Best Of Tucson®

Behind the Voting: Best Smoothie

The Vote: "My girlfriend's"

If what Mike Townsend says is true, Tucson's best smoothie maker, Donna Mayfield, has been hiding her smoothie skills from all of us. But Townsend, her boyfriend, came forward with the information about these smoothies when he voted in the Best of Tucson™. The Weekly decided to investigate.

I met with the smoothie expert and her boyfriend at an eastside eatery to get the full scoop. "We'll tell you in between bites of onion rings," said Townsend. "(But) I guess my knowledge of the smoothie only goes back six months, because that's when we met. So, for the full history, you'll have to ask her."

Mayfield recounted her exploits with blended fruits. She said she'd had a brief love affair with smoothies sold at the Tucson Mall, but was convinced there was something better. Roughly a year ago, she began to experiment with her own.

"I actually went to this smoothie place in the mall and I saw how they made it, you know, with liquids, and it just looked weird; it was good, but it was just weird," she remembered. "So I decided, 'Hmm, what if I did it without any dairy products, without a lot of sugar, without yogurt?' So I decided ice would be the perfect alternative to gaining weight when you want something nutritious like that. I decided to try one with strawberries and bananas and use ice. That's what I did, and it turned out perfect."

Both Mayfield and Townsend explained that their dabbling in smoothie-making arose in an effort to be more health-conscious with their diets.

"I've been on a diet," Mayfield explained, "because I found out that I could get diabetes and stuff, so I've been kind of health conscious with my boyfriend; we started looking for alternatives to certain foods, like the smoothies, so it kind of started a craze from that."

Mayfield and Townsend met back on Jan. 11 through cupid.com, and they have been throwing fruits and ice in a blender ever since. Their favorite blend is one with blueberries, bananas and strawberries; all combinations, she said, include the desired fruit or fruits, ice, a bit of vanilla extract and a smidgen of sugar. Fresh fruits are preferred, but they sometimes use frozen fruits. When using frozen fruits, ice is unnecessary, said Donna.

She added that she plans to experiment with melons and peaches in future smoothie endeavors.

Townsend felt that his girlfriend's blender surprises were the best in Tucson, and kept that in mind while voting.

"... (T)hat was like 2 months ago, and I don't really remember ... whatever the question was," he recalled. "I thought, my girlfriend's smoothies are great, and I can't imagine anything better than that, so I'll put that down."

In order to prove their smoothies' worth, they brought me one to taste. It was certainly a no-nonsense smoothie comprised of blueberries, strawberries and bananas, blended with sugar and ice. It's a smoothie they expect would sate any die-hard connoisseur.

"It's something that we make because we like it, and her parents like it, and her sisters like it," said Townsend.

Mayfield added, "Everybody I've made it for likes it."

The two have no grand plans for their smoothie futures. They just aim to continue on their health-conscious path.

"The next step is trying to figure out how to stay away from ice cream," said Townsend.