Summer is Smoothie Time!

Cappuccino Banana Smoothie

I first learned about smoothies as a student at Florida State University (Nature’s Way Restaurant…ah, how I miss you and your menu!) They’re quick, easy, as nutritious as you want to make them and (most importantly for kids) yummy!

There are a gazillion smoothie recipes on the Web (here’s a good place to start: ), but my basic recipe is:

Fruit Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 cup milk
1 frozen banana
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Serve. Done!

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You can substitute any liquid you want for the milk (almond milk, soy milk, apple juice, pineapple juice, etc.) and replace the banana with any combination of frozen fruit. In the Cappuccino Banana Smoothie pictured above, I used 1/2 cup coffee, 1/2 cup milk and 1 frozen banana. Oh! And 1/4 cup ground oats. Really, a smoothie’s ingredient list is only limited by your imagination.

For a more ice cream like consistency, decrease the amount of milk. Other ingredients to try are cocoa powder, cinnamon, honey, plain yogurt. And, of course, the current craze is to add spinach or kale to smoothies. (Personally, I prefer those greens sauteed with a bit of garlic, so I don't need to drink them...)

A note about the frozen banana---I peel my over-ripe bananas and put them in the freezer for smoothies. Some people leave them in their skins, but I think that's a pain...perhaps that works best for banana bread when it has to be defrosted anyway, but I prefer to freeze my bananas peeled. I also slice the frozen bananas before putting them in the blender. I recognize that there are inherent dangers to this approach, but I've got a method that's fairly safe. You, being wiser than I, may choose to slice the bananas and then freeze them. Totally up to you!

Hmmm...I wonder what smoothie combination I shall try tomorrow...