Smooth!

Sometimes I'm out somewhere and confronted with a smoothie. I think, "Ooh, healthy!" so I get one. There are some great places to get a smoothie, like Smoothie King, but then there are places where all they've done is taken some orange sherbet and mixed it with a meager amount of fruit. Not only is the flavor off, but it doesn't seem like such a healthful choice after all. I expect more from my smoothie.

After having some disappointing smoothies, I decided to to try making them at home. I tried different recipes and then started playing around with my own concoctions. Below is my standard smoothie recipe. The fruit I use can be adjusted to my mood, but the technique remains the same. Give it a try and experiment with the fruits you love.

Fruity Smoothie

1/2 cup non-fat yogurt
approximately 1/3 cup orange juice
frozen or fresh fruit of your choice: strawberries, peaches, blueberries, etc.
1 banana, sliced
1 tbsp crushed pineapple + juice, optional (more if you like)
1-2 tbsp. sugar or honey to taste
ice cubes, optional

Using a pint glass, (or whatever drinking vessel you will be using) spoon in yogurt. Fill with frozen/fresh fruit. Pour in orange juice to top of glass. Pour into blender and add remaining ingredients. Blend all ingredients together until fruit and ice is small enough to fit through a straw. Pour smoothie back into your pint glass and add a straw and you're done...


...Or are you? I bet you have some smoothie leftover in your blender. Pour the leftovers into an ice cube tray. Freeze and you have Smoothie Cubes. Take the cubes out of the tray and put into a freezer bag and stash back in the freezer. Next time you want a smoothie, just take the smoothie cubes out of the bag and blitz in your blender again. Ta dah! Smoothie!

Delicious Little Jewels

Are you preggers? Have morning sickness or are hungry all the time? Here is another thing you can do with Smoothie Cubes: fill a good sized plastic cup with Smoothie Cubes. Then fill about half way with orange juice or whatever juice sounds good to you. Let sit a while, the orange juice freezes up a bit. Then insert your straw and sip away. Because the smoothie is mostly frozen it will take a while to soften up. This means you're sipping a little at a time, and it can take a couple of hours before you will have sipped up the whole thing. This got me through my morning sickness. Don't forget about all the calcium and vitamins you get in a smoothie!