Grape Strawberry Yogurt Parfait made with the Magimix by Robot-Coupe Juice Extractor and Smoothie Attachment

The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook. ~ Julia Child

Fresh juices and smoothies definitely seem like “diet food” to me and truthfully, most days, I would rather have the steak. 😉  And while many of these drinks are healthy, others do have quite a few calories, carbs, and sugar, especially when they are made with several types of fruit.

However, I do know that overall, juicing is good for you and it’s important to your health to incorporate juicing into your diet, if at all possible.  If these beverages are going to make up even a small part of my diet, I prefer to make them at home so I have control of what ingredients are used, including organic fruits and vegetables, and I want to know how high the carbohydrate and sugar content is.

Several years ago when Mr. B was going through cancer, we purchased a stand-alone juicer.  It took up an incredible amount of counter space and required a lot of cleanup.  While it worked well, it was a monster, and now sits in storage along with other unused kitchen gadgets and appliances.

When I was offered the opportunity to try the juice extractor and smoothie attachment for my Magimix by Robot-Coupe 4200XL 14-cup Food Processor, I was curious to see how it would work.  I love this food processor and it holds a prominent place on my kitchen counter.  I knew these attachments would be smaller and easier to deal with than the juicing giant that was relegated to the basement.  The juicing attachments for the Magimix are much smaller and easier to store and cleanup.

There are actually two different attachments.  One is for more traditional juicing (mostly harder vegetables and fruits) and the other, the coulis maker, is primarily for softer fruits.  I decided to first try the juicing components and made a very healthy drink with all organic produce: carrots, an apple, celery, parsley, and kale.  These ingredients are great for detoxing (and we can all use a little of that every now and then).  The drink was quite good, with just a bit of sweetness from the apple and carrots.  When the basket becomes full of waste, the food processor will begin to shimmy across your counter, so it lets you know when you need to clean it before continuing with any more ingredients.

Next, I wanted to create something with the second set of attachments, the coulis maker.  If you are not familiar with the word coulis, it is a sauce made from fresh puréed and strained vegetables or fruits.  It can be served alone, possibly sweetened slightly, such as a raspberry coulis with vanilla ice cream.  A vegetable coulis can also be used as a base for other dishes, like soups or sauces.  Fruit coulis can be combined with or folded into other ingredients, like a mousse, and served for dessert.

With spring and summer fruits and vegetables coming in to season, I was excited to try this attachment.  It purees and strains the juices from the fruit and vegetables at the same time.  Adapted from a recipe in the instruction booklet, I made a Grape and Strawberry Yogurt Parfait.  The texture was that of a drinkable yogurt.  With fresh and beautiful strawberries from Florida, this was delightful.

I created a layered parfait and used my favorite non-fat Greek yogurt as the first layer, a combination of the same yogurt, red seedless grapes, strawberries, and a small amount of honey to sweeten the mixture as the second layer, and the strawberry coulis as the topping.  It was light, refreshing, and had just the right amount of tanginess (from the plain yogurt) and sweetness from the natural fruit juices and honey.  It would be perfect for a light breakfast, lunch, or dessert.   You might even get a fussy eater (like your children or Mr. B) to enjoy it.  Mr. B actually liked this so much that he ate the whole thing and asked for more. 🙂

If you own a Magimix food processor, this is another way to utilize equipment that you already have, rather than buying another appliance that ultimately fills the basement shelves. I enjoyed these two creations so much you might find that even I (the steak eater) start to feature a few more juice drinks and coulis recipes, especially with the warmer months ahead.

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Disclosure – Magimix by Robot-Coupe provided me with these attachments for my use and review.  I was in no way compensated for this post and as always, the opinions expressed here are my own.