Tue 9 Feb 2010
Want a smoother smoothie?
Posted by lynsie under Cooking, Local Food, Parenting, Recipes
[2] Comments
Want a smoother smoothie? Tired of those stubborn icy pieces that don’t get quite blended in? Try this tip that I learned from my good friend, Kristie, when we both had to get to work at 4:30 am and needed to bring along a quick, easy, and healthy breakfast:
Freeze your fruit! That’s right, instead of using fresh fruit, place your freshly purchased fruit, like blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, bananas, etc. into the freezer after washing and shaking dry. Place the fruit in a gallon size ziploc bag or rubbermaid container and allow to freeze overnight before making that morning smoothie. If, by chance, you prefer to buy locally grown fruit when it’s in season, then when strawberries are in season, for example, buy enough for the year and freeze the strawberries in smaller containers, like ziploc bags, that you can easily shake to separate the frozen fruit if it’s stuck together. Also, as an extra tip, let your fruit thaw in its bag, in a larger bowl, overnight in the fridge and what you’ll be left with is delicious all-natural juice that can be used to also flavor your smoothies or salad dressings. Strawberry balsamic, anyone?
Anyway, as usual when it comes to food, I digress…
Here’s the Smoother Smoothie Recipe:
Combine 2 cups frozen fruit with…
1 cup yogurt*
1/2 cup milk*
add a bit of organic cane sugar or local honey if desired. However, in-season fruit is perfectly sweet on its own!
*as many of you know, I am a real dairy girl, and therefore love milk, yogurt, and cheese in its most unadulterated form. Therefore, I use whole milk (full fat) everything! It’s much more decadent, not to mention that full fat dairy has the right kind of fat in it that is truly healthy.
Blend in a blender until smooth and eat right away. The frozen fruit will give your smoothie the chill that you’re normally going for when adding ice if eaten immediately. Also, the texture of your smoothie will be rich, creamy, and thick, as opposed to a thinner smoothie made with fresh, not frozen, fruit.
No doubt my friend, Gleamer: the Smoothie Queen, has already discovered this tip for making smoother smoothies for her beautiful kids who, lucky ducks, get to enjoy smoothies all the time. Gleamer, if you’ve got any more tips, I’m sure we’d love to hear ‘em!
Great tips Lynsie! Frozen fruits (and veggies like kale) are fantastic in smoothies. Be sure to peal your bananas before you freeze them. I buy mine on sale by the bag and freeze them in layers (separated by plastic wrap) on a cookie sheet.
To your health!
~the “Smoothie Queen”
Gleamer! awesome advice. When you’re using veggies, what is the quantity that you use so that we can get our serving of veggies with out having them overpower the fruit flavor? Also-never thought about layering bananas like that. Great tip!!