up). These cubes (hexagonal cylinders, actually) are the perfect size to add 4-6 to my smoothie, and they’ll get completely blended up.
I’ve used these trays for other projects too, most recently to see if I could make garlic butter and freeze it, so I could have fresh garlic butter on demand. This experiment was not a complete success, BUT it did provide me the chance to take a photo of me filling these trays in action, complete with an appearance by my trusty OXO silicone measuring cup.
I love these little trays, and I love making smoothies without having to wrestle with wilted spinach leaves.
I don’t know what I was trying to illustrate with this photo. It just looks like a cursed belly button.
