Last week I wasn’t feeling well and thought a smoothie sounded good. I stopped by Smoothie King and paid a hefty price- $5 after tax for a regular smoothie! That’s more than I spend on a Starbucks!
It is easy to make smoothies at home and there are a variety of ways to make them. Basically you need frozen fruit and a liquid.
Frozen Fruit
If I see berries at a rock bottom price I will buy extra to place in the freezer. I also pick berries in the summer and freeze them. If fruit is reaching the end of it’s life, throw it in the freezer. Did you know you can put a banana in it’s peel directly in the freezer? Yep, it’s true!
Liquid
I use orange juice a lot in my smoothies. Milk, other fruit juice and yogurt can also be used. Vegetable juice is another option. Use whatever you have on hand- be creative.
Supplements
When Capt. M was a year old he was underweight and anemic. I would make smoothies for him because I could mix in supplements like protein powder or flax seed. Most of the time the yummy fruit will mask the supplements added!
My Smoothie
The smoothie pictured above was made with orange juice, YoPlus yogurt, blueberries (frozen from berry picking last summer), strawberries (frozen from sale) and blackberries (frozen from our garden last summer). I would say it cost me about $1 or less to make this smoothie that fed three of us.
The kids loved the smoothie! They think it is ice cream but it is healthier!
Do you make homemade smoothies? What are your favorite ingredients?
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The closest thing to a smoothie I’ve ever bought was an Orange Julius and we’ve learned how to make them too.
We got a fancy schmantzy Vita-Mix blender and they have wonderful recipes though you can toss in just about anything.
We always have frozen fruit in baggies so they dont require ice in them.
My favorite smoothies are mango or bananas w berries and a little half & half & vanilla.
My sweeties favorites are more tart fruits with pineapple, mango, peach, & oranges and whatever juice he can find.. sometimes just the pineapple juice it came in.
Kim,
Orange Julius sounds good! I will have to play around with that a bit. I never add ice either since we always have frozen fruit. I have heard wonderful things about the Vita-Mix blender- maybe someday!
Thanks for sharing!
I use Almond Milk instead of regular milk. I really try to go dairy free on everything – makes me feel better and Almond milk is amazing. Anyway, I mix almond milk with mixed berries (frozen) almost every morning for breakfast to-go. I often change out the fruit – today was almond milk, pineapple (frozen), small banana (fresh), and a little chocolate protein powder.
Most of the berry smoothies come in about 150 calories.
Hi Keri,
I will have to try Almond Milk! I know there are usually coupons out for it so I will pick some up the next time it is on sale. Thanks for sharing!
I just stumbled upon your blog this morning when educating my little one about flower / fruit pollination, now I’ve found your recipes too!
Thanks for all of your effort, wow it must be difficult having a job as well as such a busy blog! I work fulltime but only blog sometimes when I can.
Regards from the UK.
Jeff
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