Smoothie Ideas

Here are some smoothie-making tips as well as suggested ingredients for smoothies.

Fruit

You can of course use fresh fruit in smoothies, but I prefer frozen fruit, so my pro tip is to buy enough fruit for a month and prepare it as follows:

1. Wash or peel the fruit.
2. Cut up large fruit into 2- or 3-inch pieces.
3. Put in tupperware or plastic containers with lids (e.g., empty yogurt or sour cream containers).
4. Label each container (use a permanent marker and masking tape).
5. Keep fruit in the freezer until ready to use.

Then when I want a smoothie, just pull out a container or two, throw some fruit in the blender, and voilà. Some fruits, like bananas, will stick together when frozen, so you might need to break off a chunk with a spoon or metal spatula.

Some fruits that freeze well and make great smoothies:

• Apricots
• Bananas
• Berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries…*)
• Cantaloupe
• Kiwi
• Mango
• Nectarines
• Papaya
• Peaches
• Pineapple

* Although boysenberries taste wonderful in smoothies, there is one problem – their seeds are so big that they ruin the texture of the smoothie.

Watermelon is great in smoothies too, but it acts more like a liquid. Plus, it’s so big that you might be worried about waste. Never fear: you can freeze it. Just remove the seeds, cut into chunks, and place in blender. Process until liquid, pour into ice cube trays, freeze, and transfer from trays to a container. Then add a few cubes to your next smoothie!
  

LIQUIDS

You always need a bit of liquid or something liquid-like in your smoothie, so here are some you can mix and match:

• Fruit juice (orange, pineapple, apple…)
• Milk (soy, rice, nut…)
• Sorbet
• Wheatgrass juice
• Yogurt
    

ADDITIONS

For additional nutrition and/or taste, try adding some of these:

• Bee pollen
• Bran
• Ginkgo biloba
• Ginseng
• Honey
• Mint, fresh
• Nutritional yeast
• Peanut butter
• Protein powder
• Spirulina
• St. John’s Wort
• Sugar
• Wheat germ
    

RECIPES

Here are some of my favorite smoothies:

 
Mixed berry smoothie

• 1 c berry juice
• 1½ c frozen berries (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries)  or  1 c fresh berries + 3 ice cubes
   

Tropical fruit smoothie

• 2 or 3 pieces of each of the following:
  – banana
  – mango
  – papaya
  – pineapple
  – watermelon
• ½ c orange juice
   

Banana–strawberry smoothie

• ½ frozen banana
• 1 c frozen strawberries
• 1 c orange juice
   

Peanut butter and jelly smoothie

• 1 c berry or cherry juice (if using unsweetened, you might want to add 1-2 T sugar or other sweetener)
• 1½ c frozen berries (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries)  or  1 c fresh berries + 3 ice cubes
• 2-3 T creamy peanut butter
   

Peanut butter and banana smoothie