shakes

Gone are the days of taking a few basic ingredients and throwing them into a blender. Bananas, strawberries, and yogurt? So last year. Now that you've discovered the wonderful world of kale, chia seeds, and spinach, it's time to expand your smoothie-making skills even more. The following five food items are guaranteed to increase the nutrient (and flavor) quotient of your smoothies.

• Avocado: Besides the nutrient content, avocados help add a creamy, smooth texture to smoothies. If you are not an avocado fan, add only one-half of an avocado to a smoothie — you'll barely taste it (yet still reap all the health benefits). Here's a basil avocado smoothie recipe to help get you started.

Here are more nutritious ingredients to add to your shakes.

Powder-based smoothies are so convenient: add water, shake, and you're done. The problem is that these types of smoothies leave a lot to be desired in terms of taste — they're often chalky, tasteless, or, at worst, off-putting to the palate. To make these nutrient-rich smoothie powders more appetizing, try adding one — or a few! — of these mix-ins to your next smoothie.

• Fruit: Fresh or frozen fruit is a great way to brighten the flavor profile — and nutrient makeup — of a smoothie. This couldn't be more true of smoothies made from green powders; they may be phytonutrient-rich, but they often lack sweetness, which is something a healthy dose of mango, apple, or berries can help solve.
• Nut butters: Nut butters help add fat and protein to powder-based smoothies, and in addition to adding flavor, nut butters make a good thickening agent. Suddenly a thin and runny smoothie is thick, rich, and creamy!
• Milk: Whether you choose dairy or non-dairy, milk and all its varieties are good mix-ins for smoothies made from protein powders. Add a creamy dose of calcium and protein by using milk in place of water when mixing your next smoothie. Milk also helps to lessen the chalky taste that is common in powder smoothies.

See more smoothie mix-in ideas after the break!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope you've found a special way to celebrate, whether it's wearing green, downing corned beef, or plotting your nighttime revelry. Me? I'm ringing in March 17 with a Shamrock Shake. We took an office trip to the McDonald's across the street to get our fix of the seasonal St. Paddy's Day-themed drink. I'm not always one for festive-colored food, but the creme de menthe-colored drink was the emerald oasis in my daily grind of a desert. It's chilly, but not cold enough for a brain freeze, and as thick as possible without causing a traffic jam in the straw. First, my palate was hit by a blast of mellow mint, followed by a long, lingering vanilla finish. Sham-shakes have only one caveat: they tend to leave an unpleasant sugary coating in the mouth. (That, and the fact that I wish Uncle O'Grimacey were still around.) If they weren't sold but once a year, I doubt they'd achieve the cult status they have today — although they sure make St. Patrick's Day more delicious. How do you feel about Shamrock Shakes?

There are a lot of things about birth that a mama-to-be doesn't realize until she enters the delivery room. An itchy epidural, relieving the bowels on the table and tearing to name a few.

When my first son was born via c-section, I succumbed to the post-delivery shakes that my friends had told me about. After about an hour, the shakes subsided and I didn't think about them again.

This time around, with a scheduled c-section on the books, I braced myself for some postpartum shaking prior to entering the operating room. My body, however, seemed to have something else in mind. After receiving my spinal block, and laying down on the table, I began to feel cold. I asked them to raise the heat in the room, at which point my husband told me that the room was already very warm. Before long, the shakes set in and try as I might, I could not control them! Whether it was nerves or a side effect of the painkillers, I will never know. But, thanks to a wonderful anesthesiologist, my upper body was covered with an air warming blanket that provided some comfort and heat throughout the surgery. Before long, a baby was in my arms and the shakes were the last thing on my mind.

Did you have the shakes during your delivery?

Although he'd just given President Obama a lesson on grilling steaks, Bobby Flay was back on the burger track at his seminar in Aspen, where, like fellow Iron Chef Michael Symon, he had plenty of his own venting to do. "I've never met a vegetarian burger that I like," he declared, as he wowed the crowd with a Cheyenne burger (barbecue sauce, bacon, cheddar, and onion rings), garlic-parsley bistro fries, and a chocolate milkshake. "And I can't stand a cheeseburger that's not fully melted." To right all the world's burger wrongs, Bobby offered plenty of pointers for plating the perfect burger patty. Be burger-equipped for the holiday weekend when you read more