The Smoothie Experiment

Fruit is, as everyone knows, an essential part of your diet, but I find it one of the hardest foods to fit into my daily life. It takes major effort for me to eat fruit; and, when I do, I never end up eating a lot of it. I’ll peeter out half way through my banana, or get blueberry juice all over my only nice work shirt. Fruit can be a major pain in the ass.

And then, I discovered smoothies!!! Not only are they refreshing, and deliciously SWEET, but they are also an easy way to trick yourself into eating tons of fruit! I’ve been busy experimenting with my new found love, so below are my top smoothies of the week! Do you have a favorite smoothie concoction? Please share!

This one goes out to my best friend for life, miss Aliza Ryan, who isn’t much of a dessert lover, but can never pass up a fruit tart. Drum roll please….presenting “The Smart Tart Smoothie.” You can double this if you want a larger smoothie and add more of a certain fruit if you are partial to one more than another. (Ali-you can’t taste the banana, it just gives it texture!)

The Smart Tart Smoothie

1/4 cup greek yogurt

2-3 round slices of kiwi

1/4 cup mixed frozen berries

1/4 cup peaches

1/4 banana

1 slice orange

1 1/2 tsp instant cheesecake pudding mix (I used the Jello powder mix)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp honey

1/2 cup soy milk

1/2 cup crushed ice

This one goes out to my Dad, who used to always pick us up Orange Freeze’s on the way home from work!

Freeze your Oranges Off Smoothie

1 Orange (peeled)

1/2 cup crushed ice

1/4 cup greek yogurt

1 tbls honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

People love to say the word antioxidants, and half of them don’t know what it means. For those of us who didn’t pass chemistry…their just good for you, ok?  This smoothie is literally packed with antioxidant rich foods. FYI spinach is a super sneaky food that doesn’t have much taste; you can throw it into any smoothie for some extra vitamins and minerals and not even know it’s there!

The Sneaky Smoothie

1/4 cup greek yogurt

1/2 cup soy milk

1/2 cup mixed frozen berries

1/2 banana

1 tbls honey

1 tsp vanilla

small handful of spinach

And finally, this goes out to Atlanta, GA and everything in this city named after the Peachtree. Enjoy!

Just Peachy

1/4 cup greek yogurt

1/2 cup soy milk

1-2 peach pitted and sliced

1/2 banana

1 tblspn honey

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup crushed ice

* I make all my smoothies in our magic bullet. It makes just the right single portion size. You can double or triple any of these recipes if you have a larger blender!