Strawberries are starting to come down in price as the season begins, so I couldn’t resist buying one of those huge packs of them at the grocery store. While we enjoyed the fresh berries, there were way too many to eat before they spoiled, so I froze half for smoothies.
Strawberry Banana smoothies are one of my kids favorite treats, and they were more excited about getting a smoothie for our Monday family night treat last night than the usual cookies or ice cream.
Smoothies are also an excellent way to get some fruit servings and fiber into you kids’ and your own diet.
You can follow one of these recipes, or experiment on your own. Plain yogurt is a good substitute for vanilla yogurt, but you might want to add some honey to sweeten the smoothie just a bit. If you love bananas, you can add an extra half of a banana to a recipe. Instead of using just one type of berry, try mixing it up. Half blueberries and half strawberries in either of the first two recipes is a good combination. Or, try substituting blackberries for the raspberries in the third recipes. We’ve also had success using Kern’s fruit nectars instead of orange juice for sweeter smoothies.
Strawberry Banana Smoothie
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 banana
1 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
Blend all the ingredients until smooth. Makes two extra-large smoothies or three regular size.
Banana Blueberry Smoothie
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 banana
11/2 cups frozen blueberries
Blend all the ingredients until smooth. Makes two large smoothies or three regular size.
Raspberry Orange Smoothie
1 cup orange juice
1 cup vanilla frozen yogurt
1 cup frozen raspberries
Blend all the ingredients until smooth. Makes two large smoothies or three regular size.